Today was the day Heartstopper Forever dropped on Netflix, so Mark and I sat down this evening to watch it, having loved the television series from the beginning.We came away feeling exactly as we hoped we would: happy.
Yes, the critics are probably right that the film’s tighter running time means some of the wider cast inevitably take more of a back seat. The television series had the luxury of allowing every friendship and relationship to breathe. Here, the spotlight falls more firmly on Nick and Charlie as they navigate the next stage of their lives together.
But perhaps that is exactly what a finale should do.The film is warm, optimistic and unapologetically romantic. It refuses to apologise for believing that love, kindness and good people are worth celebrating. In an age when so much drama seems determined to shock, Heartstopper has always dared to be gentle. That is not naïve; it is refreshing.
That gentleness is given an important reality check in the scenes leading up to the local Pride event. Elle, the transgender member of the friendship group, speaks powerfully about the bitterness, hatred and lack of understanding she continues to encounter, and implores her friends not simply to sympathise with her, but to stand alongside her.
The moment is perhaps slightly polemical, but it is powerful nonetheless. It reminds us that the loving and supportive world these characters have created for one another is not yet the world experienced by every LGBTQ+ young person. Pride is not presented merely as a colourful celebration. It remains an act of solidarity, visibility and, for some, considerable courage.
Watching it, Mark and I found ourselves making the same observation we had made while watching the television series: how extraordinary it is that mainstream television now tells tender, slightly soppy love stories about LGBTQ+ teenagers, and that millions of people simply accept them as part of the television landscape.
When we were the age of Nick and Charlie — when, in effect, we were characters in this film — neither of us could have imagined anything like it. There were virtually no stories that reflected our lives, and certainly none that suggested two boys could fall in love, be supported by their friends and families, and simply be allowed to be happy. If LGBTQ+ characters appeared at all, they were often tragic, comic relief or destined for heartbreak.
That is why Heartstopper matters.
It is not because every scene is perfect or because every plotline lands. It matters because somewhere tonight there will be a fourteen-year-old watching Nick and Charlie and thinking, “Perhaps my future can look something like that.” There will be parents watching alongside their children, learning that a same-sex teenage romance is not something strange or frightening. It is simply first love, with all its awkwardness, excitement and vulnerability.
Representation has quietly shifted from being exceptional to being ordinary. That feels like remarkable progress in the space of a generation.
Yet Elle’s speech rightly prevents the film from suggesting that the work is done. Visibility has increased, but prejudice has not disappeared. For many trans young people in particular, simply being themselves still attracts hostility that their friends and allies must be prepared to challenge.
Perhaps that is why I can forgive the film its occasional sentimentality. Sometimes sentimentality is exactly what the story needs. Hope is not a weakness — particularly when it is accompanied by the courage to acknowledge the world as it really is.
For those of us who grew up believing these stories would never be told, Heartstopper Forever feels less like the end of one television series and more like the culmination of a much bigger journey. Nick and Charlie may be saying goodbye, but they leave behind a world where young LGBTQ+ people can finally see themselves not as a problem to be solved, but as the heroes of their own love story.
And that is a very satisfying ending indeed.
One final confession. Watching the film, Mark and I spent several minutes trying to decide which of us was the Derek Jacobi character. We reached no firm conclusion, and I’m not about to settle the debate here. You’ll just have to watch it and decide for yourselves.
