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Catherine Lee, Professor of Inclusive Education, PVC Dean Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

Heartstopper: how this joyous teen show contrasts with my bitter memories of school life under homophobic law Section 28

This article contains spoilers for seasons one and two of Heartstopper.

It’s confession time. Despite being well into my fifties, I am a Heartstopper super-fan. For those who don’t know Heartstopper, it is Alice Osman’s Netflix adaptation of their boy-meets-boy graphic novel. Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) and their LGBTQ+ friends come of age and fall in love at school.

I am not the target audience for Heartstopper – the second series of which has recently been released. It is squarely aimed at young people and LGBTQ+ young people in particular. However, I was a secondary school teacher for more than 20 years and Heartstopper to me is a joyous depiction of what teaching and schools could have been, but for me, never was.

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