Oliver is wonderful, however, in her first screen role. One of their routines captures the attention of Melissa (Jemima Kirke from Girls), a successful author who invites the two young women into her home, where Frances catches the attention of Melissa’s unhappy actor husband Nick (Joe Alwyn), while Bobbi seems attracted to Melissa. Her best friend is also her ex-girlfriend: Bobbi (Sasha Lane), a brash American who frequently teams with Frances to do live performances of Frances’ verse. The shy Frances (Alison Oliver) is a student at Trinity College in Dublin and a would-be poet. Conversations With Friends is not without its moments - many of them generated by the same stylistic approach that worked so well on Normal People - but the story feels much thinner, and not capable of supporting a dozen half-hour episodes. Unfortunately, things prove more complicated than putting the band back together.

A successful formula easily recreated to make another instant classic, right? And the two chief creative forces on Normal People other than Rooney herself - director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Alice Birch - are back in prominent roles again. The source material comes from the same author. So expectations are naturally high for Hulu’s new Rooney adaptation, of her debut novel, Conversations With Friends. Hulu’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People was one of the very best TV shows of 2020 - an emotionally and sexually intimate knockout anchored by the fantastic performances of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.

Conversations with friends author