First Five Minutes: Sex Education

What do we learn in the first five minutes of S1E1?

First Five Minutes is my new (occasional) series of essays picking apart the first five minutes of various TV shows in an attempt to understand what makes them tick and what makes them compelling (or not).

The basics

I’ve seen all of Sex Education and I absolutely loved it. It is in turns hilarious, thoughtful and incredibly cringe-inducing, but with enough balance between the cringe and the hilarity that I never felt overwhelmed. 

• Blurb: Insecure Otis has all the answers when it comes to sex advice, thanks to his therapist mom. So rebel Maeve proposes a school sex-therapy clinic.

• Creator: Laurie Nunn

• Stars: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa

Characters in the first five minutes

• Adam’s parents

• Adam

• Aimee

• Otis

• Dan

• Jean

• Eri

What happens?

We open with a thudding sound, a jiggling ceiling light, panning down to an oblivious mother and a preoccupied father hard at work. 

Upstairs are two teens, Aimee and Adam, shagging. Adam looks distracted and is not really enjoying the sex as much as Aimee is. He badly fakes an orgasm, is caught out in faking it, and looks ashamed. His sex life is not going well. 

Credits over a fly-through of a beautiful river scene towards a large house where lives... 

Otis, another teen. He’s lying in bed, awake and looking pensive, when his alarm goes off. He gets up, throws the duvet off, then very carefully sets up the accoutrement of a good wank on his bed, clearly hoping that it will be found. He’s interrupted by a very surprised Dan, his mother’s latest boyfriend, who mistakes his bedroom for the bathroom. Dan introduces himself, notices the props, and Otis tells him where the bathroom is. Otis checks that everything looks right and makes a small noise of satisfaction. 

Otis is preparing toast when his mother, Jean, comes down, already dressed for work. He offers her some toast, but she prevaricates before turning him down saying she’s got clients arriving in a few minutes. She tries to introduce Dan when he appears, but the two simultaneously say, “We’ve met”. 

Otis grills Dan about his age, asks if he’s having a “pre-emptive mid-life crisis” and points out to his mum that Dan’s got a motorbike. Jean chastises Otis, and Dan offers to take Otis out the bike as if Otis is a kid. Otis responds by asking Dan if he has an Oedipal complex, and Jean tells Dan to ignore Otis, before launching into a short speech about normal sexual attraction between younger men and older women, and that Otis stigmatising Dan’s choice feeds “into an unhealthy narrative about masculinity and middle age”. Dan and Otis both look pained, their one moment of shared understanding. 

Dan jokes that this is why “you should never date a shrink”, and Jean immediately corrects him. “Sex and Relationship Therapist, thank you very much.” Now Dan looks chastised. 

There’s a knock on the door and Otis gets up to leave. 

He goes to give Jean a parting kiss but she turns her face away. “Thanks for everything, Mum! Ah! Jean, Jean. Definitely Jean,” Dan says. Otis looks smug. Jean sighs.

Outside, Dan says goodbye to Otis and says he hopes to see Otis again. Otis replies, “Unlikely.”

Otis meets his openly gay friend, Eric, who comments on how attractive Dan is whilst the two of them put bike helmets on. 

What have we learnt? 

I’ll try to keep this to what we see on screen, but I can’t promised it’s not coloured by the fact that I’ve seen all three seasons. 

Overview

• Theme: Boys having problems reaching orgasm. 

• Set-up: Whilst one undersexed teenage son of a sex therapist struggles to masturbate, another undersexed teenage boy struggles to reach climax whilst having sex with his girlfriend. 

• Episode Goals: Otis want to learn how to wank; Adam wants to not have to have sex with his girlfriend.

• Opposition: Otis’s therapist mother got into his head and made him overthink his sexuality and sexual experiences; Adam isn’t attracted to his girlfriend. 

Key Characters

Aimee: Aimee is very comfortable with her body and sexuality. She’s confident and forthright; she knows what she wants and she’s happy to ask for it.  

