The Irish actress Orla Brady well merited the prestigious award she received on Wednesday night at the Monte Carlo International Television Festival, where she was named best actress for her performance in A Love Divided. Set in Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford in the late 1950s, the film chronicled a shocking true story of the bitter sectarian conflict when Sheila Cloney, a Protestant happily married to a Catholic farmer, Sean (Liam Cunningham), objected to the assumption of the domineering parish priest (played by the late Tony Doyle) that the couple's first child would enrol at the local Catholic school.

In a drama that built with smouldering power, Orla Brady vividly etched Sheila's personality in all its stubbornness, determination and vulnerability. It was a remarkable performance for an actress new to leading roles in film. Raised on Dame St in Dublin where her family owned the Oak bar, she has considerable experience on stage, including Three Sisters at the Gate in Dublin and The Playboy of the Western World at the Crucible in Sheffield, and in television, including Wuthering Heights, The Rector's Wife, The Heart Surgeon, Absolutely Fabulous and the recent Pure Wickedness.