Olivia Colman’s Heartstopper Character Recast In New Spin-Off Film

Posted on 20/04/2026 by Boris Clair

Olivia Colman’s character in Heartstopper will be played by a different actor in the show’s upcoming film.

The Oscar winner received widespread praise for her portrayal of Nick’s mum, Sarah Nelson, in the first two seasons of the Netflix teen drama.

However, in its third iteration, Olivia was unable to appear, with Hayley Atwell instead appearing as Nick’s aunt, who served a maternal role in his life for these episodes.

Over the weekend, it was confirmed that in the forthcoming movie Heartstopper Forever, the character of Sarah has been completely recast due to Olivia’s unavailability.

In her absence, the role will now be played by Line Of Duty and Motherland star Anna Maxwell Martin.

Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman told Netflix’s Tudum: “When beginning to work on the Heartstopper Forever screenplay, I knew how important it was that Sarah, Nick’s mum, appeared in the story.

“Since season one, we have seen how close Nick is with his mum; she’s one of the few people he can turn to in moments of crisis. While in season three, we were able to tweak the story to avoid any appearance of Sarah, it felt nonsensical for her to be absent from this final chapter, given some of the emotional struggles Nick faces.”

They continued: “Sadly, Olivia Colman was not able to join us for the film, so we made the very difficult decision to recast the role, rather than exclude the character. We are deeply grateful for Olivia’s beautiful performance as Sarah in seasons one and two of Heartstopper, through such iconic moments as Nick coming out as bisexual, and we know that her performance will live on in the hearts of every Heartstopper fan.

“We are overjoyed to welcome the incredible Anna Maxwell Martin into the role of Sarah for Heartstopper Forever. Anna perfectly embodies Sarah’s gentle, down-to-earth energy, and it was magical to witness her scenes with Kit Connor during the film shoot. I can’t wait for Heartstopper fans to experience her interpretation of Sarah Nelson.”

Joe Locke and Kit Connor share a kiss as Charlie and Nick in Heartstopper

Heartstopper Forever will premiere on Netflix later this year, and serve as the final outing for Nick and Charlie, played by Kit Connor and Joe Locke.

As well as the usual returning cast members, including Yasmin Finney and Will Gao, it’s been confirmed that Bafta winner Derek Jacobi will also be playing a new character in the film.

Here’s Where You’ve Seen The New Additions To The Cast Of Heartstopper Season 3 Before

Posted on 06/10/2024 by Boris Clair

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The new season of Heartstopper has already proved to be just as popular as its predecessors, winning rave reviews from critics and shooting to the top of Netflix’s most-watched list just one day after its debut.

Once again, Kit Connor and Joe Locke return as central couple Nick and Charlie, with supporting cast Yasmin Finney, William Gao and Tobie Donovan among the regular cast members also back in action for the new series.

But you might have also noticed a few new additions to the cast of season three, that could ring a little familiar to Heartstopper viewers.

Here’s a bit more about where you might have seen them before…

Hayley Atwell

Even if you think Heartstopper is your first time being introduced to Hayley Atwell (who plays Nick’s aunt Diane, in Olivia Colman’s absence), the chances are you’ve seen her before without realising it.

She initially got her start on the big screen in period pieces like Brideshead Revisited and The Duchess, as well as an acclaimed (and Golden Globe-nominated) performance in the show The Pillars Of The Earth, before appearing as Peggy Carter in the Captain America movies.

More recently, she joined the Mission: Impossible series, and is due to share the screen with Tom Cruise once again in the upcoming ninth instalment. Later this month, you can also hear Hayley as the voice of Lara Croft in Netflix’s new animated Tomb Raider series.

Eddie Marsan

With a CV as vast as Eddie Marsan’s, it’s hard to know where to start. In the last two years alone, he’s been booked and busy, playing Amy Winehouse’s dad in Back To Black, a gangster in Amazon’s The Power, the villainous Ray in Netflix’s Supacell and an imposing CEO in the erotic thriller Fair Play.

His other acclaimed work includes the indie film Happy-Go-Lucky, the Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth and the period drama Vera Drake, co-starring Imelda Staunton.

Annette Badland

Soap fans will recognise Annette Badland for her performance as Aunt Babe in EastEnders, but her on-screen work dates back almost 50 years.

Some of her stand-out performances include the movie Little Voice, the hit football series Ted Lasso, Channel 4 comedy Big Boys and the first series of the Doctor Who reboot in 2005.

Darragh Hand

Heartstopper is Darragh Hand’s biggest role to date, joining the fun as a new love interest for Charlie’s sister, Tori (Jenny Walser).