Adam: Adam, on the other hand, is not. He’s repressed, completely caught up in his own lack of self-confidence, and there’s a hint of self-loathing in his expression as well. He’s not interested in Aimee, he’s not turned on by her and he’s basically having sex with her because it’s what she wanted, it’s what society expects him to want, and he doesn’t have the words or the courage to say no.

Adam’s parents: Adam’s mother is either oblivious or working very hard to pretend that nothing’s happening. (I think she’s oblivious.) She’s quite buttoned down, quite prudish. Adam’s father is an emotionally unavailable workaholic.

The dog knows what’s going on, though. 

Otis: More self-aware than is healthy for a teen of his age, Otis is anxious about his inability to masturbate, and worried that if his mother finds out that he’ll end up having therapy inflicted on him. He’s so desperate to diffuse the situation that he’ll resort to staging a post-orgasm scene in the hope it will fool her. (Obviously it won’t.)

He’s used to Jean’s boyfriends coming and going, and to them mistaking his bedroom for the bathroom. He knows that they aren’t going to be around for long, and he views them with more pity than derision. He has a generally good relationship with his mother, though he finds her lectures tiresome and unnecessary.

Jean: Jean is a strong, confident woman who is very secure in her own sexuality. She loves having sex, but she’s completely commitment-phobic and hops from one boyfriend to another without looking back. 

She has brought Otis up to be independent and self-sufficient, and she believes she’s brought him up to be secure in his own body and sexuality, but perhaps she’s been a bit too focused on her own way of thinking rather than on helping Otis navigate his life himself. She wouldn’t hesitate to use her therapy skills on Otis if he gave her a reason to, despite the fact that it would mortify him. 

Eric: Gay, confident, outgoing, loyal friend. 

Relationships

The key relationships set up in the first five minutes of this episode are: 

Adam–Aimee: Things aren’t going well in this relationship, and we get the sense that the conflict isn’t just around how into sex Aimee is, or how very not into sex Adam is. There’s a fundamental disconnect between the two of them that can’t be fixed. Their relationship is obviously doomed.

Adam–Adam’s parents: Adam doesn’t have a great relationship with his parents. His mum’s very reserved; his dad’s an emotionally unavailable workaholic. They appear to be unaware that Adam has had his girlfriend over for an early morning shag (or perhaps she’s been there overnight).

Jean–Otis: Otis finds his mother’s lecturing about sex wearing and is fearful that she’s going to focus on his masturbation habits (or lack of them) in a way that he’s going to find deeply embarrassing. They have an otherwise good relationship, although Jean treats him more like a housemate than a son. She isn’t very emotionally available, despite being a therapist, which has made Otis overly self-reliant.

Jean–Dan: It’s clear that this is not going to be an ongoing relationship. 

Otis–Eric: Besties. We don’t get to find out much more than that. 

Does it work?

The opening scene features a lot of nakedness and sex, so anyone who’s not up for a fairly frank look at teen sex is probably not going to get past that. It’s almost like a kind of gatekeeper scene which both immediately lives up to the promise of the title, and also puts off the prudes. I would love to know how many people switched off before they got to the title sequence!

Laurie Nunn does a bunch of really important things within the first five or six pages of her script: She sets up the atmosphere, the theme, that episode’s goal(s), the opposition that characters are facing, and key characters’ relationships. She also opens a lot of questions: Why isn’t Adam aroused by Aimee and what is going to happen to their relationship? Will Otis overcome his issues with wanking? Will Jean work out that Otis is faking masturbation and how will she react to that? What will Otis tell Eric and how will Eric react?

There is a huge amount of comedy crammed in there as well, many of them down to Asa Butterfield’s facial expressions as he plays Otis. It’s always hard to really grok the humour when you view something a second time, but I’ve seen this first five minutes a good couple of dozen times now, and I’m still laughing.

