So you might have heard about Class, that new BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off that debuted recently.
One of the stand-out things in the series is the relationship between Matteusz (Jordan Renzo) and Charlie Smith (Greg Austin).
There is, for example, the no-nonsense way Charlie says he likes guys, and in particular Matteusz.
They also go to the prom together, and it's swell.
Patrick Ness, the author of YA bestseller A Monster Calls and the Chaos Walking series, is the creator and writer of Class. He also tweeted this in June.
Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do?
During a panel event for Class in east London ahead of the premiere of the first episode, BuzzFeed News asked Ness why he wrote the characters in this way. He responded:
"When I was a kid I never saw myself in books, I never saw myself on the screen, I never dreamed that the lead of the show would be somebody like me. The lack of that is harmful.
"I never saw it. It harms people, when you don't see yourself on-screen. You are harmed, you are implicitly disinvited from the party, and when I started writing books, I thought, This is never going to happen again on my watch.
"One of my fundamental beliefs is that one of the ways to change the world is act as if the world has actually changed."
Ness said the young audience won't think much about it: "Nobody under 20 is going to blink at Charlie and Matteusz. People over 20, come along."
A lot of people are shipping the couple right now.
And hoping that nothing will come between them.
@Patrick_Ness if anything bad happens to charlie and matteusz... #Class
Ness has also responded with this.
For the record, after repeated requests, the ship name for Charlie & Matteusz is "Charlie and Matteusz". Nobody's diminished. It's love.
Charlie <3 Matteus. TV is brilliant sometimes.