He has done a few big shows so far, though, including Silent Witness and the ITV drama Grace.

Jonathan Bailey

Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey makes a brief cameo in one episode of Heartstopper as a social media influencer that Charlie harbours a crush on.

Before being cast in his break-out role of Anthony Bridgerton, you may have seen Jonathan in Chewing Gum, Broadchurch, W1A or Fellow Travelers.

In fact, you can check out more of Jonathan Bailey’s roles you might have forgotten all about here.

We’ve Got Good News And Bad News For Anyone Hoping For Season 4 Of Heartstopper

Posted on 05/10/2024 by Boris Clair

After that emotional finale, we can’t be the only ones already desperate for an update about whether Heartstopper is going to get a fourth season – and when we can expect to see it.

Unfortunately, the bad news is, there’s no official word yet, and season three was the second of a two-series deal Netflix made when it renewed Heartstopper off the back of its hugely successful debut in 2022.

The good news, though, is that it’s a safe bet that Netflix will probably be asking for more from the hit show.

Not only did the most recent season win near-unanimous praise from critics, who were particularly impressed with how the famously wholesome show tackled “grittier” and “more mature” themes, it’s also gone down a storm with fans.

Even more tellingly, Heartstopper also knocked Ryan Murphy’s from the top spot of Netflix’s most-watched list just one day after it began streaming, and viewing figures have previously been a huge factor in how the streaming service decides what comes next.

Of course, there’s also no shortage of ideas to explore in a potential fourth season, too.

Season three ended with a huge question mark over whether Nick will be heading off to the uni of his choice, making his long-standing romance with Charlie into a long-distance relationship, and author Alice Oseman is currently in the process of releasing another instalment in the graphic novel series on which the TV series Heartstopper is based.

Alice previously said they expected the show would run for a total of four seasons, telling Radio Times back in 2022: “It would probably be four seasons to cover the full story.

“I haven’t done any in-detail planning or anything, but it’s quite easy to divide up the books into seasons, so four I think would do it.”

So, Heartstopper fans, just have a little patience, and we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as there’s an update…

Monsters Has Officially Been Dethroned As Netflix’s Most-Watched TV Show

Posted on 04/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Since it began streaming last month, Ryan Murphy’s polarising true crime drama has divided opinion among critics and viewers, but has proved to be a huge draw for Netflix users.

However, it has now been replaced in the number one position on Netflix’s UK chart.

It’s probably no great surprise to hear that, as of Friday afternoon, Heartstopper has taken over the top spot from Monsters, a day after returning for its third season.

So far, the new batch of episodes have received near-unanimous praise for the way they handle “more mature” themes for Heartstopper, with the first half of the season diving deeper into Charlie’s mental health and eating disorder.

While almost all of the show’s central cast are back for the third season, one notable absentee is Olivia Colman.

Heartstopper: 24 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From The Set

Posted on 06/08/2023 by Boris Clair

In the year and a bit since Heartstopper launched on Netflix, it has not only become one of the streaming service’s most popular shows, but it’s made overnight stars out of its previously unknown cast.

But if you’re wondering what it took to bring the LGBTQ+ coming-of-age drama – which recently returned for its second series – to our screens, we’ve done some digging to find out the secrets from behind the scenes…

1. Creator Alice Oseman said casting the show was a “really stressful process”

Because she wanted to ensure the show was cast authentically to celebrate “all kinds of different queer experiences”, getting the right people to play Charlie, Nick and the other characters took its time.

“We wanted a trans actor to play Elle, we wanted the actors to be around the right age and obviously, there needs to be talented actors as well,” she told the PA news agency.

“So there were a lot of different factors, which made it a really stressful process, particularly trying to find authentic actors.

“If we didn’t find the people we knew the show just wouldn’t work. But we were determined to do it anyway. And we were lucky. We found the perfect people.”

2. Joe Locke had never acted professionally before Heartstopper

Joe was cast as Charlie in the show after responding to an open casting call, to which 10,000 auditioned.

“You didn’t need an agent, you just sent in a self-tape,” he told This Morning. “I ended up getting the part and it was just all my dreams come true.”

3. However, he had no-one to celebrate his huge career news with due to Covid

He explained: “I was on my own in my house on the Isle of Man and it was during Covid last year. So I had to fly to London for an audition and then fly home and isolate on my own for two weeks in my house.

“So I was on my own and my agent phoned me and told me I’d got the job and it was just me and my dog in the house. I screamed very loudly.”

