Wait, there’s actually a really nice story behind Olivia Colman secretly being in Heartstopper

Netflix’s Heartstopper dropped last Friday and everyone lost their silly little minds when Olivia Coleman popped up playing Sarah Nelson, Nick Nelson’s mum. It’s safe to say no one held back when it came to bingeing the story that followed the romance between two teenage boys, Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring. So finding out Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Coleman was in the show was an extra bonus.

So Olivia’s casting was kept firmly under wraps by the whole cast until it was released on Friday. But it’s been revealed not even the cast knew Olivia was part of the show until her first day on set. Kit Connor, who plays Nick Nelson, told HELLO! they spent most of the filming period not knowing who was playing his mum. He says they got to film with Olivia for two days, “It was just me and her and it was an utterly incredible, enlightening experience. I think it’s an honour for any actor to be able to work with an Oscar winner of this kind of calibre.”

Kit also said it was “nerve-wracking” too, trying to hold his own alongside Olivia Coleman in their one-to-one scenes, especially the bit where Nick comes out to his mum. Kit says: “I remember so distinctly sitting on the other side of the table, we were stumbling through the scene, and then suddenly a tear rolled down her cheek – and I just thought, ‘I need to step my game up right now'”.

Heartstopper writer, Alice Oseman says working with Olivia was “surreal”. Alice says: “When we were discussing trying to get a big name to be Nick’s mum, I was shocked when the actress wanted to do it. She’s such an incredible performer and she brings so much to the character. She really connected with Kit who plays Nick and when they were rehearsing the ‘coming out’ scene she just cried because she thought Kit was so adorable.”

Heartstopper is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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