‘ Normal People’s Success felt like a strange dream’
DAISY Edgar- Jones says becoming an overnight star thanks to the drama Normal People felt like a strange dream as the world was already topsyturvy due to Covid- 19.
The actress, 22, and co- star Paul Mescal, 24, shot to fame in April this year following the debut of the BBC’s coming- of- age series.
Daisy was only able to enjoy her success online due to the pandemic, and she could only be reunited with Paul at the Bafta TV Awards in July.
She said: “To be honest, it was something that was very difficult to actually register at the time, the whole experience felt like a strange dream as the world was already topsy- turvy, and the show coming out just added to the strangeness.”
Daisy, who became the first ever winner of the Rose d’Or Emerging Talent Award last month, said 2020 “definitely won’t be a year I will be forgetting any time soon”.
She told the Big Issue: “I have had some time to make sense of the impact within the last few months.
“The initial release of the show felt like a surreal video game I was playing, as my only interaction with it was through my phone.
“But during the summer when lockdown lightened and I was able to see more of my friends and leave the house, I definitely realised how many people the show had actually reached and what that meant for me and my career.
“The show has definitely opened doors for me, which I feel very lucky about.”
Normal People, which was adapted from the Sally Rooney novel of the same name, focuses on the on- off relationship between Irish teenagers Marianne and Connell ( played by Daisy and Paul), from their school days through to their university years.
The BBC Three adaptation was cowritten by Rooney and Alice Birch and directed by Lenny Abrahamson, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2015 for Room, and Hettie Macdonald, who directed the mini- series Howards End.
Daisy said the show had “touched” fans in a way she had not expected.
“It’s true to say that the impact of Normal People took us by surprise. We knew it was a great story with a brilliant team making it, and of course the book was a huge hit already, but there was something extra that seemed to happen through being in lockdown when the show was released.
“I think it was a heightened experience for many people – whether that was about being connected when we had to be apart or about nostalgia for first love, it felt like it touched people on a deep, emotional level.”
Normal People became BBC iPlayer’s most popular series of 2020 after it was streamed more than 62 million times.
Killing Eve was the second most watched programme and was streamed a total of 39.3 million times.
Cookery show
‘ The impact of the show took us by surprise. There was something extra that seemed to happen’
MasterChef was third at 22.2 million, followed by legal drama The Split with 18.9 million. Silent Witness and The Secrets She Keeps were next.
Before Daisy made her name in Normal People, she appeared in Silent Witness and ITV’s Cold Feet.
Her next role is in the thriller movie Fresh, which is currently in production.
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