Halfway through the gorgeous screen adaptation of Alice Oseman’s YA illustrated gay novel, Heartstopper, I pressed pause. I wanted to think about the first gay storyline I ever saw on television. By episode three of the first season (it has now been renewed for a further two by Netflix), you realise what a startling coup d’etat Heartstopper has pulled off for gay storytelling. It has bottled innocence.
When lopsided, self-conscious mop-top Charlie Spring is sat next to puppy-ish rugby team captain and school heartthrob Nick Nelson in his new form group at Truham Boys School, Charlie’s misfit friends, Tao, Isaac and Elle fear trouble ahead. Nick turns out to be quite the sweetheart. The unlikely pairing of popular kid and outcast enter a life-affirming voyage of discovery in what might well turn out to be patient zero for the gay fairy-tale.
