Heartstopper is a British coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama television series on Netflix, adapted from the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman. Written by Oseman herself. Heartstopper was released on 22 April 2022. It received critical acclaim, particularly for its tone and pacing, as well as its portrayal of LGBT people. The first season received nine nominations and five wins for the inaugural ceremony of the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards. It gained instant popularity, among the top 10 English series on Netflix in just two days. It also increased the popularity of graphic novels and the series’ songs. On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Heartstopper had been renewed for a second and third season.
Heartstopper’s cast is formed by:
- Kit Connor as Nick Nelson, a popular year 11 rugby player at Truham Grammar School seated next to Charlie in form class
- Joe Locke as Charlie Spring, a year 10 student at Truham Grammar School who was recently outed
- William Gao as Tao Xu, Charlie’s protective best friend
- Yasmin Finney as Elle Argent, Charlie, Tao, and Isaac’s friend who transferred to Higgs Girls School after she came out as transgender
- Corinna Brown as Tara Jones, a Higgs student who befriends Elle
- Kizzy Edgell as Darcy Olsson, Tara’s girlfriend and a friend of Elle’s
- Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson, a quiet member of Charlie, Tao, and Elle’s friend group
- Jenny Walser as Tori Spring, Charlie’s older sister
- Sebastian Croft as Benjamin “Ben” Hope, Charlie’s first, clandestine relationship
- Cormac Hyde-Corrin as Harry Greene, a boy on the rugby team who is a homophobic bully
- Rhea Norwood as Imogen Heaney, one of Nick’s friends who has a crush on him
- Fisayo Akinade as Mr. Ajayi, an art teacher who looks out for Charlie
- Chetna Pandya as Coach Singh, the rugby coach who looks out for Charlie
- Stephen Fry as the voice of Headmaster Barnes, the head teacher of Truham Grammar School
- Olivia Colman as Sarah Nelson, Nick’s mother
The series received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a “Certified Fresh” 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.7/10, based on 55 critic reviews. The website’s critical consensus reads: “An inclusive romance told with striking sensitivity, Heartstopper is so effortlessly charming that viewers won’t dare skip a beat”. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 85 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating “universal acclaim”.
