--- title: "Normal People" year: 2020 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/normal-people" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-18T10:35:46.284030+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T10:35:46.751717+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Normal People (2020) Created by Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie Macdonald · 30m · MPA TV-MA · Drama **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 82 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* Two people who can say anything to each other in bed and nothing across a kitchen table > Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald’s twelve-part adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel is patient, close and unusually honest about sex and class. Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones carry it; the people around them are drawn thinner. ## Synopsis Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) and Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) are in their final year of school in a small town in County Sligo. He is popular and quiet, good at football and better at English than he lets on. She is clever, disliked and does not appear to mind. His mother cleans her family’s large, cold house, and it is in that kitchen, after school, that they start talking and then start sleeping together, on the understanding that nobody at school will know. Connell wants both things at once: Marianne, and his standing among his friends. Then the pair leave for Trinity College Dublin, where the order reverses. Marianne has friends and a boyfriend, Gareth (Sebastian de Souza); Connell has a room and, in Niall (Desmond Eastwood), one friend. ## Review Sally Rooney’s novel was published in 2018 and was read, it seemed, by everyone under forty, which is usually bad news for an adaptation. The shape chosen here is the right one. Twelve episodes of half an hour, written by Rooney with Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe, with Lenny Abrahamson directing the first six and Hettie Macdonald the last six. The book moves in short chapters that skip weeks or months between them. The series does the same, and each episode stops where a feeling stops rather than where a plot does. The story is small on purpose. Connell Waldron and Marianne Sheridan start sleeping together in her mother’s kitchen during their last year at school in Sligo, keep it secret because he asks her to, and then spend their years at Trinity College Dublin failing to say what they mean to each other. That is nearly all of it. Nobody is a villain. Connell is kind and frightened of his friends; Marianne is honest and thinks so little of herself that she agrees to be hidden. The series understands that the not-saying is the story. Paul Mescal plays Connell with his shoulders, drawn up in a school corridor and dropped in her bedroom, and he has the rare gift of looking like he is thinking when he says nothing. Daisy Edgar-Jones gives Marianne a stillness that reads as arrogance in the first episode and, once we know her, as something closer to a flinch. The scene in which he asks her to tell nobody, and she agrees, and the two of them stand there pretending this is fine, left us hot with embarrassment on both their behalves. Neither actor raises a voice. Edgar-Jones lets one small nod carry the whole of the damage. Kate McCullough and Suzie Lavelle shoot faces close, in daylight from windows, with the backgrounds gone soft, so that a two-shot of the pair in bed feels overheard. Sligo is grey, green and wet; the Dublin flats are lamps and red wine. Lucy van Lonkhuyzen’s production design makes the Sheridan house large, pale and under-furnished, a place where footsteps carry, and the Waldron house small and full. Lorna Marie Mugan puts Connell in football shorts, grey tracksuits and one thin chain, and Marianne in dark, expensive, slightly wrong clothes at school; in Dublin she gets the right clothes and he keeps the chain, and the class reversal is done before anyone mentions it. Stephen Rennicks’s music mostly stays away. A piano line arrives, does its job and leaves. A great deal has been said about the sex, and the plain fact is that most of it is about talking. The camera stays on faces. Consent is asked for out loud, and the scenes are cut by Stephen O’Connell and Nathan Nugent at the length of a conversation rather than a montage, so nothing is hurried past. When the two are in a room together, this is as good as anything about young love we have seen on television. When they are apart, it is less good. Marianne’s Dublin set, led by Gareth (Sebastian de Souza), the confident sort who says “actually” a great deal, are drawn as types to be seen through, and Connell’s friend Niall (Desmond Eastwood) is decent and not much else. Marianne’s mother and brother are given so little beyond cruelty that her home life reads as a fact we are told rather than a place we know. And the series keeps the book’s habit of parting the two on a misunderstanding a single sentence would fix. On the page you forgive it. On screen, watching two intelligent faces, we wanted more than once to shout at them. Most television about teenagers is shot as though they were about to be arrested. This is shot as though they were about to be understood, and it is worth the six hours for that alone. It is a 15 certificate and has earned it. Watch it two episodes at a time and no more; it was built in half-hours for a reason, and the ache goes further spread out. *Fi1m score 84, published 18 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are almost entirely warm, and they agree on where the warmth belongs. Most critics single out Edgar-Jones and Mescal, whose performances as the two leads are described as vulnerable, closely observed and well matched. The sex scenes come up in nearly every review, and the consensus is that they are explicit without being gratuitous, with as much attention paid to awkwardness and consent as to desire. Readers of Sally Rooney’s novel find the adaptation faithful, and several critics think it captures the embarrassments of first love better than most television about teenagers manages. Reservations are few and small. Den of Geek notes the middle episodes drag, and the Evening Standard feels some of the book’s edge is lost to the slow-burn pace, even while counting that pace a strength. The one real dissent comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which finds the series handsome but muted, too anaesthetised to feel young. Otherwise the spread is narrow. ### Reviews we read (13) - **Radio Times**, Eleanor Bley Griffiths (5/5): The adaptation captures the novel's emotional depth and complexity of the central relationship. The critic singles out the masterful direction, spot-on casting, music, and visuals for praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/normal-people-review/) - **The Telegraph** (5/5): The TV drama is a rare treat that is even better than the book, thanks to its intimate and tender sex scenes and the way it captures first love and growing up. