Heartstopper's Alice Oseman opens up on tackling sex and mental health in season 3

It follows Charlie, a dorkish teenager, who falls in love with the school’s rugby-playing heart-throb Nick. Now, in its third season, Nick and Charlie are an established couple navigating the joys and pitfalls of youth – when to say, "I love you," when to have sex, where to go to university. But it also ventures into darker waters – mental health problems and eating disorders.

The show has accrued a loyal and dedicated fan-following. When the initial casting announcement was made, Kit Connor (who plays Nick) and Joe Locke (Charlie) racked up thousands of followers on social media. That number is now in the millions.

The brains behind it all is Alice Oseman, the writer and creator of the webcomic and graphic novel on which the series is based. "Nick and Charlie were supporting characters in my first book, Solitaire," the 29-year-old author explains. "When we meet them, they are already in a loving relationship. We don’t know how they got together or what their back story is. I wanted to tell that story because I loved them as characters.

"I tried to plan it as a prose novel, like Solitaire, but I realised very quickly it didn’t work. It was the perfect time for me to try and make a comic. I’ve always loved drawing. I started making Heartstopper as a webcomic and uploading a few pages every week for people to read for free. And it grew from there."

The webcomic amassed more than 124 million views – and so Oseman, whose first novel was published at 18, set about getting Nick and Charlie’s story in print.

"It wasn’t as easy as you might think, given that I had already published books. My literary agent spoke to publishers and the answer was that there wasn’t a market for this in the UK.

"I thought, ‘Fair enough, I’ll self-publish.’ It’s something that a lot of webcomic artists do – they run crowdfunding campaigns to get their books printed."

Within two hours, Oseman had reached the funding goal. Two thousand copies of volume one were printed and stacked up in the Oseman family home for two months.

Eventually, Hachette Children’s Group started publishing the graphic novels – more than eight million copies, in 37 languages, have now been sold.

Oseman grew up in Kent in the '90s conjuring up stories, reading cartoons and the Artemis Fowl series. Young adult fiction dominated Oseman’s teenage years – The Hunger Games, Twilight and John Green novels – and TV series like Skins and Glee. In all that literary and screen culture – did Oseman feel represented?

“Even at that point when I had no idea who I was, I had this feeling that I couldn’t find a story that was about me. As an asexual person, I’d never even heard the word before. I didn’t even know what it was. I started writing as a teenager because I couldn’t find anything that really represented my experience. There was certainly never anything on TV or in films to tell me about that experience."

Heartstopper is renowned for its representation of LGBTQ+ characters. In Charlie and Nick’s friendship group, there is Elle (a young trans woman), Darcy and Tara (a lesbian couple) and Isaac (who identifies as asexual and aromantic). The show has been heralded for helping young people discover their own sexualities.

But the show’s educational value extends far beyond sexuality – and in this season, it opens up important questions surrounding mental health and eating disorders. "This was never really something I set out to do with Heartstopper. It’s evolved very naturally – because it always had an optimistic, hopeful tone. It says to people – dark things are going to happen in your life, but it’s going to be OK.

"Series three is focused on Charlie’s mental health. We see him at his lowest – but we also see the journey of him healing. That is educational and helpful because it shows people that you can get yourself out of a really dark place."

In the new season, sex is also introduced into the Heartstopper universe. "There is already so much chatter about the fact that Heartstopper has sex in it now! Everyone is so scandalised by it. But I think it’s really helpful for young people, first of all, to see a couple who don’t immediately rush into having sex. I think teenagers today have so much pressure on them to have sex as early as possible. It feels like everyone’s doing it. The internet is saying you should be doing it. Lots of teen media says you should, too!

“In Heartstopper, it takes longer for Nick and Charlie. That’s a really nice alternative vision for young people. The storyline about sex in season three is very focused on the emotional side – the characters are asking questions like, ‘Am I ready to have sex? How do I know if my partner is also ready? What if it’s really awkward and embarrassing because I don’t know what I’m doing?’ Hopefully that will be relatable for a lot of young people."

Another unique aspect of Heartstopper is that Oseman has written every episode of the series. Usually, when a book is optioned for TV, a broadcaster or production company will buy the rights – a writer might be invited to be part of a writers’ room, but rarely will they be given sole writing responsibilities.

"Patrick Walters, one of the other executive producers on the show, heard about Heartstopper and got in touch with my film agent and said, ‘I’d really like to option this story.’ I met up with him and he was so passionate and I loved his ideas. I wanted to work with him – but my only request was that I wanted to be involved. I knew I wouldn’t be content to say, ‘Here’s my story. Do what you want with it.’

"He said, 'Why don’t you write the first three episodes?' I’d never written a screenplay before. I thought if it wasn’t any good, it was fine, they could find an experienced screenwriter to do it. But fortunately, they liked it! So, I ended up writing the whole show. I’m so glad that I’m able to do that, because it allows me to retain so much control over what the show is – and that it stays true to the comic."

That similarity – between what is on the page and what is on the screen – is a huge contributor to the show’s success. As is the casting: Connor is mesmerising as the kind-hearted Nick and Locke brings the vulnerable Charlie to life.

There has, however, been some debate recently about whether LGBTQ+ characters should only be played by LGBTQ+ actors. And, while Locke publicly came out aged 15, after the success of season 1, there was some online vitriol aimed at Connor, which led to him feeling forced into coming out as bisexual. How did Oseman grapple with conversations surrounding casting and sexuality?

"First of all, it’s actually illegal to ask people to disclose their sexuality when you’re hiring. Secondly, our cast were mostly teenagers. You cannot expect that teenagers will even know what their sexuality is. We did say in our casting process that we welcomed performers from the LGBTQ+ community.

"If actors felt a personal connection to the character, that was lovely. But it was not a requirement, and we would never ask anyone to talk about their personal life when applying for a job."

Season 3 will undoubtedly reach the dizzying heights of its predecessors. How has Heartstopper changed Oseman’s life?

“I never expected any of this to happen. Webcomics are so niche and indie – this is exceptionally rare. I think sometimes people expect me to be a bit tired of Heartstopper – and to find it draining – but I love this story so much and I’m
so grateful for it all."

Heartstopper season 3 will stream on Netflix from 3rd October 2024, and seasons 1-2 are available to stream now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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