Having seen the three seasons currently available, I think Nunn also sets the tone for the rest of the series really accurately. What you see in the first five minutes is what you get for the rest of the run.

So does it work? Hell yes, it works.

What’s on the page? 

Note: Not everything in the script makes it on to the screen, so there’s dialogue that’s different as well as scenes that didn’t make the cut or that were set elsewhere. For example, I know that the opening scene is in Adam’s house because I recognise Adam’s parents from later on. Also note: Substack’s minimalist formatting options do not allow me to format the screen the way it should be formatted.

Sex Education

Episode One

Written and created by Laurie Nunn

1  INT. AIMEE’S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 1

A MIDDLE-AGED COUPLE watch TV on their pristine, beige sofa. They wear matching house-slippers and laugh every so often at something on the screen.

We move up through the ceiling...

2  INT. AIMEE’S HOUSE. AIMEE’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 2

A half-smoked joint smoulders precariously close to a pair of knickers. Two teenagers fuck in near-silence amongst the scrunched up sheets of a single bed. It’s the kind of sex you have when your parents are downstairs.

AIMEE (16, love-struck and pixie-featured) straddles ADAM (16, a dishevelled stoner kid trapped in a man’s body). He finds every squeak of the mattress excruciating.

AIMEE
Do you like my tits?

Adam looks distracted.

AIMEE (CONT’D) Hello? My tits?

ADAM
Oh yeah, I love your tits.

Aimee smiles, elated.

AIMEE
Do you want to come on them?

ADAM
Er... I have to take the condom off.

He goes to take it off.

AIMEE
Actually, don’t. I got a rash last time. Let’s do it from behind.

Adam flips Aimee over. The mattress is really squeaking now. Adam tries to stop the headboard banging. He can’t.

AIMEE (CONT’D)
I’m coming! Are you coming?

Aimee orgasms. She looks at Adam, expectant. He makes a strange, delayed, groan.

AIMEE (CONT’D)
Wait... Did you just... fake it?

ADAM
Don’t be stupid.

They roll off each other.

ADAM (CONT’D)
Why are you staring at me?

AIMEE
Show me the condom.

ADAM
No way!

Aimee wrestles with Adam, she emerges from the sheets holding up the condom. It’s missing semen.

AIMEE
Where’s the spunk, Adam?

Aimee looks at Adam, defiant. He looks guilty as charged.

TITLE SEQUENCE.

3  EXT. ROAD OUTSIDE OTIS’S HOUSE - MORNING 3

The sun rises over a suburban row of pretty houses. A group of PENSIONERS are on their weekly power-walk. Dogs bark as residents retrieve their mail and leave for work.

One house stands out amongst the rest - a large, detached property with an overgrown garden, wind chimes on the porch and stained glass windows. It’s hard not to notice.

4  INT. OTIS’S HOUSE. OTIS’S BEDROOM - MORNING 4

OTIS (16, highly intelligent but socially awkward) lays awake in bed, brain already ticking. His alarm BEEPS, he turns it off. His bedroom is meticulously organised.

Otis opens his bedside drawer, removing a box of tissues, tube of hand cream and a porn-mag with an oiled-up glamour model on the front. He messes up his bed, dropping scrunched up tissues on the sheets and floor. He leaves the magazine open on the centrefold and unscrews the hand cream, placing it on the bedside table.

He steps back, taking in his masterpiece - a perfectly staged scene of fake masturbation. Suddenly, the door opens and DAN (32, ridiculously buff) enters wearing a skimpy pink dressing gown. Dan JUMPS upon seeing Otis.

DAN
Woah! This is not the bathroom. (pause) I’m...

OTIS
Sleeping with my mother.

DAN
Eh... correct. I’m Dan.

OTIS
Otis.

Dan holds his hand out and they shake. Seeing the tissues, hand-cream and open magazine, he pulls his hand away.

OTIS (CONT’D)
Don’t worry. I’m left handed. (pause) Bathroom’s next door.

