Normal People (TV series)

• 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 and athlete. 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.

• 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. She doesn't have a close relationship with Marianne and often fails to control Alan's abuse towards Marianne throughout the series.
• Éanna Hardwicke as Rob Hegarty, a close friend of Connell's who attends the same school. He later dies by suicide, which devastates Connell.
• 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 close friend Marianne meets 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 asks her to the Debs formal instead of 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.

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.[5] Sarah Greene and Aislín McGuckin were also announced as part of the cast.[6] 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.[7][8]

Principal photography began on location in County Sligo and Dublin in May 2019.[9]

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.[10] Students from Trinity College Dublin also featured in the series while filming at the university.[11][12] 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.[8]

The series has received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a 90% "Certified Fresh" rating, with an average score of 8.2/10 based on 83 reviews. The site's critic consensus states, "Anchored by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal's vulnerable performances, Normal People is at once intimate and illuminating, beautifully translating the nuances of its source material."[20] On Metacritic the series has a score of 84 out of 100 based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[21]

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.[22]

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."[23]

The production has received particular praise for its realistic portrayal of intimate content[24] and the work of Ita O'Brien as intimacy coordinator.[25] The nudity sparked debate on Irish radio, with callers to Joe Duffy's Liveline saying it was inappropriate.[26]

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"[27] while CNN described it as "perfectly [understanding of] the desires we place on communication technologies and the ways they nearly always come up short" and "irresistible in abnormal times".[28]

Prathyush Parasuraman of Film Companion, wrote, "Rarely have I seen the sort of cultural dialogue that I saw post the release of Normal People in April 2020, when it was released in the UK. Based on Sally Rooney’s namesake book, the story follows Marianne and Connell through the later years of their high-school, their years at college, and the post-collegiate restlessness, failing to be what one wished for oneself only years ago. It’s set in and around Ireland, with brief detours to sunny Italy and snowy Sweden."[29]

Normal People reportedly gave BBC Three its best ever week on iPlayer (26 April to 3 May), 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.[30][31] It became the most-streamed series of the year on the BBC, with 62.7 million views from April to November 2020.[32]

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.[33] 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.[34]