Normal People (TV series)
Normal People is an Irish drama television series produced by Element Pictures for BBC Three and Hulu in association with Screen Ireland. Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Sally Rooney, the series follows the relationship between Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron, as they navigate adulthood from their final days in secondary school to their undergraduate years in Trinity College. The series was primarily written by Rooney and Alice Birch, and directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald.
The series was released on BBC Three in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2020, followed by weekly airings on BBC One. It premiered on RTÉ One in Ireland on 28 April 2020. In the United States, the series was released in its entirety on Hulu on 29 April 2020. The series has received critical acclaim, with praise for the performances, writing, and its portrayal of mature content. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, the series was nominated for four awards: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Paul Mescal, Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series for Lenny Abrahamson, Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series for Sally Rooney and Alice Birch, and Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series for Louise Kiely.
Premise
The series follows Marianne and Connell through their time at secondary school in County Sligo on Ireland's Atlantic coast, and later as undergraduates at Trinity College Dublin. The focus is mainly Connell's and Marianne's complex relationship. Among her peers at secondary school Marianne is regarded as an oddball, though she rejects having any care for social standing. Despite her academic achievements, her home life is complicated by her dismissive mother, Denise, and resentful brother, Alan. Her father is deceased and is revealed to have been a domestic abuser, though her family avoids mentioning him. Connell is a high-achieving athletic student living with his single mother Lorraine, who is employed by Denise as a cleaner. He is popular in the school community, though he is diminished by remaining silent during the bullying of Marianne. This creates complexity as their relationship develops.Cast
Main
- Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne Sheridan, a student from an affluent family who is studious, outspoken, and therefore disliked. She begins a relationship with Connell which he suggests they keep secret. She later attends Trinity College Dublin and studies history and politics.
- Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron, a well-liked, academically gifted student. His mother works as a cleaner for Marianne's family. He struggles with what he wants out of life and decides to follow Marianne's suggestion and apply to be an undergraduate at Trinity College to study English.
Recurring
- Sarah Greene as Lorraine Waldron, Connell's single mother who is employed by the Sheridan family as their cleaner. She and Connell share a close relationship and she expresses disappointment when Connell chooses his public image over treating Marianne well when they are in school. Prior to Marianne and Connell's secret relationship, she is very close with Marianne.
- Aislín McGuckin as Denise Sheridan, Marianne's single wealthy mother who is a solicitor. Marianne's father is described as being abusive towards her and she doesn't have a close relationship with Marianne and often fails to control Alan's abuse towards Marianne throughout the series.
- Eanna Hardwicke as Rob Hegarty, a close friend of Connell's who also attends the same school. He later dies by suicide which devastates Connell later in the series.
- Frank Blake as Alan Sheridan, Marianne's brother with whom she's not close. He does not treat Marianne well, frequently makes derisive comments about her, and is sometimes physically abusive.
- Eliot Salt as Joanna, a friend Marianne makes at Trinity College.
- India Mullen as Peggy, a friend Marianne makes at Trinity College who also comes from a wealthy background.
- Desmond Eastwood as Niall, Connell's flatmate during his time at Trinity College. He and Marianne become friends and he often encourages Connell and Marianne's relationship.
- Sebastian de Souza as Gareth, the classmate of Connell's at Trinity College who is an advocate of free speech and Marianne's early collegiate love interest.
- Fionn O'Shea as Jamie, part of Marianne's social circle at Trinity College who is very competitive. He has a crush on Marianne throughout their university days.
- Leah McNamara as Rachel Moran, a fellow schoolmate of Marianne and Connell's and part of Connell's social circle. She and Connell once had a casual fling, making her occasionally jealous of Marianne. Connell chooses to go to the debutants' dance with her over Marianne resulting in them becoming estranged for the first time.
- Seán Doyle as Eric, one of Connell's school friends.
- Niamh Lynch as Karen, one of the nicer girls to Marianne at school in Sligo
- Kwaku Fortune as Philip, a friend of Marianne's at Trinity College.
- Clinton Liberty as Kiernan.
- Aoife Hinds as Helen Brophy, Connell's girlfriend at Trinity College.
- Lancelot Ncube as Lukas, Marianne's boyfriend in Sweden.
