Yahoo News Exclusive: Sex Education and Heartstopper intimacy coordinator on show differences
Sex Education and Heartstopper intimacy coordinator David Thackeray has reflected on the "completely different feel" of the two shows.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Thackeray opened up about the different approaches each show has to intimacy and sex scenes.
When asked what it was like moving from Heartstopper, where the intimacy is centred around the build-up of romantic tension, to Sex Education, which features more sex scenes, Thackeray said the latter had "a completely different feel to it" due to its use of comedy and slightly older actors.
Related: Sex Education's intimacy coordinator opens up about the show's first trans sex scene
Discussing the age of the actors in Heartstopper, the intimacy coordinator said that some of the stars were just 17 or 18 years old and had never even been on a set before.
Despite this, Thackeray said he treated the job in the same way, making sure to check what each individual was comfortable with and what their boundaries were.
"Again, I just treated it as the same. You still come in – open, listening, and working out what their boundaries are, and what they're consenting to. If anything, it was a little bit more heightened because you're working with young adults. You're working with young performers. I wanted to make sure that this was going to be an experience that they felt comfortable with, and that they could look back on and go: 'Yeah, this was done properly.'
Related: Sex Education’s intimacy co-ordinator breaks down Otis and Maeve phone sex scene
"I don't want them to look back in the future, and go: 'What was I doing?' I want them to make sure it was like: 'Yeah, that was a yes. I did feel comfortable. Look at the story'. Instead of 'that was a cringe'."
Meanwhile, Thackeray also opened up about Sex Education's first trans sex scene, saying: "I think what's amazing, and what Sex Education does so well, is that the writers have specialists come in, and they work out what to put on the page."
All four seasons of Sex Education are now available to stream on Netflix. Heartstopper is streaming on Netflix, where season 2 will premiere on August 3.
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