Heartstopper

Heartstopper is a British coming-of-age romantic drama created and written for Netflix by Alice Oseman, adapting Oseman’s webcomic and graphic-novel series of the same name. The first season premiered on 22 April 2022 and follows Charlie Spring, an openly gay student at the fictional Truham Grammar School, after he is seated beside rugby player Nick Nelson. Their friendship develops into a romance as Nick confronts feelings he has not previously understood and eventually identifies himself as bisexual.

Joe Locke and Kit Connor play Charlie and Nick, respectively. Yasmin Finney portrays Elle Argent, Charlie’s transgender friend, while William Gao plays Tao Xu, his protective best friend. Corinna Brown appears as Tara Jones and Kizzy Edgell as Darcy Olsson, a lesbian couple whose visibility helps Nick. The ensemble also includes Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson, Rhea Norwood as Imogen Heaney, and Jenny Walser as Tori Spring, Charlie’s older sister. Olivia Colman guest stars as Nick’s mother, Sarah Nelson.

Season two, released on 3 August 2023, centres on the school trip to Paris, Nick and Charlie’s developing relationship, and the pressures surrounding their decision to be open about it. It also expands stories for Elle and Tao, Tara and Darcy, and Isaac, who begins questioning how he experiences attraction. The season ends with Nick and Charlie recognising that Charlie’s mental health and eating disorder require support, setting up the third season’s more serious focus.

Netflix released the third season on 3 October 2024. Drawing particularly from later Oseman volumes, it addresses Charlie’s treatment for anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Nick’s concerns about university, and the characters’ changing friendships as they approach adulthood. Oseman has been central to the screen version beyond scripting: they are an executive producer, and the production preserves the comic’s handwritten messages, animated leaves, sparks, and other visual motifs. Filmed in England, the series was produced by See-Saw Films and directed across its seasons by filmmakers including Euros Lyn, who directed the first season. Its candid treatment of queer adolescence, friendship, bullying, identity, and mental health is inseparable from the specific lives of its Truham and Higgs students.

The first season consists of eight episodes and was released simultaneously worldwide. Its source material had begun as a Tumblr webcomic before being published in print by Hachette Children’s Group. Oseman’s own novella Solitaire introduced Charlie’s sister Tori, linking Heartstopper to the author’s broader fictional universe. Adiescar Chase composed the series’ original score.