The 11th RTS NI Awards 2026 recognise and celebrate the highest quality television production by independent producers, broadcasters, and freelancers based in Northern Ireland.

Trespasses receives seven nominations for the 2026 RTS Northern Ireland awards including Best Drama. See the full list of nominations at the link.

Premiering in the US this Sunday on PBS, “Trespasses,” a four-part adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s 2022 debut novel, is a story of love in a time of choler. Set outside of Belfast in 1975 during the Troubles, it follows a clandestine affair between Cushla Lavery (Lola Petticrew, “Furious”), a 24-year-old Catholic elementary school teacher, and Michael Agnew (Tom Cullen), an older, married Protestant barrister known for defending stone-throwing Catholic youth with an eye to keeping them out of the IRA.

... Above all, there is Cushla’s mother, Gina, played by Gillian Anderson, in a downward spiral since the death of her husband, some two years earlier. Introduced in a state of drunken collapse, Anderson — fearful, bitter, despairing, protective — is quite magnificent limning different levels of intoxication. But she’s even more impressive in her sober scenes, participating in the world beyond her couch, bringing food to the McGeowns and, finally, acting as a mother to Gina

After almost a decade of playing supporting parts in lesser-known projects, Lola Petticrew's career has picked up speed with the propulsive intensity of a rocket launched into space... Trespasses further cements Petticrew as one of their generation's most riveting performers. Based on the 2022 fiction novel of the same name by author Louise Kennedy, the four-episode miniseries (provided for review in its entirety) is simultaneously a doomed romantic drama and a nuanced social thriller as inescapably harrowing as it is delicately heartfelt.

BAFTA Cymru nominations announced today include a Best Actor nomination for Tom Cullen as Michael Agnew in Trespasses.

Actor:

• Callum Scott Howells - Madfabulous
• Jonathan Pryce - Under Salt Marsh
• Matthew Rhys - The Beast in Me
• Tom Cullen - Trespasses

The award-winning Northern Ireland composers Brian Irvine and David Holmes have won the Best Television Soundtrack category at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards for their acclaimed score for Trespasses, marking the third Ivor Novello Award win for each composer.

BAFTA announced the winners of the 2026 BAFTA Television Craft Awards with Samsung OLED at a ceremony in London, celebrating the exceptional creativity, skill and craft of behind-the-scenes television talent, as well as the best television programmes of 2025.

Cinematographer Ryan Kernaghan won the 'Television Craft Award for Photography & Lighting: Fiction' for his work on Limited Series Trespasses.

Peer-judged by songwriters and composers, The Ivors are the most prestigious celebration of the craft, cultural impact and enduring importance of songs and screen compositions...

... Best Television Soundtrack celebrates exceptional originally commissioned music that enriches the storytelling and dramatic impact of television programmes in the UK in 2025. This year’s nominees are Adolescence, composed by Aaron May and David Ridley; Lazarus, composed by Sarah Warne; Summerwater, composed by Gazelle Twin; The City Is Ours, composed by Rael Jones; and Trespasses, composed by David Holmes and Brian Irvine. These works highlight the contribution and impact of original music in enhancing storytelling and television viewing.

...It would be a shock if Adolescence doesn’t win limited series, but a notable rival there is Trespasses, Channel 4’s adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel about a cross-lines love affair in sectarianised 1970s Northern Ireland where love can lead to death. With six nominations, Trespasses is the most unexpected of the frontrunners (behind Adolescence and A Thousand Blows and level with Star Wars spin-off Andor) but completely deserves a prominence that again vindicates Channel 4’s drama policy of funding a few big pieces rather than many smaller projects.

Trespasses nominated for five BAFTA TV Craft awards, and Limited Drama in the BAFTA Television awards.

"The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) have crowned their winners at a ceremony in Dublin last night...

On the TV Drama side, Belfast police drama Blue Lights won Best Drama for its third season, with Rachel Carey winning Best Director – Drama for Obituary and Ailbhe Keogan winning Best Script – Drama for Trespasses.

Last year’s Rising Star Winner, Anthony Boyle, won Lead Actor in a Drama for House of Guinness, while Lola Petticrew won Lead Actress in a Drama for Trespasses..."

‘Trespasses’ has today been nominated for four IFTAs: Best Drama, Best Script – Drama, Best Actress – Drama, and Best Hair & Make-up. The awards will take place 20 February 2026.

"Trespasses (Channel 4): This beautiful adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s layered story about a forbidden love affair set against the Troubles truly crushed hearts. It followed young Catholic teacher Cushla (Lola Petticrew) who falls for Protestant barrister Michael Agnew (Tom Cullen).

"Obviously, things couldn’t end well – as the story navigates the temperature of Belfast during that time. Gillian Anderson has, rightly, received a lot of praise for her portrayal of Cushla’s grieving alcoholic mother. But Petticrew is a rising talent, as proven in last year’s Say Nothing."

"This exquisite series is set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. When Cushla (Lola Petticrew), a Catholic primary-school teacher, has an affair with Michael (Tom Cullen), an older, married Protestant, her life begins to fall apart."

"There's nothing I love more than a forbidden romance. Forced apart by distance or circumstance, the star-crossed lovers – a timeless Romeo and Juliet trope of right person, wrong time – has continued to captivate audiences time and again.

"Channel 4's latest four-parter Trespasses, adapted from Northern Irish writer Louise Kennedy's 2022 novel, is exactly that: a quietly tender yet gripping forbidden love story that lingers long after the final credits roll."