Falling stars Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu as a nun and a priest who fall in love – and yes, there’s a fairly sizeable age gap between them both on-screen and in real life.
The new Channel 4 drama, written by Adolescence creator Jack Thorne, follows Anna (Hawes), a nun who’s spent decades devoted to life in a convent.
Everything changes when she meets Father David Hicks (Essiedu), a priest whose arrival completely disrupts the quiet certainty of her world.
Their chemistry is immediate – but viewers have also noticed something else: the actors themselves are separated by 15 years.
How old are Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu?
Keeley Hawes is 50 years old, while Paapa Essiedu is 35.
Hawes was born on February 10, 1976, while Essiedu was born on June 11, 1990.
Speaking to The Guardian, Hawes admitted one of the biggest challenges of the role was portraying someone who’d effectively removed themselves from society at a young age.
“She just went in at 18. And that has been her life,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Essiedu joked about Hawes’ character falling for him during an interview with Virgin Radio.
“You can talk to Matthew Macfadyen about that,” he laughed, referring to Hawes’ husband.
“Well, I mean, everyone fancies the pants off Keeley.”
Hawes also said she was “thrilled to bits” when she learned Essiedu had been cast opposite her.
“I’d thought of an older priest, which is maybe the more obvious casting,” she told Channel 4.
“He has such gravitas and depth but also funny bones… he has that twinkle.”
Are Anna and David the same age in Falling?
Not quite.David’s exact age is never confirmed in the series, but he appears to be roughly the same age as Essiedu in real life – somewhere in his mid-30s.
Anna, meanwhile, is actually younger than Hawes. In the series, we learn she entered the convent at 16, and her mother later reveals that happened 26 years earlier, making Anna around 42.
So, while the actors have a 15-year age gap, the characters are likely separated by closer to seven or eight years.
Ultimately, though, Falling isn’t especially concerned with their ages. The series is much more interested in faith, repression, loneliness, and what happens when two people suddenly start questioning the lives they’ve built.
And, compared to other similar romantic dramas, Falling is relatively tame.
For example, The Thorn Birds – an obvious comparison point – featured an 18-year age gap between Father Ralph and Meggie, with him knowing her since childhood.
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Falling premieres tonight at 9pm on Channel 4. You can also stream the full series online now.
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