Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones play Connell and Marianne in the BBC/Hulu adaptation of the phenomenal bestseller. They discuss sex scenes and millennial traits.

Though fans will hope and trust that a TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People would not shy from the novel’s sexual intimacies, it keeps us waiting a while – it is not until the second episode that undercover teenage lovers Connell and Marianne get under the covers for the first time. For a few seconds, it all seems to be going comically wrong, as her arms and her ponytail flail above her head, trapped in her pull-off bra. But then her face emerges, shiny with trust and desire, and the fireworks begin. “I love that scene,” says Daisy Edgar-Jones. “It’s so awkward. For me, it is the most representative love scene I’ve ever seen. Connell is so kind and giving and safe with her that it’s a very healthy depiction of what first-time sex can look like.”

This might make it sound a bit PG, but as her co-star Paul Mescal quickly chips in: “It’s not clinical. It’s loving and romantic and sexy because you see two minds coming together.” To describe the adaptation as hotly anticipated is an understatement... Read more...