Paul Mescal takes home BAFTA Television Award for Leading Actor in Normal People
Posted: 6th June 2021
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to congratulate Irish actor Paul Mescal on his win as Leading Actor for the Screen Ireland-supported series Normal People at the BAFTA Television awards tonight.
Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Screen Ireland, said: “Our sincere congratulations to Paul Mescal on his BAFTA win for Leading Actor, as well as to Element Pictures and the creative team behind Normal People. We are immensely proud of the acclaim Paul has received for his performance to date. We are delighted to see the incredible response to Normal People from audiences continue with this BAFTA win.”
Normal People - which was previously nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as two Golden Globes since its release - garnered three BAFTA Television Award nominations for Best Mini-Series and both Best Actor and Actress categories for Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones. It was also nominated for four BAFTA Craft Awards for behind the scenes talent on the show, which took place on the 24th of May this year.
Normal People is an Element Pictures production for Hulu and BBC Three, adapted from the award-winning novel by Sally Rooney. The series has been a record-breaking hit for both its UK and Irish broadcast, with over 2.5 million views on RTÉ and 38 million requests on BBC iPlayer in the UK, the most successful show for BBC Three to date. The series is funded under Screen Ireland’s first TV Drama Production fund, which aims to drive the expansion of the indigenous TV drama production sector in Ireland.
Normal People is an adaptation of Sally Rooney's bestselling novel of the same name and garnered strong critical acclaim when it was broadcast on BBC3, Hulu and RTÉ in April 2020. The series follows two young people navigating adulthood in contemporary Ireland, and their complicated relationship from the end of their school days in Sligo to their undergraduate years at Trinity College.