Heartstopper is such a wonderful piece, and, like, I think the main thing about it that people take away is that joy in the queer experience that is represented onscreen. And I'm sure you've heard a lot, but for some people it is getting to see a version of life that didn't necessarily play out for them. Is that something that, like, you identify with?
Completely. I'm only 30, and yet when I was at school, there was so little on TV featuring queer characters. Like, I basically had Skins and Glee. Two very different ends of the spectrum, and that was kind of it. But there was nothing that was like Heartstopper, I guess. And that's a reaction that we get from a lot of people who are my age and older. Someone literally said it to me today when I was getting my makeup done. Like, they, you know, wished that they had that when they were younger. It would have kind of changed their whole world. Yeah. I think it's also the way that the characters are open at school. People my age, when I came out in school, it was like a conversation ender. Like, it wasn't something that had any sort of celebratory vibe to it. And there were no out kids at my school at all. So to see the world of Heartstopper onscreen and to give young queer kids the confidence to be like, "Hey, you can point to that and be like, 'I'm like that,'" that is just so satisfying and really meaningful, I think, to people of an older generation. It's really lovely to watch, and there's such an authenticity about it because, like, even in the film, we see Charlie getting knocked back at trying to start this pride group.
Queer kids need a space that feels supported by older students and teachers.
The thing is, Charlie, it sets a precedent. We don't have any other clubs for social groups.
Well, maybe this can be the first.
A lot of my friends are teachers, and, like, they can't even get that kind of thing off the ground with, like, more senior staff members and stuff. So it's still, like, representing the reality of, like, today's experience. Yeah, definitely. I mean, things aren't perfect by any means. There's still so much work to be done. But little by little, maybe change is coming. I, I, I feel optimistic, I guess.