The full series of 'Normal People' launched as a box set on BBC’s iPlayer channel, BBC Three, yesterday (Sunday April 26). Thus many in the UK have already had a chance to check it out.
Not to worry if you don't have access to the player though as BBC One airs the first two episodes tonight at 9pm. After that RTÉ One airs a double-bill of 'Normal People' on Tuesday 28th April at 10.15pm.
The TV series is based on Sally Rooney's bestseller and revolves around Marianne and Connell. They form a relationship that is unbeknownst to their classmates while in school together in Sligo. Sparks reignite when the two reconnect at Trinity College Dublin.
Kildare newcomer 24-year-old Paul Mescal stars in his first television role as Connell; British actress Daisy Edgar Jones ('War of the Worlds', 'Cold Feet') plays Marianne.
Oscar-nominated director Lenny Abrahamson and English director Hettie Macdonald helm the 12-part series.
The early reviews were out last week and if these responses are anything to go by, audiences at home are loving it as much as the critics are.
that feeling where your middle class uni surroundings feel alien & unwelcoming, but you also know you can’t return to your hometown/life ‘before’.. that existing in between, without belonging.. I don’t think I’d ever seen that on screen before the way I now have on #NormalPeople
— bi chemical romance (@crimsonstalks) April 26, 2020
Finished. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Don't look at me. No, don't. Just perfect - everything I wanted - and more. Just lush, tbh. Lush. I felt like I went through their relationship - from school to the very end. I LOVED IT. And no, I won't shut up about it. #NormalPeople @NormalPeopleBBC pic.twitter.com/ul9FJsv6ED
— Corey Terrett (@terrettcorey) April 26, 2020
#NormalPeople is so abnormally brilliant & gorgeously Irish. Feel like I've just relived my own Debs' dramas, then landed into Trinity again as a country kid who'd rarely been to Dublin & had never hung out with an English person before. My eye balls send thanks @lennyabrahamson
— Aisling Bea (@WeeMissBea) April 26, 2020
#NormalPeople on @BBCiPlayer is beyond amazing. I’m lying in bed crying my eyes out at 4:30am
An epic romance told with breathtaking intimacy. pic.twitter.com/cBz7ob6zjR— Henry Davis (@Henry_Davis4) April 27, 2020
Just finished all of #NormalPeople. That was beautiful. Pitch perfect. Loved it as much as the book, which is rare. Easily one of my favourite TV shows of 2020 so far, if not of the last few years. pic.twitter.com/BD3599XXzE
— Elliot Gonzalez (@elliot_gonzalez) April 26, 2020
Mind you, there were a few complaints about the UK getting it before us in Ireland - given the largely Irish cast and crew involved, and it being set in Ireland, written by an Irish author.
As an Irish person, I feel rather affronted that the UK gets to watch #NormalPeople first when it's written by an Irish person about Irish people in Ireland. We surely should have got dibs, right? Yeah, yeah, I know it's made by the BBC but the petty part of me is very miffed.
— Sophie Grenham 🇭🇰🇮🇪 (@sophiegrenham) April 27, 2020
Today I shall be mostly jealous of people in the UK who can now binge watch #NormalPeople while us in Ireland wait till tomorrow night, to watch it on TV, like it's the 90s or something. Sniff. https://t.co/9MgEHH2qtw
— vicky conway (@drvconway) April 26, 2020
Check out our interview with the cast and crew of 'Normal People' here.