Normal People: First look at Marianne and Connell in the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel

Newcomers Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal portray the couple

Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal in 'Normal People' (BBC)

The BBC has revealed a first glimpse at its TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel Normal People.

In a series of production stills, newcomers Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones can be seen as the couple at the centre of the story, Connell and Marianne.

Rooney’s critically-acclaimed book follows two teenagers from very different backgrounds embarking on a difficult relationship as they finish school and leave their small town in the west of Ireland for university.

The author has written the screenplay for the upcoming BBC3 adaptation, which will also air on Hulu in the US.

Normal People comprises 12 episodes and also stars Sarah Greene and Aislín McGuckin.

In the new images, the couple are pictured together and Edgar Jones’s Connell can be seen sitting a school exam.

Paul Mescal plays Connell in 'Normal People' (BBC)

Edgar Jones’s Marianne is also pictured at Trinity College in Dublin.

Daisy Edgar Jones plays Marianne in 'Normal People' (BBC)

“In Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, I feel I have found two young actors who can vividly capture Marianne and Connell and bring alive the profound and beautiful relationship at the centre of the story,” said director Lenny Abrahamson, when casting was announced.

“It’s also lovely for me to be shooting in Ireland again and telling an Irish story after shooting abroad.”

Normal People will air on BBC3 and Hulu in 2020.