Pick of the week

Trespasses

Sunday-Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

Lola Petticrew and Tom Cullen are a star-crossed couple from opposite sides of the sectarian divide, in this TV adaptation of the acclaimed debut novel by Louise Kennedy. Petticrew is Catholic girl Cushla, a schoolteacher whose lust for life is in danger of being ground down by the realities of life in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. When she meets Michael, an older, married Protestant, they embark on an ill-advised, illicit affair, both knowing that one wrong move or careless word could bring both of them a world of trouble.

Cushla works nights at her family’s pub, whose mixed clientele include British soldiers; Michael is a barrister who hangs out with a bohemian set and who often takes on the job of defending IRA suspects. Adding to the volatile mix is Cushla’s difficult mother, Gina, played with gusto by Gillian Anderson, who says she couldn’t resist playing this “tragicomic creation” when asked to by the author. The series is adapted for the screen by Ailbhe Keogan and directed by Bafta winner Dawn Shadforth, with a supporting cast that includes Martin McCann, Emily Taaffe, Barry Ward, Lisa Dwyer Hogg, Lorcan Cranitch and Lalor Roddy.

Highlights

Bullseye

Sunday, UTV, 8pm

Somewhere back in the mists of time, someone came up with the wizard idea of combining two favourite pub pastimes – the table quiz and the darts. Bullseye aired for most of the 1980s and half of the 1990s, and featured a “thrower” who tried to hit the high score on the dartboard, and a “knower” who tried to answer tricky general knowledge quest