Heartstopper is a Netflix original TV series based on the graphic novel series by Alice Osman. Originally a webcomic on Tumblr and Tapas, volumes 1 and 2 of the books was published by Hachette Children’s Group in 2019. It’s a story of ‘boy meets boy, boys become friends, boys fall in love.’ Both the books and show demonstrate the feeling of first love, friendships, coming out, and mental health. One season of the show has been released, with seasons two and three confirmed by Netflix.
There are four volumes of the Heartstopper books which altogether has five chapters and a spin off novella called Nick and Charlie. It was recently announced by Alice Osman that the fifth and final book will be released on February 2, 2023, concluding Nick and Charlie's story.
Heartstopper is the story Charlie Spring (played by Joe Locke ), who was outed the previous year as being gay, and Nick Nelson (played by Kit Conner ), the school's rugby star. Neither have ever spoken to each other, until they come back after the Christmas break and Truham Grammar School has implemented a new system for their form groups which means that all years will be mixed within the groups. Charlie and Nick are both sorted into Hamlet House, where they are seated next to each other, they exchange the lines “Hi,” “Hi,” which they repeat throughout the series. This is where their story begins.
Charlie's friends are constantly trying to tell him that Nick is straight, while Nick himself is trying to figure out if his feelings towards Charlie are purely platonic. He fully realises what Charlie means to him when he is over at Charlie's house to watch a movie. Charlie falls asleep with his hand out and Nick has the overwhelming urge to just hold his hand, but stops himself out of fear.
The series has been nominated for many awards including Most Groundbreaking Representation by Nominee Autostraddle TV Awards, and the TV Choice Award for Best New Drama. Olivia Colman, who plays Nick’s mother, was also nominated for Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series by International Online Cinema Awards 2022. Kit Connor was nominated for Best TV Performance in the Dorian TV Awards 2022. The show has won the Dorian Award for Best LGBTQ TV Show.
The show has also been nominated for the upcoming National Television Awards under the category New Drama, and leads Joe Locke and Kit Conner have both been nominated in the Drama Performance category.
The show is highly regarded with it getting 100 per cent from Rotten Tomatoes, an 8.7/10 from IMDb, and 85/100 by Metacritic.
The cast includes Joe Locke as Charlie Spring, Kit Connor as Nick Nelson, Yasmin Finney as Elle Argent, William Gao as Tao Xu, Cormac Hyde-Corrin as Harry Greene, Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson, Rhea Norwood as Imogen Heaney, Sebastian Croft as Ben Hope, Olivia Colman as Sarah Nelson, Corinna Brown as Tara Jones, Jenny Walser as Tori Spring, and Kizzy Edgell as Darcy Olsson.
This is heart-warming story about love, friendship, and figuring out who you really are. It is an incredible piece of work which shows that love doesn’t care about what other people think or expect from us.
