10 Times Eric Was The Best Character On 'Sex Education'

In suburban England, high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) becomes the sex whisperer to his schoolmates and addresses all their sexual issues in Netflix's teen series, Sex Education. Ncuti Gatwa plays Eric, Otis's best friend. In an interview with Vulture, Gatwa spoke about how it was important to stay away from the stereotypical gay Black best friend trope and to be so much more than just labels.

"I’m so happy that [creator] Laurie [Nunn] really took the time to develop him into his own person. There is always a danger of making him a stock character because he’s black and Otis is his best friend. He’s also gay and Otis is his best friend. Those are two avenues whereby you could just make him comic relief. But he’s so much more than that. We see him struggle with his religion, parents, and heritage and, obviously, his sexuality and accepting all those things about himself. Because I come from a religious background and an African one as well — my parents are Rwandan — I infused him with what I felt was needing to be infused, like the things that he says and the way he says them."

"But it comes from the writers first and foremost, which is great because our writer’s room is predominately female. A lot of people have been talking about how fresh the show is and I personally think that comes from having a female writing room. We’re able to push the characters a bit further than what we’ve traditionally seen."

Let's look at some of Eric's best moments on the show.

1.  The way he deals with his crush

2. He's a friend who'll always be there

3. This gem on cleanliness that went viral

4. How he has his priorities right

5. Just his adorable reactions in general

6. When he got resourceful

7. Any time he was happy for Otis

8. Every time he blushed

9. When he had great taste 

10. When he embraced his true self