I remember a simlarish depiction. I used to watch Eastenders (a British soap oprea). A few years ago they had a story line with on of the charaters, Bex and her teacher Gethin. Bex was 16 years old, her teacher had been giving her private tutoring and they grew quite close. Gethin got injured and Bex helped him and in the emotion of the moment they kiss. Gethin leaves, stops being her tutor and insists it was an accident and he has no feelings for Bex and continusly reminds her they can’t date bc it’s illegal and she’s a minor. Bex continues to pursue him, insists she is mature enough to be a relationship with.
Eventually Bex’s mother, Sonia, finds out and gets really mad at him, even tho Bex continues to insist she’s not hurt by him and begs her mum not to pursue any charges. Sonia tells Gethin’s landlord who then evicts him and chases him out of city.
The way it’s played protrays Gethin as the bad guy for kissing her and “leading her on” and Bex as a foolish teenager making a mistake and putting herself in danger. At least that’s how I think they meant it. It’s strange bc they very much show Bex as not being harmed by this, even after Gethin leaves she doesn’t show any signs of trauma from the kiss itself, only anger at the way her mum reated and the fact that Gethin left. It almost makes me feel like their was at least on pro-MAP on staff trying to write a youth showing their autonomy without seeming too suspicous/controversial. Especially with the Star storyline around the same time.
(Don’t want to fully explain the Star storyline bc this is already a long comment but summary with a lot omitted: Star is a teenager who fakes her name and age to get into a bar and sleeps with one of the adult characters(Jay) who doesn’t know she’s a minor. Neither is depictated as the villan, it’s just treated as an unfortuante accident and said that Star shouldn’t of lied as it put Jay in danger)
Weirdist part: 16 is the aoc in britian. I’m not fully familar with the law but I still think Gethin and Bex’s relationship was illegal as, legally speaking, Gethin has what’s known as a “duty of care”. Esentially he can’t date her bc he is her teacher, not bc of her age. Had Gethin been a random stranger he would have no duty of care so I think the relationship would be legal. Her age isnt even an issue from a legal perspective despite how often they bring it up.
She’s not exactly heoric but I’ve always admired Jocelyn from Shiloh and Bros. Shiloh and Bros is a Youtube channel that make really well acted, high quality kids videos. Shiloh herself is a teenager and does really impressive work. Jocelyn is 5 years old, definitely the youngest on the channel but her perfomance keeps up with everyone else. She’s really cute and I love watching her, she’s definitely my favourite on the channel with Shiloh coming at a close second. She’s not the most heoric herself but she does play some heoric roles and always makes me smile!