4. Kit Connor originally tried out for the role of Charlie

While Kit said he knew he didn’t fit Charlie’s physical description, he wanted to go for the role because he loved it so much.

He told Radio Times: “The audition tape they sent through was one of Charlie’s speeches where he’s really just at his most genuine, most stripped back point and it’s really beautifully written, and I thought, ‘I really want to do this.’

“I thought, ‘There’s no chance I’m going to get it,’ because physically there’s nothing about me that could fit this character. But then luckily there was Nick that I could sort of slot into quite well.”

5. Kit’s casting as Nick initially caused some confusion among the make-up team

Speaking to Still Watching Netflix, Kit explained: “I’ve always had a baby face, a really bad baby face. When we got cast, they had my picture from when I was about 14/15 in the make-up room. Apparently, the whole make-up team was like, ‘I don’t think you cast the right person? He’s really young.’”

6. Stonewall were brought on board to support cast and crew

Netflix brought LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall on board to help advise and educate everyone involved in the project on topics such as queer history and pronouns, Yasmin Finney, who plays Elle, told Elle magazine.

“I already knew Heartstopper would be queer positive and celebrate chosen family, but I was so grateful of Stonewall’s involvement,” she added.

Jeffrey Ingold, the show’s LGBTQ+ consultant, said in a behind-the-scenes video interview for Netflix: “We can help give a more authentic view of the context in which the show is happening, so it doesn’t feel like a drama that is happening over here, it is based in the reality of what kids are going through.

“We did a lot of conversation and training around what is happening in schools these days, so particularly for the cast, they could take that into the roles, and for the crew, they could also understand why this show matters and what it’s going to mean to the audience who watch it.”

Executive producer Patrick Walters added that Stonewall helped read through scripts and trained everyone on appropriate language and how to cultivate a safe space.

7. The director wanted as many people behind the cameras to be from the LGBTQ+ community too

In a behind-the-scenes video interview for Netflix, director Euros Lyn said: “You tell a story as a director, you are not by yourself, you’re really on a huge team of designers, photographers, make-up, hair – loads of people. And I wanted as many of those people as possible to be from the LGBTQ+ communities, so they could bring their experiences and identify the bits of the story that can only be from an LGBTQ perspective.”

8. The show is “a little bit different” to the comic

“I like to think of it in that the TV show is an expanded version of the comic,” Alice Oseman told Netflix in a video interview.

“The core story of the comic is very much in the show, we haven’t changed what is in the comic, we’ve just made the story bigger and we’ve made the world wider. Beyond Nick and Charlie’s story, we learn a lot more about Tao and Elle, Tara and Darcey and there are also new characters as well.”

Alice Oseman (centre) with the Heartstopper cast

She continued: “The thing I’ve learned about adaptations is that something that works for one thing like a comic might not work for a TV show. So when developing Heartstopper as a TV show, we had to look at it from a TV perspective and how do we take this story and make it work on screen.”

9. Alice only tried to get Olivia Colman on a punt and was “shocked” when she said yes

Talking about casting the Oscar-winner as Nick’s mum, she told the PA news agency: “I was shocked. When we were discussing trying to get a big name to be Nick’s mum, I was literally like, there’s no way this is going to happen.

“This is the silliest idea ever and there’s literally not any point doing this. But we tried anyway and Olivia wanted to do it, and I just couldn’t believe it.

“There’s really no other way to say it, I was just shocked but so, so happy, because she’s such an incredible actress, she brings so much to that character, and all the scenes with Nick’s mum just feel so special and subtle and just really beautiful performance.”

10. Olivia shot all her scenes in series one in just two days

Olivia Colman played Nick's mum — Olivia Colman played Nick’s mum

“She seemed to really enjoy it,” Alice told PA. “She was only on set for two days and to be honest, I didn’t really get to talk to her very much because we’re on set and it’s very intense.

“But I feel like she really loved the story and she really connected with Kit, who plays Nick, and just really enjoyed working with him.”

11. Olivia cried for real during filming of the show’s most emotional scene

Nick came out to his mum as bisexual in the final episode

While reading through the touching moment in which Nick comes out to his mother as bisexual, Olivia became tearful for real, which initially proved to be a bit of a worry for Kit.

He told This Morning: “Normally before every scene we read it through about 50%, you don’t go 100% of the way. We were reading it through and suddenly Olivia just started crying.

“At first, I was thinking, ’God, she’s just really good, I need to step up my game massively here,′ so I was really worried at that point. I think then other people told me afterwards that it was because it’s such a beautifully written scene and a crucial part in so many people’s lives. I think it really touched her.

