Sex Education finale season got a divided response from the fans. While some were content with the way things ended, others considered the conclusion underwhelming for a beloved show. The series featured Asa Butterfield, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, and Gillian Anderson, alongside a bunch of other great actors. Sex Education, a teen s*x comedy-drama, explores the lives of students at the fictional Moordale Secondary School.
As the seasons progressed, the show’s characters expanded beyond just students, and the final season even shifted away from Moordale School to Cavendish College. A huge credit for the success of the show went to the performances of talented, relatively new actors.
Ncuti Gatwa Was Given The Creative Freedom To Make His Character More Authentic
Ncuti Gatwa played the iconic Eric Effiong, an openly gay black teenager and Otis’ best friend. Gatwa was a stage actor and had minor roles in TV, including Stonemouth, before his role as Eric. Gatwa appeared in a promotional interview for Sex Education Season 2 with Gena-mour Barrett for Netflix. During the interview segment named Netflix IX, the host asked nine questions about the show and the character, to the Barbie actor.
In her conversation with Gatwa, Barrett expressed her admiration for the authentic nuances in Eric’s dialogue delivery, particularly his unique punctuation uses in speech. She even cited examples from the show, where Eric’s lines included “Like a hidiot” and “In-a the sea”, which were very relatable conversations among friends. Barrett asked Gatwa whether these dialogues were written that way, or improvised by the Bob Servant actor.
While Ncuti Gatwa highlighted that the writers had played a crucial role in making the characters awesome, he also revealed that he had been given the creative freedom to ad-lib a lot. The Last Letter from Your Lover actor further shared that he wanted to deliver an authentic portrayal of Eric without making it “a caricature”. Gatwa explained on Netflix IX:
“But definitely, I was allowed to ad-lib a lot, and kind of change things up a bit. ‘Sex Education’ very generously gave me that freedom, and so I just thought I wanna make this authentic. I don’t wanna make it a caricature, but also I want to have fun. And if Eric were really here he’d be talking like this, so I’m gonna make him talk like this. Yeah, I will take a bit of credit for that.”
Gatwa’s Eric is portrayed as struggling with his love, family relations, faith, and friendship, yet he is one of the most lovable characters in the entire series.
Ncuti Gatwa Gave A Shout-Out For The Writers For Crafting Such An Iconic Character
Ncuti Gatwa also shared that the ad-libbed moments were a result of collaborative discussions between himself and the director. Gatwa specifically mentioned the contributions of the writers as well as showrunner Laurie Nunn, praising them for their creation of a nuanced, gay, black character. Gatwa shared with Gena-mour Barrett during the Netflix IX interview:
“Well, I think the success of Eric, if I may say so, like it’s definitely, 100% down to the writers that we’ve got and Laurie Nunn. Shout-out for writing a nuanced, gay, black character. […] Quite a bit of that was me, but I was very generously allowed to. And like it was always kinda like a conversation between me and the director. But yeah I had to bring a bit of culture.”
It is evident that the credit for the iconic character goes to both the writers and Gatwa. Gatwa received three nominations for Best Male Comedy Performance at the BAFTA Television Awards and won a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor. Apart from his role in Sex Education, Gatwa is also set to play the new Doctor in the fifteenth incarnation of the character in Doctor Who.
Sex Education, including its new and final season, is now available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Netflix IX – YouTube
