Falling: Channel 4’s New Romantic Drama About a Nun and a Priest

Channel 4’s drama *Falling* follows Anna (Keeley Hawes), a nun who leaves her convent, and David (Paapa Essiedu), a young priest sent to rescue a teenager from an abusive home. An accidental omelette-making moment ignites tension between personal desire and ecclesiastical duty. The story moves in a timeless setting where characters juggle ordinary concerns—broken cars, job-centre interviews—alongside spiritual obligations.

The Guardian

Jack Thorne wrote and created the series; his earlier drama *Adolescence* sparked parliamentary debate over modern conditions. He describes *Falling* as set in a “slightly liminal, adjacent world,” mixing contemporary realities with spiritual questions. Hawes consulted an ex-nun for her role, and Essiedu based David on a charismatic priest who mentored him.

The Guardian

Keeley Hawes (Anna) is a 50-year-old actress playing a nun confronting perimenopausal uncertainty and a loss of vocational clarity. Paapa Essiedu (David) is a 35-year-old actor portraying a worldly priest whose routine includes car repairs and buying socks. Sophie Stone appears as Sister Susan, a deaf performer who was the first deaf student admitted to RADA in 2005. The ensemble also includes abusive husbands, fiancés, congregants and a deaf sister noted for “reading facial expressions” as a super-power.

The Guardian

The drama examines love in romantic, filial, communal and divine forms, asking whether love can outweigh duty and whether duty has meaning without love. The creators avoid explicit menopause references, instead showing Anna’s “sudden sloughing off of her orders” to comment on women’s convent experiences. The ambiguous chronology—neither clearly 2010 nor 2020—underscores the tension between present realities and eternal souls.

The Guardian

Hawes said playing a 50-year-old nun forced her to imagine experiences she has not lived, leading her to research with a former nun. Essiedu described David as a priest whose daily life includes ordinary inconveniences, highlighting the pull between attraction and vows. Thorne called the series an effort to humanize clergy while keeping their spiritual stakes.

The Guardian

• “That was the most difficult thing – to play as someone of my age [50], but with no experience of any of the life that someone of my age would have lived,” — Keeley Hawes, Actress

The Guardian

• “There’s something passionately and violently present within them that’s both drawing them together and pushing them apart,” — Paapa Essiedu, Actor

The Guardian

• “I think it’s quite good that it sits in this slightly liminal, adjacent world,” — Paapa Essiedu, Actor

The Guardian

• “And the love of God,” — Keeley Hawes, Actress

The Guardian

*Falling* premieres on Channel 4 on 19 May at 9 pm. Viewers and critics will assess whether its blend of ordinary life and spiritual drama succeeds in delivering a nuanced portrayal of love and duty within the Catholic context.

The Guardian