Hi, do you have a box of tissues near you? Have you taken some deep breaths today? Are you sure you’re emotionally over Normal People yet?
If the answers to these questions are resounding yeses, then you might be just about ready to handle the burning intensity of Conversations With Friends, the BBC Three and Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel of the same name. This 12-episode drama is about to become the only thing you’re going to want to talk about this month.
Starring The Favourite’s Joe Alwyn as Nick, Girls star Jemima Kirke as Melissa, newcomer Alison Oliver as Frances and Loki‘s Sasha Lane as Bobbi, Conversations With Friends tells the story of four people whose lives become entwined. Director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Alice Birch, who both worked on the adaptation of Normal People, are helming the series.
For those who haven’t yet read the book, Conversations With Friends follows the lives of four people who become friends — and some of them end up being lovers. 21-year-old uni student Frances and her best mate (and ex-girlfriend) Bobbi meet Melissa, a famous author, at a spoken word event. Here begins a friendship between Bobbi and Melissa, which results in the introduction of Nick, Melissa’s dashing actor husband, to the mix. That’s when this quartet of newfound pals gets complicated. Frances and Nick start having an affair, and all is kept under wraps until Bobbi makes an unsettling discovery. Much like Normal People — the BBC/Hulu adaptation of Rooney’s second book which was a major hit in 2020 — steamy sex scenes and big emotions abound.
‘Normal People’ is true to the book and heart-wrenchingly romantic
Of course, as with any Rooney novel, it’s never just about the complicated relationships between two (or more) characters. As Rooney writes in the book, “everyone’s always going through something, aren’t they? That’s life, basically. It’s just more and more things to go through.”
For Frances, that something involves going through the lengthy and difficult process of trying to get a medical diagnosis for severe pelvic pain, which doctors initially dismiss as bad period pains and tell her to go on the pill. After being hospitalised due to the intense pain and bleeding so heavily that doctors wrongly think it might be a miscarriage, Frances faints while on campus and her need for a diagnosis and appropriate care becomes all the more apparent to those around her.
Pelvic pain and gynaecological conditions like endometriosis are rarely explored in the pop culture we consume, nor are the challenges of attempting to get the care you need while experiencing medical misogyny at the hands of healthcare professionals, and ableism from the people around you. The portrayal of a character with endo is refreshing — not only because it’s so rare to see this condition talked about on our TV screens, but it’s also not served up as inspiration porn, nor is it the sole story at play in the drama. As someone with a disability who at first struggled to accept my diagnosis, I found Frances’ initial reluctance to talk about and accept the results of her ultrasound quite poignant.
It should be noted also that the soundtrack is exceptional. I might be biased because the very first song that plays in episode one is Irish singer CMAT’s “I don’t really care for you” — an artist I am currently completely obsessed with. Other bangers on the soundtrack include Joy Crookes, Roxy Music, James Blake, Tori Amos, to name a few.
I found myself completely drawn into the romance of Nick and Frances and when I wasn’t sitting glued to my laptop screen watching their torrid affair unfold, I found myself thinking about them when I attempted to tear myself away from the screen. I think that’s the measure of a really great TV show or movie — thinking about the characters and their story when you’re chopping vegetables in silence on a weeknight. These four friends got under my skin and I suspect they’ll get under yours, too. You’ll find yourself urgently needing to know what happens, how these relationships (plural!) turn out, whether people’s feelings get hurt, whether they’re all OK in the end.
Conversations with Friends will premiere this May on BBC Three in the UK, Hulu in the U.S., and RTÉ in Ireland.
