Normal People on BBC3

[Bouledeneige]

Binge watched it yesterday and loved it. Emotional, passionate and two really great leads. Thoroughly recommend it (so long as you don't mind lots of love scenes). Cried lie and felt bereft when it finished.

Well that’s true that teenagers don’t talk like that. They also don’t go straight from their first kiss ever to wanting to have sex then and there like Marianne.

I think the actress playing Marianna is good though and it is bringing back all the cringey and bittersweet feelings of that time of life in spades.

How old are the characters supposed to be?

He looks a lot older, so finding it a bit odd that they're meant to be in the same class.

I was looking forward to this.

Turned off first episode half way through. It was boring and badly written. Shame.

The characters are 18 at the start. Last year of school and then first year of degree.

I’m on episode 8. Like others have said, it takes me back to my angst ridden youth many moons ago! Very frustrating though why they don’t just call themselves an item - when Connell goes home for the summer, why does he assume she’ll want to see other people - it’s only for a few months.

The casting made me uncomfortable given how much sex there is. The female lead is young anyway (21 now, so probably a teenager when they were shooting) and looks even younger, and she's so tiny and thin, which is such a teen porn trope. Whereas the male lead is a bit older in real life and looks much older - he could easily pass for 35. There was far less soft-focus lingering over and exposure of his body than hers too. Also having read the book, I'm wary of what is essentially an abusive relationship being portrayed as a great romance.

Finished the binge watch and glad I did - went to some dark and unexpected places. They did capture the frustration of that age of being unable to articulate emotions .

It made me feel,sad that I'll prob never have a "great love" in my life. 56 now and 2 kids but never had that kind of intimacy or love or passion wit anyone. Feel like I've missed a whole part of life.

Afraid I was bored by the whole thing - and I am Irish and went to Trinity (although back in the dark ages!) so it should have resonated. I ready Sally Rooney's first book and also couldn't connect or care about the characters who seemed shallow and naval-gazing, just couldn't understand all the hype around the novel. I downloaded the free sample of Normal People on my kindle so as not to make a judgement on just one novel, read it, hated it too so didn't buy the book. Had read good things about the TV series though and so far am still disappointed. Going to carry on watching though for hopefully a nostalgia-fest of Trinity scenes.

Absolutely loving bingewatching it and I also really enjoyed the book.
Couldn’t disagree more about the sex scenes - they’re so sensitive and balanced and never felt gratuitous or voyeuristic - they were more uncomfortably intimate.
They really capture the intensity of their love and how they connect physically yet there are all these painful and awkward misunderstandings constantly in their relationship.

Watched 5 episodes today loving it so far

I've watched three episodes so far. Really loving it. Enjoyed the sixth form scenes and can relate to a lot of what happened there. I find it quite believable and am fascinated by the two main characters. The shift to Trinity was well done in my view and brought back many memories of my own uni days. Looking forward to watching the rest of it and will no doubt get through the lot too quickly.

They started filming last May, @AsCoolAsLangCleg, so all cast were less than a year younger than they are now at the start of filming.

I'm loving it, just finished episode 5. My DH has been gripped to and it's not his usual thing at all. The actor playing Connal is really good, he plays the character in a very believable way. He does look far too old though, whereas Marianne looks right for the age she's supposed to be.

I’ve just started it having recently read the book. I found the book a bit boring to be honest, having heard all the hype I felt like I missed something so hoping to be illuminated by the TV adaptation!

Liked the first episode but it is a bit slow and ponderous, and there are a lot of lingering shots of faces which seem a bit heavy handed... interested to see how the portrayal of the relationship evolves. Still not sure how I feel about the relationship and how Connall treats her. Despite him being crap and wanting to keep it all a secret initially I did find him one of the more likeable characters in the book.

I absolutely loved this and watched the entire thing in one go........I didn't have an issue with the sex scenes. I liked the fact they highlighted consent repeatedly and most notably they both had pubic hair !

Made me feel rather whimsical for those days that we'll never get to experience again.

Well, i loved it, but then I met DH when we were teens in small town Scotland and we did talk like that (have old letters to prove it). However we did end up at art school so were definitely more pretentious than some other teens. Also went through on off spells due to miscommunications and misunderstandings and timing issues.
We ended up together long term but I dont know if we would have in this day and age, i think young people wait longer to play their hand and choose one option above others.
Very evocative, but maybe difficult to relate to if you were a less complicated young person ?

I’ve only watched the first two episodes but the nudity in the sex scenes made me feel uncomfortable because Marianne looks about 13.

Started it... 2 episodes in and it's not grabbing me tbh.... a little dull... not even sure I'll bother with the rest unless lockdown is extended... also finding sex scenes uncomfortable which is odd as they don't normally bother me..l I think it's because Marianne seems so young...

It bored me too I'm afraid and I don't really get why he can't tell his friends about her - maybe I missed that part. It's painfully slow plus the male lead reminds me of the gurning village idiot from Father Ted. He sat on a wall wearing an "I Shot JR" t-shirt and now that's all I can see when I look at Conal on screen.

I will carry on with it but I think the sex scenes were more explicit than they needed to be.
It would have been enough to see them kissing and undressing, and then in bed with her back to us, for example, to show they had sex. Close up of her face when he asked consent.
No need to keep showing her boobs. It just seemed a bit gratuitous.
I don’t think I’d have been half as bothered if the actress had looked older.

I so wanted to love this, but I also found it uncomfortable.
I don’t know....she just came across as HFA and he looked far too old and a bit creepy.

I would have probably loved it 30 years ago though.

Binge watched this over the past couple of days without having read the book. I found the first few episodes dragged but it does get much better once they get to college.

Thanks to a PP for clarifying that the book has lots of interior monologues as I kept being completely confused by what felt like random and jarring plot devices of characters making utterly bizarre decisions out of nowhere just to move the story along.

I'm guessing that the book also gives the back story for the two characters as that was barely touched upon and left Marianne's mother and brother in particular one dimensional and pantomime villain-ish.

I thought the two lead actors were extraordinary and a special shout out to the, at best, 'inappropriate' teacher for that comic grotesque turn which had me cringing and laughing.

The acting really was top notch especially from the chap who played Connell.

2 very complicated individuals other than her shitty brother and mum it didn’t really explore her history and why she was how she was.

* The* male lead reminds me of the gurning village idiot from Father Ted
Oh god he really does**