"Perfect." "Breathtaking." "Abnormally brilliant." These are some of the snap reviews of the new BBC dramatisation of Normal People. The first episode aired last night, but thanks to iPlayer and the lockdown, diehard fans stayed up late to binge-watch all 12 episodes.

The show is based on the bestselling, award-winning novel by Sally RooneyNormal People was her second novel and was voted 2018 Waterstones' Book of the Year and Best Novel at the 2018 Costa Book Awards. Normal People has been described as the "first great millennial love story". and follows the lives of the socially awkward Marianne and the athletic, good-looking Connell, from school to university.

And their relationshipThe way in which two people or things are connected. status? It's complicated.

This is no fairytale love story. Normal People has touched a nerve with its brutally realistic and truthful portrayal of growing up, leaving home, and falling in love. Readers describe how Marianne and Connell's anxious, embarrassed, confused relationship is "just like life".

But it's also a story about being normal. At school, Marianne is a misfitMarianne ignores the rules and is not interested in being popular. She doesn't like sport or music, but enjoys reading and big ideas, and she is bullied for standing out. - she doesn't do what everyone else does. She's not "normal". Connell, meanwhile, tries to blend in. At university, the roles are reversed. Marianne becomes popular and Connell struggles to find his place.

For such a simple word, normal has incredible power over our lives. There are times when we are desperate to be treated like everyone else. Students have fought for the right to be seen as normal. In Sally Rooney's novel, being made to feel abnormal makes Marianne and Connell lonely, anxious, and depressed.

But at other times, the last thing we want is to be a 'normieA pejorative term for someone with conventional, mainstream, popular tastes and ideas.'. We want to be creative, celebrate what makes us different and unique, and shape our own identities.

One of the big ideas in Normal People is that we can never really know what normality is. Stuck inside our own heads, all we see is the confused mess of our own thoughts. Other people look happy, popular, and worry-free. But inside, they are just like us. And maybe that is what it really means to be normal.

Yes, of course they do. We are social animals and we like to be part of a group - to move in herds for safety. We recognise immediately if someone doesn't fit in or stands out. So like it or loathe it, in any situation we always know who the normal people are. They are the majority and the mainstream: those who are most comfortable with life's rules and standards.

No, they only exist in our heads. We only see a small slice of other people's lives and none of their internal thoughts. So, we don't always see the unusual and unconventional things other people get up to when they're not 'being normal'. And we can't see their self-doubt, their frustration, and anxiety when they're trying to act normal. Normal doesn't really exist, yet the idea can be very harmful.