When Line of Duty star Amy de Bhrún’s short film Samhain debuted at the Dublin International Film Festival, it was the proudest moment of her career so far.

For, despite being a celebrated actor who has starred in the hit cop drama as Steph Corbett, and has led other series including Blackshore and Borderline,  Samhain is a project that’s close to her heart.

She has written and stars in the film which is directed by her husband Sean Brannigan as it has been inspired by her own journey as a mother of a neurodivergent child.

Amy is a celebrated actor who has starred in Line of Duty as Steph Corbett, and has led other series including Blackshore and Borderline

‘It kind of just poured out of me,’ Amy says of writing her first short film. ‘My son River had been diagnosed with autism at the end of November in 2024, so at the beginning of last year. I just started writing the story. I had this image in my head of him that I couldn’t get out. And it was just a way of processing and transforming all those feelings that you feel when you are a mother whose child gets a diagnosis like that.

‘And it was also a way of challenging those closed doors we kept coming up against, whether that was preschools not accepting him or a lack of supports being available to us or the fact that he’s to go privately for most things because the waiting lists are so long.’

Amy has a six and a half year old daughter Billie as well as River who is four.

Amy with her son River who has autism

‘Billie is neurotypical and she ticked all the boxes the whole way along when she was growing up,’ Amy says.

‘But when River came along we noticed that his speech was delayed and that was really the only sign that something was amiss.’

As a baby, River suffered from problems with his chest and was hospitalised after contracting the RSV virus.

‘He got Covid a couple of times so his chest as a baby was quite weak which meant he had to take a lot of antibiotics,’ Amy says.

When River’s speech was delayed, Amy and Sean got his hearing checked and they were asked if he had a lot of infections as a baby.

‘They had seen a lot of fluid in his ears and he got grommets and his hearing did improve then.

‘Immediately he could hear everything whereas before he was hearing things like he was underwater. But his speech didn’t come on so much.’

Amy and Sean were advised not to seek an autism diagnosis until Rover was three so they worked instead with Cluas, an organisation which helps children with speech and language developmental delay.

‘’We worked on that for a while and River’s speech was improving but at a snail’s pace,’ Amy says.

‘Then on his first day of preschool, the teacher said, “You need to get him assessed immediately.” And that was quite a shock because we had been going on this journey of exploration and then suddenly it was demanded we get him assessed right away.’

Amy and Sean filled out the forms for AIM Level Seven which allows providers to reduce staff-to-child ratios or hire extra staff so that River would have extra support. But the preschool wasn’t able to provide it as they couldn’t find anyone to employ.

‘We kept being told then that they couldn’t accommodate him and in fairness to the headmistress there, she recommended another preschool where they specialise in helping children with autism.

‘And after another day of one school telling me “we can’t keep him here” I arrived on their doorstep crying.

‘It was like someone was looking out for us because we were told there was a place available.’

Amy and Sean went private to get River’s diagnosis and he adapted well to his autism preschool.

‘He loved it,’ Amy says. ‘It was like night and day how he responded as compared to before as suddenly he was going to a preschool where he was completely accepted versus a preschool where he was being tolerated.

‘We always say we’re so lucky, but every child has the right to their education. So it’s awful that we feel lucky just because our child is getting his basic need, a basic right being met.’

The cast and crew of Samhain at the Dublin International Film Festival

It was out of this that the film Samhain came, a story of a stressed mother Emma who realises eventually that her child deserves to be accepted as himself.

And she feels the pace of change with regards to how children with autism are treated by society is changing but very slowly.

‘My nephew has autism and the change that I’ve seen in the last 10 years is quite slow,’ she says. ‘So I’m hoping that in the next 10 years it’ll speed up significantly. When my nephew was diagnosed with autism and when he got his diagnosis, I remember my sister had organised for AsIAm to go into the school and give a talk. And it was so enlightening.’

Amy says if people understood more about autism it would be easier for children and adults to make simple switches to accommodate someone with the condition.

‘There are very simple changes you can make that can change the course of your entire day,’ she says.

River is a kind and thoughtful child who, like Samhain in the film, adores wearing princess dresses and tutus.

Amy as Emma with Niall Deakin as Samhain in the film

‘We just give ourselves extra time, do loads of preparation, let River know what’s happening.

‘With my autistic child I have to be very much in the present and stay in the moment with them.

‘But at the same token, you also have to have planned ahead so that you’re bashing any obstacles out of their way and not making too many demands on him.

‘So if there’s something big on one day, if we’re going to visit a grandparent or if we’re going to go horse riding, we just keep it to that and everything becomes simplified around it. When you take off the demands, he actually is capable of so much more.

‘River loves to feel safe. He loves wearing like tutus or princesses and he loves dressing up and if we tried to take that all off we’d probably never get him into school.

‘So again, it’s just accepting that the lovely beautiful Christmas Day outfit that you planned for him might also contain like a tutu and a big headdress.’

She can see her beautiful son enjoying life and participating in his own way and says most of the pressure comes from the outside.

‘There’s a definite pressure,’ she says, indicating that this again comes from a lack of understanding from the wider public. ‘I’ve been in public spaces where he’s had a meltdown. ‘River’s actually the most gentle, sweet, very sensitive little child, but a meltdown looks like a tantrum, and looks like what we remember as a bold child, and that’s not what it is. I’ve definitely felt that pressure in public spaces; going to go to a preschool that he wasn’t welcome at, I felt that pressure in so many ways and so many times but he’s not going to conform to what the social norms are.

‘And that is both beautiful and fabulous if you allow yourself to accept it.’

Amy remembers a trip to children’s theatre The Arc to see How To Catch A Star.

‘We were thinking “Oh God, will River be OK with this?” because sometimes these situations are unknown to us.

‘So we give it a go and we just go, but always be prepared to leave. We always have to be prepared to leave at the drop of a hat and not be sad about it.

‘But we were there and he is in the middle of the audience and as soon as the puppet came on he said “Oh wow! Look! He’s Here!” and “Oh it’s the star!” Then there was a bit at the end where it almost looked like it was going to end and River like got up and started clapping. He said: “OK, thank you. Go home now. Everyone go home.” You have to allow yourself to accept that he’s going to do stuff like that.’

And that’s what Samhain is essentially about, the enchantment that life in all its different colours can bring if you see things from another perspective. Amy is at pains to stress it’s not a documentary, rather a work of fiction inspired by her own story. And she is grateful to have been able to get it premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival.

Samhain is also available to watch on the Virgin Media Player now for three months.

‘I wrote the film, and then the opportunity for Virgin Media Discovers came up,’ she says.

‘The great thing about the Virgin Media Discovers scheme is you can go to festivals with your film, which is really important. But then also people get to see it on the TV which opens up its audience instantly.

‘And this particular subject matter, I think, in Ireland even at this time, just needs to be seen. So the fact that it’s on the TV and it’s on the player, and people have instant access to it, makes me so thrilled because I think it’s a story that needs to be told.’

Samhain is  available on the Virgin Media Player