Heartstopper actor Joe Locke has said it was a 'dream come true' to play Charlie as he opens up abut his audition process on ITV's This Morning. The 18-year-old star was joined on the sofa by his co-star Kit Connor as he was interviewed by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on the new Netflix series.
The hit teen LGBTQ+ series, based on the graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, sees the actors play students Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor), who both attend Truham Grammar School. They soon start to develop feelings for each other and their friendship turns into a romantic relationship. The coming of age series sees them navigate school bullies, first relationships and Nick discovering his sexuality.
"I had not done any professional acting before, so they did an open casting call," Joe explained of auditioning for the role of openly gay teenager Charlie: "So I think 10,000 people auditioned and you didn't need an agent you just sent in a self-tape.
"I thought, even if I don’t get it, that’s quite cool – and then I got another recall and I was like 'Oh, what if this actually happens?'. Then I ended up getting the part and it was just, all my dreams came true."
But the star said he couldn't have a big celebration as he was having to isolate at his home on the Isle of Man, due to restrictions at the time, after returning home from an audition. "How loud was the yell? [when you got the part]," This Morning host Philip asked.
"It was quite loud. I was on my own in my house though because I'm from the Isle of Man and it was during covid last year. So I had to fly to London for an audition and fly home and isolate on my own in my house for two weeks. So I was just on my own and my agent phoned me and was like 'you got the job'. It was just me and my dog in the house, so I screamed very loudly".
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITV Hub. Series one of Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix.
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