Like millions of viewers all over the world, we’ve been tuning into Normal People. Its depiction of a relationship between a young man and woman, it is tender and sensitive and moving. It’s also hot. The sex scenes are frequent, and those who are isolating with parents have shared their discomfort with the sudden moments of nudity. Within the context of the show, the scenes are beautiful and realistic. But one viewer has earned the ire of the Normal People team by creating a clip reel of the programme that only features the sex scenes.
The 22-minute video - featuring stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones - was uploaded to PornHub last week, and while it’s obviously an immature and demeaning reduction of the original work, it’s also a clear case of copyright infringement. It has, therefore, been removed after bosses reached out to complain.
Ed Guiney, Normal People’s executive producer, has spoken to Variety about the infringement. 'We're hugely disappointed that excerpts from the series of Normal People have been used in this way’ he explains. ‘It's both a violation of copyright and more importantly, it's deeply disrespectful to the actors involved and to the wider creative team.'We have taken appropriate steps to require that the content be removed from the platform with immediate effect.'
Normal People apparently includes 41 minutes of sex scenes in its 12, half hour episodes. The second episode contains 11 minutes. But a source told The Sun that great care was taken to ensure that such scenes were not gratuitous. 'The writers wanted to stay true to the book and that featured a lot of sex’, they explain. ‘They didn't want to portray it gratuitously though, and an intimacy coach was used to ensure the cast were happy at all times.’
Nevertheless, Paul Mescal has been reluctant to share the scenes with his family. Last week he told The Graham Norton Show that his granny and great aunt have done their best to avoid seeing him in the buff. Fair enough.
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