BBC World War II drama filmed in Downpatrick

BBC World War II drama filmed in Downpatrick

9 March 2016

FILM crews were in Downpatrick this week for the production of a new BBC drama.

English Street was a hub of activity on Monday and Tuesday when the first scenes of My Mother and Other Strangers, starring Hattie Morahan, were filmed.

The former Justine’s Restaurant was taken over for 48 hours by a cast dressed conspicuously in 1940s fashion and an extensive crew.

The new BBC1 series is written by Barry Devlin, of Ballykissangel and Darling Buds of May fame, and boasts a cast led by Hattie Morahan as Rose Coyne.

Set in Northern Ireland during World War Two, My Mother and Other Strangers follows the fortunes of the Coyne family and their neighbours as they struggle to maintain a normal life after a huge United States Army Air Force airfield with 4,000 service men and women lands in the middle of their rural parish in 1943.

 At the heart of the series is an ongoing love story that enfolds Rose and her husband Michael Coyne in a dangerous love triangle with a handsome and charming USAAF liaison officer, Captain Dreyfuss. Owen McDonnell, from Single-Handed, plays Michael and Aaron Staton, from Mad Men, plays Captain Dreyfuss. 

Meanwhile, the Coyne’s children, 16 year-old Emma, Francis, ten, and Kate, seven, have no idea of the strains under which their parents’ marriage creaks.

Also joining the cast are Des McAleer (Hunger), Seamus O’Hara (6 Degrees) and Ryan McParland (The Survivalist) as the neighbouring Hanlon family, whose frustration at being displaced from their family home by the airfield is well vented. 

Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones) plays Failey, local fisherman and boyfriend to Sally Quinn (Fiona O’Shaugnessy, Utopia) who along with her brother Barney (Gavin Drea, What Richard Did) works on the Coyne’s farm. 

Charlie Lawson, perhaps best known as Jim McDonald in Coronation Street, is the parish doctor, Dr Black.

 Stephen Wright, head of drama for BBC Northern Ireland, said he was delighted that Hattie Morahan had been selected to leading the cast as Rose Coyne. 

“Barry Devlin’s s are formed by his love of life with all its complexities, and a love for the place and people where he grew up,” he said.

“The scripts are in safe hands with the cast and our producer Grainne Marmion. Adrian Shergold will do a brilliant job bringing this unique time and world to life.”