Normal People has been the focus of a lot of attention because of its groundbreaking controversial adaptation of Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed novel, but for me there was one particular aspect of it that stopped me in my tracks - it was filmed in the Co Sligo town of Tubbercurry.
ever mind the raw intensity of the relationship between Marianne and Connell and the sex scenes that had Joe Duffy avalanched with calls, this is a series that has put the small rural market town of my childhood on the international map.
I was watching the first shows in the series, curious to see what all the fuss and hype was about, when Marianne’s horrible brother Alan turfed her out of his car in the rain and made her walk to school so he could pick up a work colleague.
And suddenly my attention was drawn to the background. Yes, that was Burke’s garage. And yes, that was Maureen O’Connor’s shop way off in the distance down the hill. I was hooked.
The producers of Normal People have picked Tubbercurry to represent the fictitious town of Carricklea where Marianne and Connell grew up in Sally Rooney’s book and their complex relationship began, thrusting out of a backdrop of bullying, insecurity, teenage angst and worry, and a multi-dimensional mishmash of emotions in evolution.
But I remember the town as a far simpler place. My mother was born there, and I spent all my childhood summer holidays there with my grandparents.
Suddenly, this small and quiet place that is the stage for so many of my own young memories, is being shared by millions of people, including US celebrity Kourtney Kardashian who is now craving a second series.
I don’t know one Kardashian from another, but a quick browse on social media tells me she has 92 million followers on Instagram and 25 million followers on Twitter. Know her or not, she has a bit of clout across the pond.
Normal People has been a massive success here, in the UK, and in the US. Made by Dublin company Element Pictures for the BBC and streaming service Hulu, it has now been taken on by other distributors which means Marianne and Connell are about to get global recognition, and surfing their glorious coat tails will be my beloved Tubbercurry.
Traveling west last week was like Marty McFly getting into a DeLorean time machine, but I did just that, and went back to Tubbercurry’s future.
Many of the green fields I played in as a child now have housing estates in them. The house where my mother was born is looking a bit sad and the worse for wear, and the long abandoned old railway station has been overtaken by nature again.
But although under lockdown, many of the shop and pub names I remember so fondly are still there. Murphy, Surlis, Gillespie, McCarrick, Brennan, Killoran, Kennedy, Kilcoyne.
Actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones are currently on lockdown in their London apartments unable to travel to promote Normal People, and in a sense Tubbercurry is in the same situation.
Lots of people are seeing Tubbercurry, but nobody can go there, and even if they did they would find Nathy Brennan’s pub, Killoran’s pub and restaurant, the church and other Normal People landmarks, closed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Paul Murphy, who brought Tubbercurry some fame two years ago when he took part in RTE’s Operation Transformation, runs a hotel and supermarket in the town with his family.
Avoca in Co Wicklow had a huge tourist boom after Ballykissangel back in the late 1990s, and parts of Northern Ireland are getting a similar interest following Game Of Thrones.
So has lockdown scuppered any chance of the town capitalising on its new-found fame?
“There is a lot of interest in Tubbercurry now, but I actually think the lockdown could work to our advantage in the sense that because things are shut down everywhere people are getting a chance to watch Normal People on TV, read about it more and understand it more,” said Paul.
“I think it is getting far more publicity than it would if it was being shown in normal times, so I think we will reap the rewards of this down the road with people wanting to come to the town and see where it all happened,” he said.
Paul said the evidence of interest is already there. “Over the years we’ve been trying to promote the town and south Sligo and telling tour operators what we have to offer, such as the scenery and two of the best iconic old Irish pubs in the country, which is now being portrayed on Normal People.
“So I recently emailed a lot of those tour operators and said ‘watch this series’, and now I’m getting phone calls from operators saying ‘now I know what you’re on about’ and they were blown away by it,” he added.
Roger McCarrick, the chair of the local Chamber of Commerce, says Tubbercurry is a small town with a big heart.
“We’re very accessible and have a marvelous community of music, song, dance, and drama. It is the home of the amateur drama movement, but the title of the series is very apt because we are Normal People,” he said.
“The culture and human spirit we have will be seen by anyone who comes,” he added.
A lot of the controversy around the series is rooted in the way passionate sex scenes are portrayed. And issues such as mental health, communication, and consent are explored in depth.
Born and raised in the town since I was a regular summer visitor scoffing 99’s from Igoe’s shop are Ross McCarrick (26) and Emma Gillespie (22).
I was interested to see what their take on Normal People is, and how it has put their town on the map of modern cultural landmarks.
“They’re showing different aspects of people’s lives whether it's mental health or going out and seeing a fella and things that happen in young people’s lives that I don’t think they tell their parents about,” said Emma.
“At any level adults can be as awkward as young people, and it was there in the show and it was natural. I think people do talk about their feelings but not many listen. That’s a lot of the problem, that breakdown in communication,” said Ross.
“In Normal People you can see that was Connell and Marianne’s problem, they weren’t listening to each other and they just expected that the other person would know what they are talking about. The dramatic contrast they have put in the show is good, and it’s all about doing it ‘in time’ and not waiting around for the other person to automatically know what you’re talking about,” he added.
Emma said watching Normal People with her parents was fine, largely.
“I had to fast forward it a few times, but they’re trying to get a story across so I really shouldn’t be doing that. It’s awkward yes, but it’s life at the end of the day,” she said.
Seeing the local church on screen during emotional scenes of Normal People were also time-travel moments for me.
It is the church where my parents got married in 1965, and also where the funerals of my grandparents were held in 1983 and 1994.
The church has already featured in Normal People in scenes where Marianne’s family have an anniversary mass for her father and Connell arrives, but it is to feature again this week in dark scenes surrounding mental illness.
Brennan’s pub, run by brother and sister Nathy and Nora, is just as I remember it, and how generations before me remember it.
It features in the drama as one of the social hubs of fictitious Carricklea.
My visits to Tubbercurry dwindled after my grandparents died as family bonds to the town slowly evaporated, and my relationship with the town faded.
Having been back last week and been welcomed so warmly I feel I must go back again when pandemic lockdowns are lifted, and in the words of Connell Waldron say “sorry” and “hello”.
