The Couple Next Door is currently steaming up living room windows across the country, proving that sex most definitely still sells – so what are the sexiest shows to watch on TV right now?
Channel 4’s latest thriller introduces viewers to Becka and Danny, who look perfect from the outside – he’s a cop (muscles bulging under uniform, tick!), and she’s a yoga teacher (fit and flexible, tick!).
When equally gorgeous Evie and Pete move into the area, they soon learn that their new neighbours are swingers, and couple swapping becomes a very real possibility…
The tension is palpable in the six-part series, and the sexual chemistry between Evie and Danny is the elephant in the room. You know, if elephants were size eight, with perky breasts, and tight t’shirts.
The Couple Next Door isn’t just style over substance, though (I’m talking about YOU, Fifty Shades of Grey). There’s also several spicy side plots involving a dodgy stalker, Danny’s criminal sideline, and Evie’s cultish family.
Here are our top 5 sexiest TV shows if you’re enjoying The Couple Next Door… Just don’t watch with your mum.
Sexiest TV shows: Normal People on BBC iPlayer
Steamy 12-part series Normal People focused on the electricity of first love between two people who changed each other’s lives forever. Based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel, it starred Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne and Connell, who find an unlikely bond at school.
The sex scenes were intimate, and often. In fact, leading actor Mescal was forced to defend the series against claims it was like pornography. He said: “They’re entitled to their opinion. My own perspective of it is, we worked hard to make it feel like it was a real, accurate and truthful representation of sex amongst young people.”
There’s a reason why more than 21.8 million viewers watched Normal People on BBC Three. The ‘modern masterpiece’ included 41 minutes of sex in total, making it reportedly the most sex the channel has ever shown.
Sadly, the BBC’s second Sally Rooney adaptation Conversation With Friends failed to live up to the success of its predecessor (despite being the better book). This was largely due to the lack of chemistry between the two main stars.
Game of Thrones on Now TV
The HBO series Game of Thrones remains one of the best TV shows of recent years, which ran from 2011 to 2019. It had everything – good versus evil, terrifying villains, family beef (to say the least), and romance. Also, lots and lots of often quite mucky sex.
GoT producers weren’t afraid to show it all. As well as incest scenes between sister and brother Cersei and Jaime Lannister, there was multitude of brothel scenes, sex between illicit lovers Renly & Loras, and Theon with… Well, whoever he could get his hands on, until Ramsay Bolton castrated him.
One of the most famous scenes involved virgin Daenerys and her new husband Drogo (played by Jason Momoa). A key turning point in Daenerys’ journey was when she took control in bed with Khal Drogo. The scene also marked a turning point in their relationship, from arranged marriage to actual love affair.
The Tower actress Gemma Whelan played gay warrior Yara Greyjoy in the series, and was in some of the most intimate moments on the set of the HBO show.
Sexiest TV shows: Bridgerton on Netflix
Of course, I couldn’t neglect to mention Bridgerton. When the period drama debuted on Netflix in December 2020, the show’s numerous sex scenes were on everyone’s lips.
The first season followed Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) as she navigated the ballrooms of 1813 London with her siblings Eloise, Anthony, Colin, and Benedict. While attempting to fend off overzealous suitors, she struck up a friendship with Simon, the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), and the pair eventually fell in love.
Over the course of their relationship, things got very, very steamy. In episode 6, she famously went down on Simon. In fact the whole of that episode was described as “just non-stop shagging” by co-star Nicola Coughlan, who played Penelope Featherington.
Not to mention, the raunchy scenes between Anthony and his lover, Siena, and Benedict’s various exploits. Creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen says of the sex content: “We do have a lot of sex on the show, but nothing is gratuitous. There’s no scene where we’re having our characters have sex just to be having sex. We’re always pushing the narrative forward and telling a story through these scenes.”
Obsession on Netflix
Richard Armitage and Charlie Murphy played illicit lovers in the Netflix series Obsession. The series followed a forbidden love triangle between the mysterious Anna Barton, who starts an affair with her fiance’s father, William.
The four-parter was a seductive series about erotic obsession and forbidden desire. The erotic thriller had a ton of explicit sex. To the point where Netflix rated it TV-MA only to thirstily drop exact time stamps for the sex scenes in every episode:
(Here if you really want to know: Ep1: 26m14s. Ep2: 00m32s. Ep2: 22m00s. Ep3: 10m15s. Ep3: 25m58s. Ep4: 02m15s.)
Addressing all the sex scenes, Richard told Evening Standard: “I had a conversation with myself and Charlie early on and said ‘We’ve just got to be European about this. It’s the body. This is life. Just be cool with it.'”
Cool? Most people felt a bit hot under the collar watching it actually!
Sexiest TV show: Girls on Now TV
HBO favourite Girls set the bar for naughty scenes when it started in 2012. The comedy about the experiences of a group of girls in their early 20s starred Lena Durham (who also created it), Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet.
Of course, fans will know that Adam Driver played Adam Sackler way before his immense Star Wars fame. Fans will also be very familiar with every part of his anatomy, too, thanks to the dozens of sex scenes in the show.
There was no position left unaired – I’m talking fellatio, anal, cowgirl, self pleasure, role-play, lotus, virtual, doggy and not forgetting good old-fashioned missionary. But it all looked real, not choreographed onto the screen.
Hannah had a ‘normal’ body, which was unapologetically ordinary. When she had sex, it was often awkward and ungainly. These were fascinating scenes because they’re so rarely seen on TV.
Girls is a young woman’s Sex and The City, only without the filter. It’s worth watching for that alone.
Read more: The Couple Next Door on C4: Episode 1 of sexy thriller left us wanting more…
The Couple Next Door continues on Mondays and Tuesdays on Channel 4 at 9pm and 9.15pm respectively.
What do you think is the sexiest TV show of all time? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.