The TV adaptation we’ve been waiting for since 2018 is almost here. It is, of course, Sally Rooney’s Normal People, and it drops on BBC Three on Sunday April 26. Now, in a newly-released clip, you can feel more joy than you have in weeks watching Marianne and Connell’s first kiss. 

Starring newcomers Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal in the lead roles, the 12-part series is directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson (Room) and Hettie McDonald (Howard’s End), and is written by Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe, with Rooney herself also involved.

In the clip, shared on YouTube today (April 17), Connell asks Marianne if he likes her “as a friend, or what?” She replies: “Not just as a friend.” After assuring him their relationship could remain a secret at school, the pair kiss.

The clip is the third look at the forthcoming series, following the release of two teaser trailers in January, and a full trailer in March. BBC Three also shared some stills from the show in November last year.

Normal People tells the story of Marianne and Connell’s relationship as they leave school and head to university in Dublin. “In Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, I feel I have found two young actors who can vividly capture Marianne and Connell and bring alive the profound and beautiful relationship and the centre of the story,” Abrahamson said when casting was announced in May.

In February, it was announced that Rooney’s debut novel Conversations with Friends is getting its own TV adaptation, following the turbulent relationships between Frances, Bobbi, Melissa, and Nick. Rooney, Abrahamson, and Birch are already confirmed to be involved, though no casting or production news has been announced.

Watch the first look preview of Normal People below.