If there’s one thing Sex Education is famous for, it’s the show’s off-the-wall sex scenes. Sex in beds, sex on benches, sex in cars and sex on drum kits: truly, the only limit is the imagination of the showrunners.
And the mind behind bringing them to life? That would be David Thackeray, one of the intimacy coordinators responsible for choreographing every thrust – albeit in a safe and consensual way.
The intimacy coordination industry is still relatively new in showbiz, and Thackeray’s route into the industry was predictably roundabout. He segued from training as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama to working in the university’s research department, which in turn led him to the world of intimacy work.
Since then, he’s worked on everything from Heartstopper to The Crown, and was even on-set for Russell T Davies’ 1980s tear-jerker It’s A Sin. “It was such an important show to have worked on,” he says. “I remember reading the scripts for that on the train to Manchester and just crying because it was so well-written and the collaboration with [director] Peter Hoar was just unbelievable.”
He joined the Sex Education team for its second season, working alongside names like Ita O’Brien, one of the intimacy coordination movement’s founders.
“Working on Sex Education has just been incredible, especially for an intimacy coordinator, because you get to work on so many different kinds of scenes and different relationships,” he says. He’s got that right: the show covers everything from being caught masturbating in cars to having sex in a caravan – a moment he says counts as one of his favourites on-set.
“It was with Jeffrey and Cynthia [where] the microwave falls on the cat. I’ve never laughed so hard, just watching this moment… I just remember myself and [director] Ben Taylor just standing outside in the rain trying to coordinate this scene. It was very interesting, but it was a lot of fun.”
Banish thoughts of this being an entirely sex-oriented job, either: when Thackeray first receives the scripts, he goes through them with a fine-toothed comb.
“I would flag moments of breastfeeding, childbirth, moments of getting out the shower,” he says. “Also, what happens in the morning when they get out of bed? Or after simulated sex or something like that: what are they wearing?”
All of these moments are discussed with the actors and crew – as are the more in-detail sex scenes, where the actors mark out their ‘red zones’ (areas where they don’t want to be touched) before starting work on the complex work of choreographing the scene, using intimacy pillows or indeed the coyly named ‘nudity garments’ to craft the illusion while maintaining the actors’ boundaries. “We start from the beginning. Here, beat by beat: clothes come off at this point, and obviously, who’s in charge at what point. What are the power dynamics?”
And working with the same cast members over three years has its own unique set of benefits, too. “Working with Asa [Butterfield], from season two to season four, he’s so ahead of the process,” he laughs. “He’s just like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do this moment now,’ or ‘I need to put my leg there.’ He’s so aware of the intimacy coordinating process, which is just amazing.”
With three seasons to choose from, picking any standout moments must be a tough job – but one of the ones he cites is the huge sex montage at the start of season three, which featured multiple couples having sex and, he says, took seven months to film.
“It was crazy, to get all of the different climax faces of different artists. You’ve got sex on drums… we had a moment on a treadmill. We had a moment a car in the woods. It was just huge.”