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2020/04/27/normal-people-review-rare-treat-tv-drama-better-book/) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The adaptation is a near-perfect rendering of the on-again-off-again relationship, capturing the embarrassments, excitements and humiliations of first love through intimate direction and standout performances by the leads. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/26/normal-people-review-sally-rooney-bbc-hulu) - **Empire**, Beth Webb (80/100, inferred): The series is a refreshingly nuanced study of young love with two powerhouse performances. The critic praises the central performances of Edgar-Jones and Mescal and the careful adaptation that does justice to the source material. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/normal-people/) - **Evening Standard**, Vicky Frost (80/100, inferred): The adaptation captures the heady, awkward rush of teenage feelings with compelling performances from the leads and a slow-burn pace that becomes a strength despite some loss of the book's edge. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/normal-people-bbc-three-review-a4423651.html) - **Vulture** (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as an honest, absorbing love story that subverts typical teen romance tropes by delving into class, privilege, trauma, and the lasting impact of first love. It highlights the explicit yet tender sex scenes, strong chemistry between leads, and respectful treatment of the characters' emotional depth. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/normal-people-hulu-review.html) - **Variety**, Caroline Framke (Critic's Pick): The Hulu adaptation is a crushingly intimate and bleak take on the novel with excellent performances. The critic singles out the directing and acting for allowing the story's emotional weight to land effectively. [Read](https://variety.com/2020/tv/reviews/normal-people-hulu-review-sally-rooney-1234587209/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Inkoo Kang (40/100, inferred): The adaptation is handsome but disappointingly anesthetized and lacks youthfulness. The critic praises the faithful adaptation and chemistry between the leads while complaining about the overall muted tone. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/normal-people-review-1292180/) - **NME**, Paul Bradshaw (5/5): The adaptation is every bit as good as the book deserves, with strong performances from the leads and sensitive direction that avoids teen soap clichés. The chemistry between the two main characters keeps the heartfelt love story warm despite its raw emotion and underlying sadness. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/normal-people-review-sally-rooney-2651624) - **Paste**, Ellen Johnson (8.8/10): The series is an uninhibitedly horny yet deeply felt story of two Irish teens floating in and out of each other's lives, treated with delicacy and care in its small quiet moments. It stands out for its realistic sex scenes, focus on mutual pleasure and consent, and earnest portrait of both sexual and emotional intimacy. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/normal-people/normal-people-review) - **Digital Spy**, Abby Robinson (85/100, inferred): The critic describes the series as beautiful and perfectly cast, capturing the essence of the book through its all-encompassing love story and exceptional handling of intimate scenes. It singles out the tender, non-gratuitous treatment of nudity and sex as a standout strength. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a32253270/normal-people-review-nudity/) - **Den of Geek**, Kayti Burt (4/5): The critic calls it a vivid and intimate look at young, messy love, anchored by powerfully vulnerable performances from the leads and faithful to the source material. It notes some pacing issues in the middle episodes but overall delivers for fans and newcomers alike. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/normal-people-review-spoiler-free/) - **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the adaptation faithful to Sally Rooney’s novel and authentic to the nuances of adolescent emotion and relationships. She praises how it captures the specific circumstances of the characters and their evolving bond through both intellectual and physical connections. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/29/tv/normal-people-hulu-bbc-sally-rooney) ## Details - **Created by:** Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie Macdonald - **Director:** Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie Macdonald - **Writer:** Alice Birch, Sally Rooney, Mark O'Rowe - **Novel:** Sally Rooney - **Cinematography:** Suzie Lavelle, Kate McCullough - **Editor:** Nathan Nugent, Stephen O'Connell - **Music:** Stephen Rennicks - **Production design:** Lucy van Lonkhuyzen - **Costume design:** Lorna Marie Mugan - **Producer:** Catherine Magee - **Cast:** Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron; Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne Sheridan; Desmond Eastwood as Niall; Anita Petry as Seminar Leader; Sebastian de Souza as Gareth; Killian Coyle as Pat; Jim Roche as Bill Moran; Muiris Crowley as Mr. Kerrigan - **Runtime:** 30m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 26 April 2020 - **Genres:** Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1JQuWxt3cE ## Where to watch in the US - Hulu: streaming, uhd - Disney+: add-on, uhd - Apple TV: buy, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AT, AU, CA, GB, IE, IN, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Weekend* (2011), Fi1m 86: Two men, one Nottingham weekend, and the same talent for saying the wrong small thing. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/weekend.md) - *The Souvenir* (2019), Fi1m 84: Joanna Hogg’s film student and her older lover; quieter, colder, just as exact about class. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-souvenir.md) - *Before Sunrise* (1995), Fi1m 89: A night’s walk through Vienna; all talk, and the talk is the romance. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/before-sunrise.md) - *Aftersun* (2022): Paul Mescal again, as a young father on a package holiday; keep tissues within reach. - *Scenes from a Marriage* (1973): Bergman’s six episodes of two people talking; the grandparent of all this. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/normal-people