Helen Walsh’s On the Sea is the latest film to explore queer love in a rural setting, centring on two mussel farmers who fall in love within a hyper-masculine Welsh fishing community. The film stars Irish actor Barry Ward as Jack, a man married to his childhood sweetheart whose life is shaped by the church and the fishing industry. Ward, 46, who has starred in Bad Sisters and Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Hall, adopted a Welsh accent for the role. He adds: “While there is a real love between them, I’m not sure how sustainable it could ever have been. “Most of the time, people can suppress those feelings, but it’s really interesting to see what happens when that side of a person is explored.”