''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, screenwriter 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 Co ...

, made by

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

with funding from

Northern Ireland Screen Not to be confused with Screen Ireland. 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 > ...

. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

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 on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. 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), better known as Hattie Morahan, 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'' (20 ...

), Michael Coyne (

Owen McDonnell Owen McDonnell (born 1974) is an Irish actor. He is known for his roles in the RTÉ drama '' Single-Handed'' (2007–2010), the TG4 Western ''An Klondike'' (2015–2017), and the BBC spy thriller ''Killing Eve'' (2018–2022). Early life McDon ...

), and the Coynes' three children: sixteen-year-old Emma ( Eileen O’Higgins); 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 series '' Mad Men'' (2007–15) and Cole Phelps in the video game '' L.A. Noire'' (2011), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Perfor ...

), 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. The Coynes' neighbours, the Hanlon family, are played by Des McAleer, Seamus O'Hara and Ryan McParland.

Charles Lawson Quintin Charles Devenish Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is best known for playing Jim McDonald (Coronation Street), Jim McDonald on the long running ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. ...

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, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

fisherman and boyfriend to Sally Quinn ( Fiona O’Shaughnessy). She and her brother Barney (

Gavin Drea Gavin Drea (born February 1990) is an Irish actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in the RTÉ series ''Love/Hate (TV series), Love/Hate'' (2011), ''Resistance (miniseries), Resistance'' (2019), the BBC drama ''My Mother and Other Stranger ...

) 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 *'' Pierrepoint'' (2005) *'' Funny Cow'' (2017) *'' Cordelia'' (2019) *Denmark (2019) Selected television *'' Christabel'' ( ...

. 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 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 British English-language television shows Television shows set in Northern Ireland World War II television drama series Films directed by Adrian Shergold Television shows scored by Natalie Holt Television series set in 1943

Setting

Characters and actors

Director and producers

References

Further reading

External links