Heartstopper

Created and written entirely by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper premiered on Netflix on 22 April 2022, becoming an immediate global success. Adapted from Oseman's own webcomic and graphic novel series, which she began publishing online in 2016, the show was produced by See-Saw Films — the company behind The King's Speech and Minari — and directed across its first two series by Euros Lyn, a veteran of Doctor Who and His Dark Materials. Three series of eight episodes each aired between 2022 and 2024.

Kit Connor plays Nick Nelson, a popular rugby player, and Joe Locke plays Charlie Spring, a quietly creative boy at an all-boys school adjacent to Nick's. The supporting cast includes Yasmin Finney as Elle, Tobie Donovan as Isaac, and Olivia Colman as Nick's warm and perceptive mother. The show is distinctive for its light touch — short half-hour episodes, animated flourishes, and a palette of soft graphic-novel colour that sets it apart from the darker register of most LGBTQ+ teen drama.

Heartstopper received BAFTA nominations across all three of its seasons, including a craft nomination for Oseman's writing and a BAFTA Cymru win for director Euros Lyn. It attracted a large and devoted international following and was widely credited with broadening the representation of queer teenagers in mainstream streaming drama. Netflix subsequently announced that the adaptation would conclude with a feature-length film, Heartstopper Forever, adapting the sixth and final volume of Oseman's source material.