Episodes
Production
Development and casting
In May 2019, it was announced BBC Three and Hulu ordered 12 episodes based on the novel that would premiere 2020 starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal as Marianne and Connell respectively. Sarah Greene and Aislín McGuckin were also announced as part of the cast. Sally Rooney herself would help with the adaptation alongside writers Alice Birch and Mark O'Rowe. Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald would direct and Irish company Element Pictures would produce the series.Filming
Principal photography began on location in County Sligo and Dublin in May 2019.Tubbercurry primarily made up the fictional town of Carricklea, with Streedagh Point along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way used for beach scenes, Knockmore House in Enniskerry, County Wicklow for the Sheridans' residence, a terraced home in Shankill, Dublin for the Waldrons' residence, and Hartstown Community School in Clonsilla, Fingal for the secondary school scenes with real-life students featuring in the background. Students from Trinity College Dublin also featured in the series while filming at the university. Scenes at Marianne's Dublin flat were shot on Wellington Road in the affluent area of Ballsbridge.
Although set in Trieste in the novel, filming took place in Central Italy, primarily in and around Sant'Oreste, Stimigliano, and the villa Il Casale on Tenuta di Verzano, in Lazio. They waited until February 2020 to film the Sweden scenes in Luleå so snow would be on the ground and the Baltic Sea frozen over for Marianne to walk on.
Release
The first look pictures came out on 1 November 2019. BBC Three and Hulu released their own teasers on 17 January 2020 followed by trailers on 31 March.The 12 episodes became available as a BBC Three boxset on BBC iPlayer on 26 April, followed by a BBC One airing on 27 April. The series became available on Stan in Australia on 27 April and began airing on RTÉ One in Ireland on 28 April. The series premiered in the US on Hulu on 29 April. The series has been sold to over 20 broadcasters worldwide.
In June 2020, Abrahamson directed Edgar-Jones and Mescal in a one-off spoof short episode as part of RTÉ Does Comic Relief, in which Marianne and Connell give confessions to a priest played by Andrew Scott.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the series has a "Ceritifed Fresh" approval rating of 90% based on reviews from 73 critics. The site's critic consensus states "Anchored by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal vulnerable performances, Normal People is at once intimate and illuminating, beautifully translating the nuances of its source material.". On Metacritic the series has a score of 84 out of 100 based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".Media in Ireland noted that the series glosses over references to The Communist Manifesto document and Doris Lessing's feminist novel The Golden Notebook, which Rooney, who has described herself as a Marxist, included in the book.
Caroline Framke of Variety magazine wrote: "With its trifecta of elegant writing, directing, and acting, Hulu’s Normal People is just as bleak and uncompromising as Rooney’s novel — a feat, and one that takes several episodes to fully absorb. In fact, it took me until about halfway through to understand just how much it was affecting me.... As Marianne and Connell’s relationship grows deeper, Normal People becomes as immersive as the book that inspired it, making you both crave and dread knowing — or perhaps more accurately, experiencing — what happens next.
The production has received particular praise for its realistic portrayal of intimate content and the work of Ita O'Brien as intimacy coordinator. The nudity sparked debate on Irish radio, with callers to Joe Duffy's Liveline saying it was inappropriate.
The series has been widely praised by major critics and publications. Linda Holmes of NPR described Normal People as "a lovely series, not just to binge, but perhaps to dole out to yourself a couple of episodes at a time" while CNN described it as "perfectly the desires we place on communication technologies and the ways they nearly always come up short." and "irresistible in abnormal times."
Viewing figures
Normal People reportedly gave BBC Three its best ever week on iPlayer, receiving over 16.2 million programme requests across the 12 episodes, about 5 million of which were from 16–34 year olds, and bringing BBC Three requests up to 21.8 million, doubling the previous record of 10.8 million from the release of the first series of Killing Eve. 70% of BBC Three requests that week were for Normal People and a quarter had finished all 12 episodes.The first two episodes were reported to have been watched on RTÉ One by an average of 371,000 viewers with an additional 19,000 on RTÉ One +1 and 301,000 streams on RTÉ Player, becoming the most watched opening of a drama series on RTÉ Player. 30% of 15–34 year olds watching TV were watching Normal People. The finale had over 319,000 viewers, 33% of the total RTÉ audience and 20% increase over the previous week.
In June 2020, it was reported that Normal People had garnered over 3 million views on RTÉ Player, breaking the previous record for the streaming service of 1.2 million, which was held by the fourth series of Love/Hate.