Normal People

With this much anticipation on its shoulders, we were almost afraid to watch Normal People, the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s now cult 2018 novel. But the twelve-part drama is everything we’d dreamed it could be. The story centres around Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) two students from two different worlds as they come together and fall apart, over five years – moving from their home town in Sligo to college in Dublin. It’s beautiful to watch, full of feeling and the two leads – both in their first major roles – are pitch perfect as the young lovers. Watching it somehow made me both relieved I’m no longer in my late teens and in the first throws of love but also wistful for those heady moments too.

Normal People boxset is all on iPlayer on Sunday April 26 from 6.00am and on BBC One on Monday April 27

TV Guide: the best new shows to watch this week, including Sally Rooney's Normal People