Just about every character surprises us, at least once, for good or ill. That complexity serves a thematic purpose as well as a narrative one.

Strip down the show’s politics and they would be dangerously close to a hand-wringing plea for both sides to stop being as bad as each other, to end the violence, and won’t somebody please think of the children. But the Troubles give Trespasses what it needs. As individuals’ hopes and feelings are crushed in the gears of events much bigger than them, we feel that pain.

This passionate love story set amid the Troubles in 1975 Belfast, with its bombs, bullets, army checkpoints and punishment beatings, was beautifully told in the novel and happily the TV series does not let it down.

So even if this ground has been trodden already, Trespasses has enough quality to make it distinctive.

The age gap actually made me feel like Michael was grooming Cushla rather than charming her. .... When it moved away from this curiously unconvincing relationship Trespasses offered a sharp, period-accurate, portrayal of the nerve-shredding reality of life in a city riven by religious division.

Unfortunately, Trespasses doesn’t balance its story well, creating a tug-of-war effect as too many plotlines vie for attention. Perhaps they could have pulled this off in a longer-format show, but the four-hour run time does the series no favors.