Irish television history will be made around 10:45pm this evening when RTE airs the fifth episode of Normal People. The episode features a sex scene between Connell and Marianne that clocks in around 4 minutes and 40 seconds.
Saturday's edition of the Irish Sun claimed this will be the longest sex scene to ever be aired on Irish TV. It features full frontal male nudity.
Normal People has been broadly celebrated for its honest and realistic depiction of the (sex) lives of Irish young adults. Its frank sexual content has also raised the ire of Liveline callers and figures in the Irish Catholic Church.
Lenny Abrahamson, who directed episode 5 as well as the controversial second episode that prompted the landmark Liveline 'fornication' episode, defended the sex scenes while speaking to RTE daytime TV.
"I think we did it very sensitively and I would say it's brilliant radio on Liveline but I wouldn't say that the callers who were upset about it represent too many people in the country now.
"And they are totally entitled to their view but I think most people feel very differently about intimacy and bout the positive aspects of it."
"And generally speaking there has been a very strong positive response to the way sex scenes are shown and the way consent is dealt with.
Spoiler alert: far more disturbing will be a scene in Episode 6 where Trinity students attend a party at a house with an indoor pool. A pool party set in Ireland has also never been captured on TV and hopefully it will prompt similar reactions of anger.
In other Normal People related news, a Kardashian named Kourtney Kardashian declared her love for the programme this weekend on Instagram Stories.
'This show' she wrote, and featured a screengrab of Connell and Marianne driving in a car, with a love emoji.