“I was just scared to be honest,” he joked, describing her as “the most absolutely lovely person in the world”.

12. Joe missed out on seeing Les Miserables so he could meet Olivia

As Joe did not share any scenes with Olivia on the show, he was keen to meet the star, and gave up tickets to the West End production of Les Miserables so he could travel back to set on his day off and meet her.

Kit explained to Still Watching Netflix: “I had two days filming with Olivia. It was originally meant to be Olivia and I filming for two days, and on the second day, I think Joe was like, ‘I would like to meet her, obviously’, so they ended up scheduling some time…”

“That’s not what happened!” Joe contested. “I wasn’t supposed to meet her and then I got a call on the second day saying that we might have to do some pick-ups and reshoots of just before the rain scene in the hallway, so you’ll get to meet Olivia.’ So I was like, if that gets to happen, amazing. And then they called me at like 3pm, asking if I could come in.’

13. She is not the only A-lister in the show, however

Stephen Fry also has an unexpected role in the show – not that you will have seen him.

The actor lends his voice to the character of Headmaster Barnes, who runs Truham Grammar School where Nick and Charlie go, and can be heard commentating over the tannoy on the school sports day.

14. Joe had an embarrassing moment filming Charlie’s running scenes

He told Attitude magazine: “I had to ask the extras to slow down because I was supposed to be this incredible runner and every take, they were just slowly getting closer to me. I was like, ‘Can you guys just like slow down a bit?’, which was very embarrassing.”

15. Joe’s coffee breath was a known thing on set

Kit revealed he would often make light of Joe’s love of coffee after filming a kissing scene.

“He had this joke that my breath always smelt of coffee,” Joe told Still Watching Netflix.

“Joe loves coffee and there was this one time where we had to do a practice kiss for a scene and Joe had just had a full cup of coffee and I was just like, this is not nice,” Kit recalled.

“I felt that I was a victim in that situation,” he joked.

16. Kit had a rugby coach to help him perfect Nick’s sporting prowess

Kit had only played rugby as a young child before being cast as star rugby player Nick.

Speaking to Still Watching Netflix, Kit explained that he worked on his game with a coach before and during filming to help him improve.

17. Joe was less keen on training, however

Joe did go along with Kit for one rugby training session, but “not any more after that”.

“I think he quickly decided that wasn’t for him,” Kit said.

“I didn’t own any sports clothes, so I arrived in loose jeans… It wasn’t rugby,” Joe said.

“I made the executive decision that Charlie wasn’t supposed to be good at rugby, therefore I was allowed to be bad.”

18. Harry’s birthday party had to be shot during the day

Darcey and Tara at Harry's party — Darcey and Tara at Harry’s party

In the season one episode where school bully Harry throws a birthday party, scenes were shot at Hampton Court House, a school in East Molesey.

However, while the party was set at night, it had to be filmed during the day, which the crew had to work around.

Cinematographer Diana Olifirova told IBC: “I loved the windows and had planned to shoot a moonlight effect through them. But we didn’t have access to the location at night. That meant we had to black out the windows, but we lit it to appear as if there were some light outside.

“The biggest challenge in a room full of people was having the camera pick out our main characters. This involved a little planning about where the camera would be so that the actors would hit a mark and we’d have a pre-set light trained on them.”

19. The animations honour Alice Oseman’s original graphic novels

Animations were a frequent device used on the show

If you didn’t know that Heartstopper was based on graphic novels of the same name, you probably would have wondered where all the animated moments in the show came from.

All the leaves, lightening bolts and other little animated details all honour Alice Oseman’s original text, which executive producer Patrick Walters told Pink News became known as “Heartstopper moments” to the crew.

“Hopefully it gives you goosebumps and makes you lean in when those moments happen,” he said.

20. Alice has a cameo in series one

The writer and creator made a blink-and-you’ll miss it appearance in episode eight of season one, seen as a passenger on the train that Charlie and Nick travel to the seaside on.

She revealed on Twitter that she was even drawing the comic versions of the characters from her graphic novels during the scene.

21. She had never been on a TV set prior to filming Heartstopper

Alice said she “honestly didn’t know anything about TV making before” adapting Heartstopper. “I have never been on a TV set before,” she said in a Netflix video interview.

However, she said she was on set “every day” during the shoot, overseeing everything that was happening.

“I have learned so much about what everyone on set does, all the different roles that there are, and it really is a team effort,” she added.

