Irish writer Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul, discusses his second novel, Panenka, about a 50-year-old former footballer who has spent 25 years unable to escape from one critical and very public error which made him an exile in his home town. A new BBC TV drama, Three Families, is set in Northern Ireland and looks at the controversial and divisive subject of abortion. Northern Ireland was exempted from the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act and had some of the most restrictive policies in Europe. Two years ago when the Stormont Assembly was dissolved and decision-making powers transferred to Westminster, MPs in London voted overwhelmingly to change the law and ease access to abortion. This series fictionalises the stories of three women and their personal involvement in the campaign to liberalise the law. We speak with the writer of the two-part series, Gwyneth Hughes. Main image: David Hockney