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Paul Mescal , who plays Connell in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People has said he is “looking forward to dating” when the lockdown ends.
The 24-year-old from Maynooth, Ireland, who currently lives in London, says “if lockdown ever happens again I’m making sure I’m married”.
Appearing on the I’m Grand Mam podcast Mescal said he doesn’t think his new-found celebrity status - and fandom surrounding his character’s chain necklace - will make dating “weird”.
Mescal explained: “I’m really looking fowrard to dating...I’m trying not to think of it being weird because I think we’ve been in lockdown for f**king months and I’ve had no opportunity to meet somebody new or [be] remotely intimate with anybody.
“I’m at the point now where I want to get married and settle down, you know that hysterical thing? If lockdown ever happens again I’m making sure that I’m married,” he joked.
Mescal confirmed he had been using dating app Hinge prior to lockdown, but had now stopped.
The actor, who appeared alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne, said he worries that people will presume he is the same as Connell.
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"I'm not Connell, I'm totally different to him," he said. "Maybe what's sexy about Connell is he's that kind of classic back footed, aloof, smart... I'm definitely not back footed or aloof.
"This is for the record: if anyone ever dates me, I am not Connell and nor do I want to be him."
When the series was launched on 26 April it quickly became the channel’s most-watched show with 16.2million requests in the first week.
It beat the previous opening-week record held by the first series of Killing Eve, which drew audiences of 8m in 2018.
Since the show has ended fans have taken to social media to share their dedication to one particular part of Connell’s character - his chain necklace.
An Instagram account dedicated to the jewellery now has 135,000 followers.
And ASOS has reported a 130 per cent rise in search for chain necklaces online.
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