Posted in: BBC, Netflix, TV | Tagged: doctor who, Heartstopper

Heartstopper Season 3 Has "Runaway" Crossover with Doctor Who

Did you catch that Season 3 "crossover" between Showrunner Alice Oseman's Joe Locke and Kit Connor-starring Heartstopper and Doctor Who?

It was the crossover no one saw coming! Okay, we're being way too dramatic – but the third season of Showrunner and original graphic novel series creator Alice Oseman's Joe Locke and Kit Connor-starring Heartstopper did have a fun little "crossover" with the BBC's long-running sci-fi/adventure series Doctor Who. Unfortunately, it didn't involve Charlie (Locke) and Nick (Connor) joining The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) on the TARDIS for a universe-saving epic adventure.

In the fifth episode of the recently dropped Season 3, Charlie and Nick are enjoying the holidays together – and we see that a major part of that is a rewatch of 2006's David Tennant and Catherine Tate-starring "The Runaway Bride" (which first introduced Tate's future companion, Donna Noble). The moment only adds to the threads between the two shows, with Yasmin Finney playing a prominent role in both universes and Nick having an established crush on Tennant in Oseman's graphic novels.

Heartstopper Creator on Reworking Key Comics Scene for Season 3

It was one of those scenes from Oseman's original graphic novel series that fans have connected with on a number of levels. In an intense and emotional exchange, Nick opens up to his mother, Sarah, about Charlie and his struggles with anorexia and depression. During their talk, Sarah shares with her son a painful truth: "Love can't cure mental illness." So you can understand why fans would want to see how Netflix's live-action adaptation of Heartstopper – especially considering that Olivia Colman – who portrayed Sarah during the first two seasons – wasn't able to work out an opening in her schedule for a Season 3 return. "It's such an important, pivotal moment for Nick in particular, one of the really key scenes in that whole storyline," Oseman shared with Entertainment Weekly during a recent interview. "I knew that conversation needed to happen, but sadly, it couldn't be with Nick's mom. So I did have a backup plan at that point." That's where Aunt Diane and Uncle Richard come in.

The pair appears briefly in the comics, but they've been absent in the Netflix series because, as Oseman shared, "they didn't contribute anything to the story." It looks like that might have been a huge benefit in disguise because they can now be the way to introduce the scene into the series. But who could they get to play therapist Aunt Diane? None other than Hayley Atwell (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning) -and the deal didn't take long to make official. "She [Atwell] didn't audition. She's a very established actress, and we knew that she would be amazing," Oseman shared.

All of this adds much more context to what fans learned about Atwell's character when the actor's casting was first announced, with the overview noting that Diane and Nick would be spending part of the summer in Menorca (where we're assuming the conversation about Charlie comes up. "At that point, obviously, I couldn't just shove her into the story for that one scene. It wouldn't make any sense. So I had to go back, weave in some new scenes, introduce her as a character, help us to understand what her relationship is like with Nick, and then gently lead us towards this final scene that will make sense and that will still have that really emotional impact when we watch it," Oseman added (now take a second to check out this sneak preview from earlier today):

Though she shared that being able to make that scene translate from the page to the screen was "definitely one of the bigger screenwriting challenges," Oseman believes the adjustment turned out well and that the scene still carries the same emotional punch as the graphic novel's take. "I'm really happy with how it all turned out," Oseman added. "I think it works out really well, and it makes total sense within the episode, and it's really emotional."

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