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Entertainment

11th May 2020

Does Normal People really live up to the hype?

JOE

normal people

The show has been an instant hit worldwide

Few television shows have captured the public’s imagination during lockdown quite like Netflix’s The Last Dance and BBC Three’s Normal People. The two couldn’t be more different. One is a long-form documentary series detailing the skill, character and ego of Michael Jordan and the success of his Chicago Bulls dynasty in the 1990s, while the other is a sober tale about first love between two Irish teenagers.

Normal People is adapted from the sophomore novel of Irish novelist Sally Rooney, and has garnered acclaim for its realistic and raw portrayals of young relationships, and its honest depiction of awkward sex.

It has been praised far and wide, and gave BBC Three is best week ever when it had received received 16.2m iPlayer requests from April 26.

But does it live up to the hype? We got Aurore, who has read the book but not watched the series, to watch it alongside Alex, who is familiar with neither.