22. There’s a reason why the show doesn’t touch on more adult themes

Executive producer Patrick Walters told Pink News: “We decided we wanted the show to speak to as many different ages as possible, so we were deliberate about not having too many swear words, too many overtly adult situations, because that stuff didn’t fit the tone of the show anyway. But also in not having that, we were opening up the show for more people to see it.

“I really hope the younger generation, 11, 12, 13, will watch the show and get something out of it.”

23. Season two contains a Marvel Easter Egg you probably didn’t spot

There’s an Easter Egg in season two’s second episode that makes reference to Joe Locke’s casting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ahead of his appearance in Disney+ series Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

After nodding off on Nick’s chest, Charlie says: “Did I fall asleep?”

Nick then replies: “Are you tired or is this movie just really boring?”

“I did warn you I’m not a fan of Marvel movies,” Charlie says.

24. Joe has a dream cameo so great that we need it to happen immediately

In an interview with Variety, Joe previously shared his casting hopes for one particularly inspired guest star.

“Jennifer Coolidge should play my grandmother,” he said. “That would be so cool. I love her. She’s amazing.”

Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix now.

London Trans Pride: Thousands March After ‘Actively Damaging Year’ For Rights

Posted on 11/07/2022 by Boris Clair

Huge crowds marched together through the centre of the capital on Saturday as part of London Trans Pride.

According to model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, more than 20,000 people joined the march, which went from Wellington Arch by Hyde Park to Soho Square.

Protesters wrote powerful messages on signs to mark the occasion including “Take Down the Cis-Tem” and “Trans Lives are Sacred”.

The joyous event, which came one week after London Pride, celebrated trans rights after a particularly difficult year which has seen the government – and “gender critical feminists” – put the trans community in the spotlight.

This year, when the UK dropped to 14th in the most LGBTQ-friendly nations in Europe, the march aimed to “celebrate the memory of trans lives taken and uphold the next generation of trans revolutionaries”.

With idols from within the community speaking out about these pressing issues at the weekend event, here’s everything you need to know.

Government’s ‘abhorrent and deliberate attack’

Earlier this year, No.10 announced it was reneging on its commitment to ban trans conversion therapy – while still pushing to introduce the ban on the harmful practice for the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.

The U-turn was denounced as targeting an already marginalised group, especially as it was announced on Trans Day of Visibility.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also called for the Scottish government to pause its reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, as well as pushing for Westminster to delay reforms to conversion therapy for trans and intersex people.

A spokesperson for London Trans+ Pride said: “The irony is not lost on us, this is an abhorrent and deliberate attack.”

They added: “The EHRC is actively damaging human rights for trans people.

“We deserve better: London Trans Pride is calling for the EHRC to be abolished. We march to demand the legal recognition of non-binary, intersex and gender nonconforming people.”

’Boris, bye!′

Trans actress Yasmin Finney, known for starring as Elle in Netflix’s Heartstopper and for her upcoming role in Doctor Who, also gave an emotional speech to a large crowd.

She said she felt “so connected to my community” adding: “If the government is trying to eradicate us, we’re all here and we’re just duplicating.”

Referencing the prime minister’s resignation last week, she said: “Like, hello? Boris, bye!”

She continued: “Boris, I hope you see Heartstopper, I hope you see Doctor Who, because I exist. And I know you know I exist. We all exist. And we’re not going anywhere!”

Her words are particularly powerful in a week when several of those MPs who are vying to become next Conservative leader have been foregrounding their views about gender and biological sex as part of their campaigning.

Trans author Charlie Craggs also gave Johnson a shout-out in her speech at Trans Pride, referencing her all-black outfit and saying they were there to celebrate” the end of the political life” of the prime minister.

“When it comes to thinking what I want to say about this man who has been consistently transphobic, homophobic, all the phobics, er it was really hard to summarise it in a few words, but I think I found two words to sum it up and those two words are: ha, ha.”

She continued: “I’m so tired of being fucking sad. Being happy is the biggest finger up to these people, they don’t want you to be happy – they don’t even want you to be alive.

“So being happy and alive is the biggest fuck you to these people. So go home after this Pride and be fucking happy – you deserve it.”

‘Things ARE changing’

Munroe Bergdorf wrote about the march on her Instagram account, asking why there was so little reporting around such a major event.

She pointed out that “it speaks volumes” that this was not covered it in the mainstream media, claiming trans rights only come up when presented as part of a “culture war”.

But, she added: “Things ARE changing, but trans joy doesn’t sell papers. Transphobia sells. Fear sells. Hate sells. Resist.”