Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel, Normal People, was adapted into a limited series that premiered in 2020. First in the UK on BBC Three, and later in Ireland and the U.S. on RTÉ One and Hulu, respectively. As everything must, the 12-episode limited series came to an end, leaving a significant gap on the watchlists of many fans. We’re talking especially about fans of the show’s uncanny portrayal of class and socioeconomic disparity, intimacy and vulnerability, mental health and self-worth, the power of miscommunication, the fluidity of identity, and the painful process of growing up.
This list isn’t necessarily about shows with the same plot lines. But you can rest assured that every entry on this list captures the Normal People vibe, where the biggest action is someone deciding NOT to send a simple text. Where timing is the immense villain in a love story, where chemistry isn’t about being a good kisser, and where characters struggle to name their feelings. Tighten your seatbelts as we take you on a journey to uncover TV shows like Normal People to watch next.
1. Forever (2018)
Imagine a marriage that’s not bad, just… dead. But like quietly dead. It’s like a houseplant that the owners quietly forgot to water for three years, but it remains. That’s what Oscar (Fred Armisen) and June’s (Maya Rudolph) marriage looks like in Forever. Things really kick off after the couple takes a ski trip that jolts June awake and makes her basically ask, “Is this it?”
June and Oscar are just like Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) in Normal People. Just like Connell couldn’t tell Marianne he loved her, June and Oscar can’t seem to find the courage to tell each other how unhappy they are until tragedy strikes. The show has the guts to be boring because that’s the point. Few scenes capture that element of the show like Episode 1, “Together Forever” where they just sit silently in a car for a long time. All in all, the show asks the question: what if you love someone, but just don’t… like them as much anymore?
2. One Day (2024)
In One Day, you’ll be checking in on the most classic example of “will they, won’t they” couple, Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall), on the same day (July 15), every day, for like two decades. Some years, they’re together. Some years, they barely speak and are with other people. And most years, they’re just painfully in each other’s orbit, missing each other by five minutes and one stupid life choice.
Like Normal People, this 14-episode limited series shows what happens when love isn’t just enough and life happens. It also has that “right person, wrong time” energy that will have you screaming at your TV or phone screen in a good way. Definitely a great watch if you love Normal People.
3. Bridgerton (2020-Present)
Bridgerton may feel like a surprise addition to this list, but hang on a bit to see why. You’d have to peel back the fancy gowns and string quartet Ariane Grande covers to uncover a show that’s basically telling a story about people who have no clue how love works and just wing it without really talking to each other. The show’s first couple sets the tone for everything else that follows. Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) is totally clueless in matters of love, and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) is so traumatized to the point where he’d rather ruin his own life than be vulnerable.
If you’re still wondering why this show’s on the list, it’s because of its epic miscommunication theme. Connell and Marianne were bad at talking, but Simon and Daphne showed you how couples fight without ever really needing to raise their voices. In fact, their biggest fights usually happen in ballrooms with polite smiles. Overall, this show is just Normal People with corsets and a much bigger budget for the dramatic.
4. Crash Landing on You (2019-2020)
The premise of Crash Landing on You is fairly simple. Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a rich South Korean woman, literally falls out of the sky and crash-lands into North Korea. She’s found by Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a stoic, by-the-book North Korean officer. By all accounts, you’d think, “here comes an intriguing spy thriller.” Instead, what unfolds is one of the most stressful, implausible “will they, won’t they” love stories you’ll ever see.
K-Drama fans will love this one. The romance is entirely in the looks Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok share because they can’t speak freely. The scene where he secretly fixes her shoes speaks louder than any flowery declaration of love. Like Connell and Marianne, their love grows in quiet, stolen moments, made more intense by the fact that everything around them is trying to pull them apart.
5. Summertime (2020-2022)
Summertime is an Italian TV series inspired by Federico Moccia’s Three Meters Above the Sky. It’s an intriguing series with a powerful combination: hot summer, hot Italian guy, and a girl trying to figure out her life. It’s all perfect skies, deep blue sea, and instant, easy connection. You know, the kind that feels like the only thing in the world while it’s happening, even though you can see the expiration date from outer space.
