Sex Education

Sex Education is a British comedy-drama television series created by Laurie Nunn for Netflix. It premiered on 11 January 2019 and ended with its fourth series on 21 September 2023. Across 32 episodes, the show follows Otis Milburn, an insecure secondary-school student in the fictional village of Moordale, who has absorbed considerable knowledge about sex and relationships from his mother, Dr Jean Milburn, a professional sex therapist. Asa Butterfield plays Otis, while Gillian Anderson plays Jean. After Maeve Wiley discovers Otis's ability to talk frankly with classmates about intimate worries, she proposes that they secretly run a student sex-therapy clinic for money.

The clinic changes Otis's relationship with Maeve, played by Emma Mackey, and makes him a reluctant adviser to pupils including Eric Effiong, his best friend, portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa. Eric's story includes his romance with head boy Adam Groff, played by Connor Swindells, whose father Michael is Moordale's stern headteacher in the early series. Other central students include Aimee Gibbs (Aimee Lou Wood), Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling), Ruby Matthews (Mimi Keene), Olivia Hanan (Simone Ashley), and Anwar Bakshi (Chaneil Kular). The programme treats their friendships, sexuality, family pressures, bullying, consent, pregnancy, abortion, sexual assault, and identity as continuing story material rather than merely cases for Otis's clinic.

Moordale itself is a deliberately heightened setting: exterior and school locations were filmed in Wales, while the characters use British institutions and vocabulary alongside an intentionally mixed, contemporary-looking world. In the first series, Jean's pregnancy, Otis's feelings for Maeve, and Eric's isolation after an assault provide major arcs. Later series follow Adam's difficulty accepting himself, Jean's relationship with Jakob Nyman, and Maeve's decision to study in the United States. The third series ends when investors sell Moordale and students learn that the school will close. The final series moves many of them to Cavendish Sixth Form College, where Otis encounters a rival student sex therapist, O, played by Thaddea Graham.

Sex Education received critical attention for its ensemble, its frank dialogue, and Anderson's performance. The series earned eight BAFTA Television Craft Award nominations and won in 2021 for Best Casting, credited to Lauren Evans. Gatwa's role as Eric brought him wide recognition before he was cast as the Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who. Nunn wrote the series, with writers including Sophie Goodhart, Alice Seabright, and Laura Neal contributing episodes. Its conclusion resolves Otis and Maeve's long-running connection without making them a conventional endgame couple. Jean becomes mother to Joy in the third series.