How BBC hit Normal People compares to Britain’s raunchiest TV shows – from steamy lesbian romps to a dwarf fetish
IT'S the BBC's raunchiest ever show, with 41 minutes of steamy sex scenes.
But how does Normal People - jam-packed with foreplay, full frontal nudity and superbly realistic portrayals of sex - compare to some of the UK's other sexiest TV shows?
The hit BBC Three series, adapted from Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel, has been praised for its unflinching take on sexuality, with dozens of raunchy scenes across its 12 episodes.
It follows the turbulent love story between working-class lad Connell (Paul Mescal) and well-heeled teen Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) in a fictional Irish town.
Yet while an astounding 12 per cent of the show is taken up with sex, kissing or foreplay, its lead actors never touched genitals during their expertly choreographed scenes.
They were also given "safewords" in case they wanted to stop their romps.
The programme, filmed with the assistance of an intimacy coach so the actors weren't at "risk", has been a huge hit among viewers, with more than 23 million downloads so far.
And sex and dating expert Gillian Myhill isn't surprised.
"I recently watched Normal People and, for the first time in a long time, I found that the sex scenes felt extremely realistic and relatable," she tells Sun Online.
Overly forced and cheesy sex scenes don’t play well and usually make the audience cringe
Gillian Myhill, sex and dating expert
"I really felt the tension between the characters - from their initial awkwardness, developing into young lust, to the honest conversations they have around it.
"The story and characters tackle some difficult emotional and sexual complexities."
She adds: "All Brits are curious to watch sex scenes away from a porn platform... [but] overly forced and cheesy scenes don’t play well and usually make the audience cringe or laugh."
Here, we look at how Normal People compares to Britain's top bonkbusters...
Tipping The Velvet
Aired: 2002
Channel: BBC 2
Features: Lesbian romps, cross-dressing, sex toys
BBC drama mini-series Tipping The Velvet, starring Bodyguard's Keeley Hawes, featured some of telly's most explicit lesbian sex scenes ever when it was aired in 2002.
Set in Victorian England in the 1890s, the programme follows 18-year-old Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling) as she becomes enamoured with male impersonator Kitty Butler (Hawes).
Forming a sisterly friendship, the glam pair create an act together and move to London to perform - where their relationship soon turns into a secret, passionate romance.
Why do we all love Normal People's sex scenes?
RELATIONSHIP expert and psychotherapist Neil Wilkie reveals why Brits have gone mad for the expertly choreographed, realistic sex scenes in Normal People.
He tells Sun Online: "In the UK we have awoken from prudishness and want to see passion, intimacy and sex on our screens. I believe that people are watching these shows not just for entertainment or education but from one of two viewpoints: nostalgia or hope.
"Firstly, reminiscing about what might have been - the sex they would like to have had in the past. Secondly, dreaming of the sex they would like to have in the future
"What’s different about Normal People is that, first of all, the main characters are exactly that - normal people. The first scenes show the awkwardness and fumbling between Marianne, the shy, odd virgin and the hunky but uncommunicative Connell.
"The sex is long - almost ten minutes in episode two - unhurried and detailed. It feels real. It charts the slow awakening of intimacy between the characters.
";I wonder how many viewers are reliving their own first encounters.
"Are they in the moment willing Connell on to show some commitment and shed his uncertainty and for Marianne to embrace her inner strength and to stand up for what she really wants?
"We could be one of them, if we could rewrite our past.
"This is in contrast to the way sex is appearing on our screens elsewhere.
"Many sex scenes represent our fantasy of what we might like sex in the future to include. For instance, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which sparks light-hearted fantasies of what it would be like to be Belle or one of her clients.
"Then there are the shows where sex is a subject; with us observing from outside."
- Neil is the author of
In one saucy scene, Kitty and Nan strip naked and have sex on the floor of their dingy apartment. Other scenes involve 'strap on' sex toys, crossing dressing and prostitution.
Though the show caused quite a stir at the time, many critics praised its raunchy content - with one complimenting its "smashing sets, lovely costumes and lashings of lesbian sex".
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Aired: 2007-2011
Channel: ITV2
Features: BDSM, fetishes, prostitution
Perhaps unsurprisingly given its premise, ITV2 drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl is packed with X-rated action throughout its four series - from BDSM and fetish scenes to threesomes.
Starring actress Billie Piper, it follows the life of Hannah 'Belle' Baxter - a beautiful young university graduate who has secretly made a name for herself as a high-end London call girl.
One of the raunchy scenes shows Belle, dressed in sexy black lingerie, stockings and suspenders, engaged in a hotel room fight with a kinky businessman who gets turned on by grappling.
Another sees the call girl become a sexy 'Russian spy' to fulfil a client's James Bond fantasy.
