Future of hit Netflix show shaken as lead stars demand more cash after triumphant second season
THE second series of Heartstopper has proven to be just as much of a success as the first, making it stars out of its young cast.
But that now means they’re looking to the future.
I’ve learned that the lead actors Joe Locke and Kit Connor originally signed up for three series’ so are now considering their positions beyond that – and they’re after a lot more lolly to stay on.
A TV insider said: “The cast were all unknown when they landed their roles and so signed contracts with Netflix worth next to nothing, as no one knew if the show would be a hit and it was a low budget production.
“The contracts locked them in for three seasons if Netflix decided to renew it, stipulating their fee would go up five percent for a second season then ten percent for a third.
“Even with the increase, the cast are still being paid a fraction of what their star power now commands.”
The first series of the coming-of-age drama aired last year, followed by a second, which landed on the streamer this month.
Since its debut, Joe landed a role in the Marvel series Agatha: Coven of Chaos, while Kit has two movies in the pipeline after signing with top Hollywood agency WME, which boasts clients like Hugh Jackman and Millie Bobby Brown.
Heartstopper has also made a star of transgender actress Yasmin Finney, who will have a major role in the next series of Doctor Who.
Speaking before series two landed, Joe said: “I think the secret to the show’s success, which none of us were expecting, was how much Heartstopper resonates with older generations.
“Quite selfishly, that’s something I hadn’t even thought of until the show came out.
“It was really great to see that it meant a lot to so many people.”
He added that one such man approached Joe and Kit during a recent trip to Washington, D.C.
Joe added to Netflix’s Tudum site: “He was 56, I think, and he’d come out the year before because he’d watched Heartstopper.
“Now has a boyfriend and is the happiest he’s ever been. Reactions like that make you realise this is a show that really matters to people.”
A Netflix spokesman said they did not comment on contracts.
GOOD AIR DAY A BAD HAIR DAY
YOU might expect reality TV stars to get dolled up for the cameras – but for flying medic DR Cosmo Scurr, who made his TV debut this week, there’s no time to fix his helmet hair.
Dr Scurr is a consultant and London Air Ambulance doctor-on-scene who features on Channel 4’s Emergency.
He said: “Of course nobody wants to look silly, but you’re just so focused on looking after your patient the last thing you’re thinking is how you look on TV. None of us are looking to be celebrities.
“I want people to see how much I care for my patients, so I’ll take looking a little silly or with my hair in the wrong place as long as my patient is OK.
“But there’s absolutely no hair and make-up between takes, though the air ambulance helmet slightly ruins that anyway.”
Emergency continues next Tuesday at 9pm on Channel 4 and is available to stream online.
MICHELLE IS BACK
MICHELLE COLLINS is back in Albert Square in these first-look pictures after leaving the soap 25 years ago.
It was revealed earlier this month that her character Cindy Beale, long presumed dead, had been living under witness protection in France using the alias Rose Knight.
Show newcomer George Knight, played by Colin Salmon, is her ex- husband – and she is the mum of his children Gina and Anna.
Cindy is forced to retrieve Peter (Thomas Law), her son with first husband Ian Beale, after he returned to Walford.
Making her first reappearance on the BBC One soap next Thursday, she will later feature in tense scenes with Ian, played by Adam Woodyatt, daughter Anna (Molly Rainford) and her former nemesis and mum-in-law Kathy Beale, (Gillian Taylforth).
ELEANOR IN SPICY THRILLER
A STEAMY six-part thriller starring Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson and Harry Potter’s Alfred Enoch will air on Channel 4 this autumn.
The Couple Next Door sees the pair portray Evie and her husband Pete, who move into a posh neighbourhood where curtain twitching is rife.
They grow close to their next-door neighbours, traffic cop Danny and his yoga instructor wife Becka, played by Outlander’s Sam Heughan and Dracula actress Jessica de Gouw.
The show synopsis teases: “As time goes on, these two couples get increasingly close to each other and, one fateful night, become sexually entangled in a way that will change their lives forever . . . ”
Filming took place this year in Leeds and Belgium.