The Women's Podcast
Ep 405 Normal People's Ita O'Brien on how to make great TV sex
The sex in the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel Normal People became a huge national talking point. It was praised for its authenticity and complained about on Liveline for very different reasons. In this episode Ita O'Brien, intimacy coordinator, talks to Roisin Ingle about why her job choreographing the sex scenes between Marianne and Connell was akin to the role of a choreographer brought on set to oversee a fight scene. Nothing was left to chance from consent to safe words, which meant the actors were protected and the sex in Normal People was always integral to the story and never gratuitous. A former dancer and actor, O'Brien previously worked on programmes such as Sex Education and Gentleman Jack and offers a fascinating glimpse behind a relatively new part of the film and TV industry.