Admit it: there’s nothing quite like a sexy TV drama. Whether it’s the steamy trysts of Regé-Jean Page’s Duke of Hastings and Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton in Bridgerton (which became the most-watched show on Netflix mere weeks after launching), or the intense pining between Connell and Marianne in Normal People, a bit of sexual tension (and, indeed, sex) can elevate a show from watchable to truly bingeable.
With new Paramount+ show Fatal Attraction heading to screens at the end of the month, here’s our list of the other TV dramas that did sex right and had us coming back for more.
Fatal Attraction
This remake of the Nineties erotic thriller which starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close stays true to the original storyline: it’s about a passionate affair that takes a darker turn when one of the party refuses to allow the other to end it.
Paramount+, from April 30
Obsession
Richard Armitage strips off and indulges in a light bit of bondage in this uber-sexy new Netflix show. In it, he plays a surgeon who becomes infatuated with his son’s girlfriend Anna – and of course, things get complicated very quickly.
Netflix
The L Word
Featuring the first TV ensemble cast of gay and bisexual women, this steamy show opened eyes (very wide) and minds from 2004-9 with its explicit depictions of sex via the female gaze. Surprise! It’s outrageously hot.
Amazon Prime
Elite
My high school experience was NOT like this. I mean, thank God (murders), but the baffling wealth (it’s set in a wildly expensive Spanish private school) and the vast amounts of not-awful sex make this a classic binge job.
Netflix
Normal People
Connell’s chain made an instant sex symbol of Paul Mescal, but there’s plenty more to love here as Connell and Marianne navigate their fraught relationship with plenty of meaning-laden stares and sexual tension so thick you could cut it with a spoon.
BBC iPlayer
The Affair
The chemistry between the ever-luminous Ruth Wilson and her co-star Dominic West positively sizzles in this drama about an extramarital affair. Oh, and there’s murder, too. What’s not to love?
Paramount+ and NOW
Bridgerton
The show that made everybody wish they too could have steamy sex in a library (though that ladder must have been very firmly fixed to the floor). Set in an alternate version of Georgian England, Shonda Rhimes’s Netflix show follows the Bridgerton children’s quest to find love.
Netflix
Fleabag
Who knew the word ‘kneel’ could be so sexy, until it was purred by Andrew Scott in a surplice? This comedy-drama made a star of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Fleabag, a hot mess looking for meaning in life, and propelled Scott from highly-regarded actor to international sex symbol.
BBC iPlayer and Prime Video
Outlander
Ferociously adored by its legions of fans, the outrageously risqué Outlander took sex to the Scottish borders as 1940s nurse Claire (Catriona Balfe) gets zapped back in time to 1743 and falls for Scottish rebel Jamie (Sam Houghton) – and teaches him a thing or two about pleasure.
Lionsgate+ and Prime Video
True Blood
Based on the books by Charlaine Harris, True Blood featured hot vampires, tons of nudity and bums galore, all set in the hot and steamy American South. Very much not one for watching with the parents, it made a breakthrough star of Alexander Skarsgard as smouldering vampire Eric Northman.
NOW and Prime Video
Scandal
Kerry Washington is quite simply iconic in Shonda Rhimes’s (her again) high stakes political drama in which crisis management expert Olivia Pope juggles one nightmare after another, including her own affair with, erm, the president. Forbidden love – it’s the sexiest kind.
Disney+
Fatal Attraction
The original film, which starred Glenn Close, is looking pretty problematic now, but a forthcoming TV series for Paramount+ promises a more nuanced look at blame, personality disorders and coercive control in this tale of an affair that has consequences. And, we expect, a lot of sex.
