Normal People doubles BBC Three opening week record

21.8 million people requested the show on BBC iPlayer in its opening week

Normal People has given BBC Three its best ever week for programme requests after the show more than doubled the previous record held by Killing Eve.

The hotly anticipated adaptation of Sally Rooney’s award-winning novel was requested more than 21.8 million times on BBC iPlayer in the week since it first dropped on 26 April.

The opening week record was previously held by the first series of Killing Eve, which received 10.8 million total requests in its first week.

BBC Three controller Fiona Campbell said: “We’re delighted that Normal People has been such a success and so many people have come to iPlayer to watch it.

“It’s a modern masterpiece which has helped in catapulting the careers of two brilliant young actors, and we’re looking forward to bringing more drama to BBC Three in the future.”

Normal People follows Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal), two Irish teenagers navigating an on-off relationship while struggling with the class and social barriers that keep them apart.

The show debuted to critical acclaim, with The Independent rating the 12-part series five stars, writing; “Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal inhabit lovers Marianne and Connell so utterly that it is instantly impossible to imagine them being played by anyone else.”