The first glimpses of a promising young Manx star in his first major leading TV role have been released.

The trailer to ‘Heartstopper’, a Netflix adaptation of the hit graphic novel series written by Alice Oseman, was released last weekend, with Manx actor Joe Locke starring in one of the two leading roles.

The series is based around a coming-of-age tale about friendship and romance of Charlie and Nick, who explore their friendship and feelings for each other, surrounded by both supportive school friends and less-understanding bullies.

Joe plays Charlie alongside Kit Connor, who plays Nick.

Kit was last seen playing the young Elton John in the hit biopic movie ‘Rocketman’. Amongst the other cast members are Sebastian Croft, who starred in the Horrible Histories feature film and also as the young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones, plus a host of young actors making their debuts, such as William Gao, Yasmin Finney and Corinna Brown.

The show is produced by See Saw films and directed by Euros Lyn, who has filmed episodes of the BBC series Sherlock and Doctor Who.

Speaking on the announcement of the cast, Alice said: ‘Nick and Charlie are two of my most beloved characters, so I was slightly apprehensive about the casting search, but I am so happy and excited that we have cast Kit and Joe.

‘They are both so talented, sweet, funny and smart, and so perfect.’

Joe was part of the last Kensington Road Youth Arts drama team that was due to travel to the UK to perform the play Dungeness at the National Youth theatre Connections festival in 2020, only to be stopped by the Covid pandemic.

‘Heartstopper’ will be screened on April 22.