A new romantic comedy drama filmed and set in Belfast is to hit TV screens tomorrow.
The Lovers, starring west Belfast actress Roisin Gallagher and English actor Johnny Flynn, tells the story of a self-centred political broadcaster with what looks to be a perfect life in London and a celebrity girlfriend who falls for a bad-tempered Belfast supermarket worker.
When Seamus literally drops into Janet’s world, over the wall of her backyard, the pair instantly clash. However, they also find themselves inextricably drawn to each other.
At first it appears that Seamus and Janet couldn’t be more different. He’s a wealthy member of the elite, who considers himself to be “more famous than Philip Schofield” and has just been given his own Sunday morning tv show. She is a supermarket worker who is divorced and believes she is worthless.
He’s obsessed with politics and all the latest goings on at Westminster. She loves reality TV and never watches the news.
But the one thing they have in common is that they’re both lost, they’re both broken. And they need healing. And they find that healing in each other.
“It feels like at the beginning of the story, Seamus and Janet are so entrenched in their exterior identities. But through waves of discovery, they get to find their true selves and a sense of mutual understanding,” says Flynn.
“Especially in Belfast, where there’s a history of sectarian division, I love the fact that this is a story about two people letting go of who they think they are and discovering something more meaningful.”
The city of Belfast is an integral part of the plot – from the ironic filming of the political tv show outside Stormont building, where Northern Irish politicians have not met since February 2022 to the nightlife of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and the streets of working-class East Belfast.
“I love showcasing Belfast, I love showcasing Northern Ireland, I love showcasing Ireland. I think stories like this just show us as who we really are. Sometimes we’re painted with one brush or another, but we are just normal people going about our daily lives and just getting on with everybody,” comments location manager Scott Houston.
Andersonstown actress Roisin Gallagher, who is best known for playing Shiv in the tv drama The Dry, believes The Lovers will provide viewers with escapism as well as show Belfast and it’s people “in a way they’ve never seen it before”.
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Gallagher, who will join Flynn at a special Belfast premiere in The Strand Cinema in Belfast tomorrow evening, adored playing the role of Janet, who she describes as “salt of the earth”.
“She has a hard exterior, but I think her bark is worse than her bite. She has an epic sense of humour that she uses to cover up her many insecurities and she finds it difficult to be vulnerable. She has had a hard paper round as we say in Belfast. I find her very courageous.”
Directed by BAFTA winner Justin Martin, the six-part Sky Original series also features Star Trek star Alice Eve, as Johnny’s girlfriend Frankie and Game of Thrones' Conleth Hill as supermarket manager Philip.
Hill was drawn to working on the drama, due to the script of Belfast’s David Ireland.
“David Ireland is a terrific writer; I’ve directed two of his plays and two short films that he wrote but I’d never actually acted in anything that he had written. Like all great writers, he’s an excellent observer of the human condition. There is a lovely neurosis about his writing. It’s probably very torturous for him, but it’s very funny for us.”
The Lovers will be available on Sky Atlantic and the NOW TV streaming platform from September 7.
