Heartstopper star Kit Connor says he doesn’t want to be defined by the term “queer actor”, after his breakthrough role as bisexual school rugby star Nick Nelson in the Netflix mega-hit.

Connor, along with co-star Joe Locke, has become a star with the arrival of Heartstopper, which premiered on the platform in April 2022 and soon became its fifth most watched English language show, watched for a reported 53million hours worldwide.

But he received accusations of “queerbaiting” (appropriation by straight people of gay culture for kudos) after he was photographed hand in hand with actress Maia Reficco in November last year.

At the time, Connor broke his own retreat from social media to come out to his many followers – a decision he told the Guardian newspaper he now considers “frankly a bit rash” – when he posted:

“i’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. i think some...