Dan leaves, pulling down the dressing gown to try and cover his bum cheeks. Otis looks happy with himself.

5 INT. OTIS’S HOUSE. KITCHEN - MORNING 5

The kitchen is chaotic but homely, full of hanging plants and African fertility statues. Otis, dressed for school, puts bread in the toaster and waits. JEAN (50, a statuesque woman who exudes sexuality) enters in a bohemian kaftan. The family terrier, FREUD, at her heels.

JEAN
Morning darling. Coffee?

Otis shakes his head. Jean checks her watch.

JEAN (CONT’D)
Shit, shit, shit, my first clients are arriving in fifteen and I haven’t re-read their notes. It’s going to be one of those days.

OTIS
Late night?

Otis shoots his mum a knowing look as Dan enters, holding a motorbike helmet.

JEAN
Otis, this is...

OTIS
We’ve met.

DAN
We’ve met.

The toaster POPS. Otis takes his toast to the table and methodically cuts the crusts off. Jean feeds the dog.

DAN (CONT’D)
Big day today, huh? Your mum said it’s your first day of Sixth Form.

Otis shrugs.

DAN (CONT’D)
I remember Sixth Form like it was only yesterday.

OTIS
How old are you, Dan?

DAN
Umm... 32.

OTIS
And do you always go for older women, or is this just a one time kind of thing?

Dan looks at Jean, awkward.

JEAN
A valid question, Otis. It’s not an uncommon fetish for a younger man.

DAN
Woah. This is why you shouldn’t date a shrink, huh?

OTIS
Sex and relationship therapist.

Jean smiles at Otis, proud.

OTIS (CONT’D)
It’s called an Oedipal complex. The older woman thing.

Dan laughs, uncomfortable.

DAN
What, like I secretly want to have sex with my mum? No... No... that’s definitely not what I’m into.

OTIS
If you say so... Dan.

JEAN
Darling, I was hoping we could have a quick chat before you...

The DOORBELL rings.

OTIS
Gotta go.

Otis grabs his rucksack and the rest of his toast and leaves the room. Jean follows him to the door.

6 EXT. OTIS’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS 6

Otis opens the door to see ERIC (16, an acne-covered motor- mouth with an unruly Afro) in the driveway with his bike.

OTIS
You’re late.

ERIC
Sorry man, hair trouble - I had to wait for like, all five of my sisters to use the bathroom, then I got a comb tangled in my hair... I think I hid it okay.

Eric parts his bushy hair, revealing a buried comb. Otis gives him a thumbs up.

Eric sees Jean in the doorway and grins.

ERIC (CONT’D)
Wassup, Jean? Cool Kaftan!

JEAN
Thanks Eric, it’s new. Ready for your big day?

ERIC
I’m shitting myself to be honest.

OTIS
It’s not our first day of primary school. It’s no big deal.

Jean and Eric share a knowing look as Otis grabs his bike.

JEAN
Wait one second.

Jean goes back inside the house.

ERIC
Your mum’s such a legend.

Otis rolls his eyes and puts on some reflective elbow pads. Jean returns.

JEAN
Catch.

Jean throws a make-up bag at Eric. It lands on the gravel.

ERIC
Oh, you wanted me to catch.

Eric opens the make-up bag, it’s full of old lipsticks.

ERIC (CONT’D)
Yes! You are a queen of epic proportions. I mean... not overweight or anything... just, like, awesome.

JEAN
I’m sashaying away now. Good luck!

Jean blows them a kiss and goes back inside. Eric puts the make-up bag into his rucksack. Dan exits the house and walks towards his parked motorbike. He catches Otis’ eye.

DAN
See you around, mate.

OTIS (under breath)
I wouldn’t count on it.

Eric smiles at Dan, way too eager.

ERIC
Hi!

Dan nods awkwardly, revs the engine and rides off.

ERIC (CONT’D)
Your mum’s BF is literally a walking, talking wet-dream.