CBC today announced the exclusive Canadian premiere of coming-of-age drama NORMAL PEOPLE (12×30, an Element Pictures production for BBC and Hulu), based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (War of the Worlds, Cold Feet) and newcomer Paul Mescal. Recently launched in the UK and U.S. and touted as one of the best book-to-series adaptations in recent years, the 12-part story of young love and heartbreak will launch on the free CBC Gem streaming service Wednesday, May 27, with two new episodes premiering each Wednesday.
NORMAL PEOPLE tracks the complicated relationship of Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) from the end of their school days in a small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College. At school, he’s well-liked and popular, while she’s lonely, proud and intimidating. But when Connell comes to pick up his mother from her cleaning job at Marianne’s house, an indelible connection grows between them – one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they’re both studying in Dublin and Marianne has found her feet in a new social world but Connell hangs at the side lines, shy and uncertain. The pair weaves in and out of each other’s lives as they explore the complicated worlds of intimacy and young love.
Adapted by Sally Rooney alongside writers Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe, NORMAL PEOPLE is an Element Pictures production (The Favourite, The Lobster, Room) for Hulu and BBC Three. Lenny Abrahamson (Room, The Little Stranger, Frank) directed the first six episodes, with Hettie Macdonald (Howard’s End, Beautiful Thing, Fortitude) helming the final six. The series is executive produced by Ed Guiney (The Favourite, Room, The Lobster, Dublin Murders), Andrew Lowe (The Favourite, Room, The Lobster), Emma Norton (Rosie, A Date for Mad Mary), and Anna Ferguson (No Offense, Prisoners’ Wives) for Element Pictures. Rooney and Abrahamson also serve as executive producers. Endeavor Content is handling international sales.
