Conversations With Friends

BBC3, 10pm & 10.30pm

Can lightning strike twice? After the success of Normal People, here’s another BBC adaptation of a novel by

Irish author Sally Rooney.

The story hinges on quiet young poet and final year undergraduate Frances (Alison Oliver), who has a close friendship and performing partnership with her former lover, extrovert Bobbi (Sasha

Lane). The affection they share is about to be shaken after they’re befriended by writer Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and her handsome actor husband Nick

(Joe Alwyn), pictured right.

This is a milieu in which dinner-party conversations are ripe candidates for Pseud’s Corner. However, that’s more than offset by the precision with which their prickly interactions are depicted, and there’s an intimacy that’s uncomfortable but compelling.