This is another show that captures that same sad flavor of “right person, wrong time” vibe we saw in Normal People. It’s all about the ache of being a part of a beautiful love story that you know is just for the time being. You can see the end coming for Summer (Coco Rebecca Edogamhe) and Ale (Ludovico Tersigni) from the first moment they connected, just like you knew that the days of Connell and Marianne’s university love story were numbered.
6. The Affair (2014-2019)
The Affair follows Noah Solloway (Dominic West), a “happily married” man with 4 kids, as he engages in extra-marital affairs with Allison Bailey (Ruth Wilson), a grieving mother and waitress who’s also married. This is a story about cheating in a marital relationship. Plain and simple. But the kicker is that you get to hear every part of the story twice. Once from Noah’s point of view, and once from Allison’s. And here’s a not-so-shocking tidbit: it’s NOT the same story. Not even a little bit. It’s messy, frustrating, and very, very relatable.
Remember how we only ever got a glimpse of what’s going wrong in Connell and Marianne’s relationship from one or the other? This is it, but… better. The Affair is a show that makes you realize that in every relationship, two different scenarios are playing out in two different people’s heads. This logical realization makes you question everything we saw between Connell and Marianne. Whose version of their fights should we believe?
7. Love Life (2020-2021)
Each season of Love Life follows one person’s journey through all their major relationships. This includes the cringe-worthy first dates, the bad breakups, the embarrassing mistakes, and the slow lessons learned from each failed relationship. Season 1 stars Anna Kendrick as Derby Carter.
This show roots hard for the “practice makes slightly less terrible” theory of love. No one comes into any great relationship fully formed. Every relationship leaves a mark, just like Marianne’s toxic family shaped her, or how Connell’s grief changed him. An episode might focus on a six-month relationship that ends badly, but you see how that failure teaches the character how to ask for what they need next time.
8. Feel Good (2020-2021)
Comedian and recovering addict Mae (Mae Martin) meets sweet, sheltered Georgina “George” Lawson (Charlotte Ritchie), who has never dated a girl before. Their relationship is intense, funny, and deeply messy from the start, because Mae’s past and George’s confusion constantly threaten to blow it all up.
The mental health element in this series is not just a plot point; it’s the whole landscape of the series. Mae’s anxiety isn’t the “feeling a bit bad” kind; it’s the full-body, “can’t breathe” panic kind. Like seeing Connell’s deep depression, it shows that loving someone with demons means you don’t slay the demons for them. You just… sit on the floor with them sometimes. It doesn’t get any more real than that.
9. Modern Love (2019-2021)
Based on the beloved New York Times column, Modern Love serves up standalone stories about love in all its bewildering forms. A doorman’s paternal protection, a missed connection decades later, a couple navigating the adoption process, a walk through New York City that says more than a lifetime of conversations.
Modern Love finds epic, universe-sized emotions in the smallest, most specific human moments. That famous “When Cupid is a prying journalist” episode (Season 1, episode 2) is a perfect example: it’s just two people, Julie (Catherine Keener) and Joshua (Dev Patel), connecting through conversation, and it’s utterly captivating. It shares Normal People’s fundamental faith in quiet intimacy, proving that you don’t need grand gestures or explosive drama to show love. Sometimes the most powerful thing is just seeing and being seen, fully, for one perfect block in Manhattan.
10. This Is Us (2016-2022)
This is the big family drama that follows the Pearson clan across decades, from the parents, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) first meeting to their kids, Kate (Chrissy Metz), Kevin (Justin Hartley), and Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) adult lives in the present. It jumps in time constantly, showing how a single moment can echo for a lifetime.
We’re ending here because not many TV shows understand how the past is always in the room, like This is Us. It has that same Normal People magic of showing how Connell’s childhood insecurity or Marianne’s family trauma didn’t just disappear. It followed them, shaping every choice they made about love.
Now the choice is yours… pick one that speaks to your current mood, and explore the different shades of love.
