''My Mother and Other Strangers'' is a 2016 British television drama series, written by

Barry Devlin Barry Devlin (born 27 November 1946) is an Irish musician, screen writer and director. Early life Devlin is from Moortown in Ardboe, County Tyrone. He initially began to train as a Columban priest, but left to study English at University Col ...

, made by

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

with funding from

Northern Ireland Screen Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > Overview Northern Ireland Screen website, ...

. The story is set in a small village in Northern Ireland in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Commissioning of the first series of five 60-minute episodes for BBC One was announced in May 2015. The series began airing on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

network in the U.S. in June 2017, as part of PBS' ''Masterpiece'' series. The set stage was in Ballycranbeg Rubane, County Down in Ballycran it was the 2nd main stage The main stage was in Kearney, County Down.

Setting

''My Mother and Other Strangers'' is set in 1943 during the Second World War in the fictional village of Moybeg, on the shores of

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake in the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It has a surface area of and supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water. Its main inflows come ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The series centres on the Coyne family and their neighbours, as they come to terms with the influx of thousands of American servicemen of the USAAF Eighth Air Force into their small, rural community. Writer

, who himself grew up in the small village of

Ardboe Ardboe () is a large parish civil parish in east County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It borders the western shore of Lough Neagh and lies within the Mid Ulster District Council area. It is also the name of the local civil parish, which incorporate ...

on the shores of Lough Neagh, stated that he wanted to create an "exotic love story" set in the familiar surroundings of a place he recognised.

Characters and actors

The series has at its core the Coyne family, consisting of Rose Coyne (

Hattie Morahan Harriet Jane Morahan (born 7 October 1978) is an English actress. Her roles include Sister Clara in ''The Golden Compass'' (2007), Gale Benson in ''The Bank Job'' (2008), Alice in ''The Bletchley Circle'' (2012–2014), Ann in ''Mr. Holmes'' ( ...

), Michael Coyne (

Owen McDonnell Owen McDonnell (born 1974) is an Irish actor best known for playing Garda Sergeant Jack Driscoll in RTÉ Television's '' Single-Handed'' and Niko Polastri in BBC's ''Killing Eve''. Early life McDonnell was born in Galway in Ireland. He attend ...

), and the Coynes' three children: sixteen-year-old Emma (

Eileen O’Higgins Eileen O'Higgins is a Northern Irish actress. Her breakthrough role was in the play ''Hold Your Tongue, Hold Your Dead'' which led to a supporting role in the film ''Brooklyn (film), Brooklyn'' (2015) and ''Mary Queen of Scots (2018 film), Mary ...

); Francis, ten; and Kate, seven. Also central to the developing story across the five episodes is Captain Dreyfuss (

Aaron Staton Aaron Staton (born August 10, 1980) is an American actor. He played Ken Cosgrove on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015) and voiced Cole Phelps in the video game ''L.A. Noire'' (2011), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best P ...

), a

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

liaison officer A Liaison officer is a person who liaises between two or more organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities on a matter of mutual concern. Generally, liaison officers are used for achieving the best utilization of resources, or empl ...

. The Coynes' neighbours, the Hanlon family, are played by Des McAleer,

Seamus O'Hara The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

and Ryan McParland.

Charles Lawson Quintin Charles Devenish "Charlie" Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor, from Northern Ireland, who is best known for playing Jim McDonald on the long-running ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street''. Early life and education Lawson was bo ...

plays the parish doctor, Dr Black. Failey (Kerr Logan) is a local

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

fisherman and boyfriend to Sally Quinn (

Fiona O’Shaughnessy Fiona O'Shaughnessy is an Irish film, stage, and television actress. Early life O'Shaughnessy was born in Galway. Her family moved to Reading, Berkshire, when she was 9. She returned to Galway a decade later where she pursued a career in the ...

). She and her brother Barney (Gavin Drea) work on the Coynes' farm.

Director and producers

The series is directed by

Adrian Shergold Adrian Shergold (born 24 March 1948 in Croydon, Surrey) is a British film and television director. Selected filmography *'' Danielle Cable: Eyewitness'' (2003) *'' Dirty Filthy Love'' (2004) *''Ahead of the Class'' (2005) *'' Pierrepoint'' (2005) ...

. The executive producer is Stephen Wright, Head of Drama for BBC Northern Ireland. The producer is Grainne Marmion.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=5882386, title=My Mother and Other Strangers Fiction set in 1943 2016 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series BBC high definition shows BBC television dramas 2010s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television series set in the 1940s Television shows set in Northern Ireland World War II television drama series Films directed by Adrian Shergold Television shows scored by Natalie Holt

Setting

Characters and actors

Director and producers

References

Further reading

External links