Ivy Olsson

Ivy Olsson exists on the edges of the Heartstopper world, a figure the show introduces without fanfare rather than building up as a central presence. She carries herself with the settled ease of someone who has already worked out who she is, watching the younger characters navigate their own uncertainty.

Annette Badland brings a lived-in warmth to even a small role, the kind of presence that makes a scene feel steadier just by being in it. In a show so attentive to the anxieties of first love, a character who seems unbothered by any of that offers a quiet, welcome contrast.