The cringeworthy yet sexy new Netflix comedy you need to devour this weekend.

The Netflix Gods have released a sexy new series just in time for the weekend.

Despite its raunchy sounding name, there’s a genuinely funny and heartwarming side to this new series, which has been billed by Netflix as a “contemporary British love letter to American high school TV shows”. It’s cringe-worthy in a good way and takes a very unique look at the universally awkward coming-of-age experience all teenagers go through at some stage during their high school years.

Sex Education, which launched globally on the streaming service today, focuses on the story of Otis Milburn (played by Asa Butterfield) a teenage boy being raised by his sex-therapist mother Jean (played by The X-Files legend, Gillian Anderson).

In strong contrast to his mother’s interests and profession, Otis is an inexperienced, quiet and socially awkward high school student. However, because he is surrounded by sex manuals, videos and tediously open conversations with his mother on the subject, Otis is now a very reluctant expert on the topic.

When his home life is finally revealed at school, Otis comes to the realisation that he can now use his specialist knowledge to gain status amongst his peers. So he teams up with a whip-smart bad-girl named Maeve (played by Emma Mackey), and his best friend Eric (played by Ncuti Gatwa) to set up an underground sex therapy clinic to deal with their fellow students’ weird and wonderful problems.

It is through this secret sex clinic, and his new analysis of teenage sexuality, that Otis realises he may actually need some therapy of his own.

While the premise of Sex Education has the potential to be a little hockey or cringe-worthy, the fact that it taps into genuine emotions and relationships saves it from being eye-rolling or overly crude. The dynamic between Otis and his often very deadpan and sexually open mother is a true highlight of the series as Gillian Anderson's Jean has a very limited sense of personal boundaries when it comes to discussing sex with her teenage son.

The show also effectively uses flashbacks to show how Jean first explained sex to her son when he was very young, saying “intercourse can be wonderful. But it can also cause tremendous pain. And if you’re not careful, sex can destroy lives.”

Which is kind of a lot for a kid to take in.

The eight-episode dramedy takes on conversations about sex, identity, love and the ups and downs of young adult life in a frank and truthful way. It's a classic teen show with a very welcome twist and one you'll want to devour in a single day.

Season One of Sex Education is now streaming on Netflix. 

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