Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa on bananas, Eric’s relatability and season two

The breakout star of Netflix’s latest must-watch show has opened up on one particularly eyebrow-raising scene.

What an unexpected delight Sex Education has been.

Not only has the British Netflix comedy provided us with laughs, awkward reminiscences and more time with the goddess that is Gillian Anderson, it also introduced the world to Ncuti Gatwa, scene-stealer extraordinaire.

The Scottish-Rwandan actor’s portrayal of sassy Eric in Sex Education is one of those performances that will propel a young actor to super stardom, especially when, as Netflix claims, some 40 million subscriber accounts will have watched the series before the month is out.

Set in an English high school, the show is centred on Otis (Asa Butterfield), a sexually repressed 16-year-old with a sex therapist mum (Anderson). With the school’s “bad girl” Maeve (Emma Mackey), the pair opens a counselling service/sex clinic for his classmates.

The series is frank about horny teenagers’ confusion and anxieties in navigating this hormonal minefield, throwing in a lot of laughs as well as pathos.

Otis’ best friend Eric is an openly gay teenager with style and flair, but his journey to confidence is riddled with challenges.

Gatwa, 26, spoke with news.com.au about the unexpected success of Sex Education, fellating 300 bananas and what season two might have in store.

Netflix is saying 40 million subscriber households will have watched Sex Education within a month, what’s that like for you to hear?

No one else can carry off this traffic cone look

It’s been crazy! We’ve all been talking about how overwhelming it is — overwhelming in the best way. The love and support the show is getting is beautiful and people seem to relate to the characters really well.

I’ve had so many lovely messages from people about how they relate to Eric, the strength Eric has given them. It’s nice because we’ve spent four months making it, not knowing where or how [it will be received] until now. But we knew we loved the project. And now that it’s out and everyone loves it, it’s really nice.

With a character like Eric, what do you think he means to teenagers who are struggling with their identity, whether it’s sexuality or how to express themselves?

It means that they know they’re not alone. When you’re a teenager, it can be such a tricky, confusing time to figure out what the world is or how it’s going to perceive you.

Everyone is going through their own journeys and it can be a really lonely place, especially if you’re a minority — someone of colour, if you’re LGBTQ — the world can seem very lonely to someone like that.

So having someone like Eric on a big show like this means they can identify with somebody and know that other people out there identify with this character and know that it’s going to get better.

You’re about 10 years down the track from Eric in terms of age — how do you slide back into that teenage mentality and was the prospect of having to do that terrifying? Because most of us try to leave our teenage experiences behind.

It was! [laughs], I have always been told I have a baby face so I guess it came in handy but it was terrifying [laughs]. Because there were a lot of other actors that were younger than me on set, I was thinking, “my god, [cackles] I need to drink a lot of water and my skincare routine is going to have to be flawless”.

Yes, darling, your skin is flawless

No, I wasn’t really terrified. Fundamentally, I was excited to play Eric because I had not seen a character like him before. But I did have to think for a bit “how did I handle this when I was 16?” Luckily, he’s so well written and 50 per cent of your job is done for you when you’ve got a really well-written part. I had that privilege.

Do you know what’s weird? When we were on set, all of us just reverted back to being kids, even the directors and producers. When you’re on that set and you’re surrounded by lockers and things are drawn on them, it reminds you of high school and everyone reverted back to being a big kid — it was a very fun place.

Ncuti Gatwa pronounces his name like “Shoo-ti”

Does that mean you guys got up to some pranks and shenanigans?

Definitely. But I’m not the right one to ask about that! Asa [Butterfield] is the biggest prankster.

Did he get you?

No, he never got me. He got Emma Mackey quite a lot. I think he was too scared to get me, he knew I would take his head off [laughs] — because we were like brothers so I would just tell him straight, “don’t do that”.

But Emma, he used to pick on her a lot — a lot of jumping out of bushes, a lot of surprises. He’s a big prankster.

There are heaps of awkward scenes you guys had to film, most notably the banana scene where you’re simulating fellatio at the party. Tell me about that.

Do you know what? There’s actually a YouTube video of a girl performing on a banana and it gets stuck in her throat and me, Mimi Keene, who plays Ruby, and Simone Ashley who plays Olivia just watched that over and over again and we were cracking up and this is what we were aiming for. But that day was so funny, we got through about 300 bananas.

Obviously Eric had some amazing outfits, did you have a favourite?

The prom outfit in question

Definitely! Eric’s prom look was my favourite of the series. It was so beautifully made — it was handmade for me in Ghana and measured by these amazing Ghanaian tailors.

I come from an African background as well — my parents are Rwandan — so I have an African body, and having African tailors working on an African body is amazing. I can never get clothes that fit my bum, I’ve got a big bum so I can never get jeans that fit my bum so these guys knew exactly what to do and the suits fitted like a glove.

If the show is picked up for a second season, where would you like to see the story go?

I would like Eric to find love. Because he’s a loveable dude and he’s got lots of love to give and it’ll be nice because he hasn’t had a lot of love shown to him from his peers. It would be nice for him to have that.

(Interview edited for clarity and length.)

Sex Education is available to stream on Netflix now.

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