Often, the on-screen action was so steamy that Billie would be left desperate for a shower.
"There is a part of me that thinks: ‘I have to go home and feed my son now, and I’m going to need several showers before that. And a lot of praying," the actress told The Sun's Buzz magazine in 2011.
She added: "Arguably I’d play Belle forever if there was less sex and three-day weeks.
"Oh, and a body-double on standby the entire time, so I could feast on good food and not worry about turning into a beached whale!"
Secret Diary of a Call Girl managed it very well, bringing in a side of humour to situations that would otherwise seem creepy and unwarranted
Gillian Myhill, sex and dating expert
While the risqué show - based on the popular real-life diaries of an upmarket escort - has been slammed by some for 'glamourising' prostitution, it won Billie a legion of fans.
And Ms Myhill, founder of , thinks producers shot the sex scenes well. "They brought in a side of humour to situations that would otherwise seem creepy and unwarranted," she tells us.
Versailles
Aired: 2016-2018
Channel: BBC 2
Features: Dwarf fetish, cross-dressing, orgies, S&M
More than a few eyebrows were raised when the BBC lined up raunchy French-made period drama Versailles for British TV screens in 2016, branding it a "delicious treat".
Unfortunately, outraged family rights campaigners didn't agree - with one blasting: “Dressing up pornography and violence in a cravat and tights doesn’t make it cultural."
The £21million series, depicting the lavish life of debauched King Louis XIV (English actor George Blagden), is crammed with explicit scenes including a five-in-a-bed romp.
It also features full-frontal nudity and a sado-masochistic sex romp.
The first episode alone features graphic sex, a cross-dressing prince and a queen with a penchant for dwarves - with an explicit scene unfolding just minutes into the programme.
Yet despite being slammed over the show's "pornographic" scenes, the BBC has insisted that its content "nothing beyond the expectations of a post-watershed UK television audience".
Wanderlust
Aired: 2018
Channel: BBC 1
Features: polyamory, Beeb's first female orgasm
Another BBC bonkbuster, Wanderlust left viewers blushing when it aired two years ago.
The saucy series sees sexually frustrated wife Joy (Toni Collette) tell her husband Alan (Steven Mackintosh) that she wants to have sex with other people to spice up their marriage.
The first episode starts with an awkward moment where the couple try in vain to make love. When Alan then leaves the room, Joy resorts to a solo sex act, and their teenage son walks in on her.
From there, the sex scenes become increasingly explicit.
They feature a teacher being caught masturbating over a lingerie catalogue, Joy romping with a man she met at a swimming class, and the first female orgasm ever to be seen on the BBC.
They left more than one shocked viewer asking: "What's this utter filth I’m watching?"
Sex Education
Aired: 2019 onwards
Channel: Netflix
Features: 15 X-rated scenes in three minutes
Netflix's comedy-drama Sex Education is perhaps not one to watch with the parents.
The show - which follows the life of an insecure teen, his sex therapist mum and his pals - features FIFTEEN X-rated scenes in the opening three minutes of its second season.
The graphic montage shows main character Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) - who is on a mission to lose his virginity - pleasuring himself in a range of inappropriate locations.
In one particularly explicit clip, he ejaculates on his mum's car window.
While Sex Education's content has left some viewers outraged, Asa's co-star Gillian Anderson has insisted it helps open up discussions about sex among different generations.
And it's clearly done Netflix no harm: the show was recently renewed for a third series.
Ms Myhill says of the show's sex scenes: "They manage to make it awkward, but in a charming and relatable way. We all know, or were one of those characters, when we were younger."
Like Normal People, the cast had an intimacy coordinator to help them out with sex scenes.
Skins
Aired: 2007-2013
Channel: E4
Features: Casual sex, loss of virginity, sex at school
Hit drama series Skins is known for its no-holds-barred portrayal of teenage sexuality.
The E4 show, which follows the lives of a group of sixth form students, seemingly has it all - from drunk sex and lesbian sex to two teens getting hot and heavy in their college nurse's office.
It even sees a girl have 'pity sex' with her pal so he can lose his virginity.
One of the cast, Freya Mavor, who plays hell-raising Mini McGuinness in the fifth season, told in 2011 how she was in tears before filming her first sex scene for the show.
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Revealing she wept about stripping off for the cameras, Freya said: “I was honestly petrified, just so scared. I had to go away and have a wee cry to myself, which sounds so sad.
“I was just so nervous because I had no idea there would be so many people around during scenes like that. But I know now everyone’s concentrating on their job and nobody’s judging.
"Everyone’s just having a laugh.”
When Skins aired in the US on BBC America, some of its more graphic sex scenes were censored.
And though some British critics have accused the show of portraying teens in a "stereotypical" way, others have praised its content - including the way it handled storylines about homosexuality.