Inside the wholesome friendship of Sex Education stars Asa Butterfield and Ncuti Gatwa

We love to see an on-screen friendship translate into real life, and that's certainly been the case for Ncuti Gatwa and Asa Butterfield.

The new star of Doctor Who took to Instagram on Monday to wish his friend a happy birthday, captioning the sweet photo: "Happy birthday to my blue-eyed ram. Love you to the moon and back broski."

Ncuti and Asa didn't actually meet until they were both cast as Otis and Eric in the first season of the popular Netflix series Sex Education, where they immediately hit it off. Asa told Buzzfeed: "I think mine and Ncuti's relationship in real life is actually quite similar to Otis and Eric's."

They've shared some wholesome snaps over the years, from sharing cocktails to premieres.

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The pair made headlines in November last year when they were turned away from the Chiltern Firehouse at 2:30am after the GQ Men of the Year Awards in hysterics. Clearly a little worse for wear, they were seen joking and hugging after staff turned them away at the entrance.

Asa later took to Instagram to commend his friend who was honoured alongside fellow cover star Andrew Scott on the night, saying: "Unbelievably proud of my boy @ncutigatwa. We’re in his world and I’m blessed to be a part of it."

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Ncuti's star continues to rise as he featured in alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in 2023. The actor told : "I was so nervous I hardly spoke for the first month [on set]. 

"There was a time when I was talking to Greta and I turned around and Ryan Gosling was looking at me, and his eyes were so blue that I just... fell over. I just drowned in his eyes."

He will appear as the fifteenth Doctor in BBC's in May. Meanwhile, Asa starred in Prime Video's, returning to films after five years on a TV show.