If you are home for the holidays and hunting for something to binge then consider this a warning: some Netflix titles are best enjoyed solo. Far away from your parents and older relatives.
Netflix’s slate currently includes nearly 80 originals, from uplifting comedies to intense dramas. But on this platform, the phrase ‘sex sells’ isn’t just a cliché – it’s reality.
The streaming service reported 95 billion viewing hours for the first half of the year and is packed with picks perfect for a private viewing, with dozens of slow-burn romances, steamy thrillers and shows where clothes are optional at best.
Though, be warned: things could get painfully awkward with your family in the room, unless you’re ready to spend the holidays dodging eye contact at every meal.
Here’s a rundown of eight of the steamiest, sexiest titles on Netflix right now.
1) Bridgerton
Bridgerton follows a wealthy English family navigating through society’s strict expectations
The four-season show, set in the 1800s, is all about romance at its heart. Star Jonathan Bailey who plays Viscount Anthony Bridgerton is pictured stripping down for one scene
Bridgerton is Netflix’s Regency-era drama that follows a wealthy English family navigating through society’s strict expectations and forbidden romances, with its characters hiding juicy secrets.
It’s set in a period defined by elegance, strict etiquette, grand balls and duels. At its heart is romance – so much so that some historians argue it was the most romantic era in British history.
But beneath all the glamor lay rigid societal expectations – particularly for women, including those connected to the Bridgerton family.
Yet none of that stopped the beloved characters, who, behind closed doors, were anything but lady-like or proper.
The show’s slow-burn romance unfolds in the tiniest gestures – a stolen glance, lingering eye contact or the brush of gloved hands – each one charged with desire and mounting sexual tension.
Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, summed up Season 1 Episode 6 perfectly: ‘just nonstop shagging,’ as reported by US Magazine.
‘What I ended up doing was just fast-forwarding through all the sexy bits,’ she recalled to the outlet, referring to watching the episode with her mother.
Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, was among the other actors who admitted feeling the same way when watching the show with their families.
‘Episode 6 is the danger, red-light hazard warning,’ she said during a Conan interview in 2021. ‘I watched it with my grandparents. With my family, we just skipped episode 6. It was a no-go!’
In short: English high society collides with inner – and elegantly sexy – chaos.
2) Sex/Life
Sex/Life is Netflix’s provocative drama about Billie Connelly, a suburban mother who appears to have the perfect life. Margaret Odette, who plays Sasha Snow, and Cleo Anthony, who plays Kam, are main cast members in the Netflix series
Adam Demos and Sarah Shahi star in Netflix’s Sex/Life that offers steamy viewing
Sex/Life is Netflix’s provocative drama about Billie Connelly, a suburban mother who appears to have it all – a loving husband, two kids and a picture-perfect life.
But, of course, on Netflix, no life is ever truly perfect.
The housewife secretly grapples with memories of her wilder, more passionate past – a steamy affair with a former flame, an ex who continues to haunt her fantasies and raunchy diary entries.
Over two seasons, the show flips the traditional cheating narrative, putting female desire and moral chaos front and center.
Tension radiates through the screen as breathless encounters blur into seductive flashbacks, all from a woman who appears, on the surface, to be just an ordinary mother.
It unravels into a forbidden, modern-day bad romance filled with elevator hookups, rooftop-pool rendezvous and the kind of dim nightclub corners where no one’s supposed to look, yet everyone does.
The pair’s romance is filled with sex in elevators, rooftop pools and smooches in the kind of nightclub corners where no one is supposed to look – but everyone does.
Each episode dives further into the pit of desire, temptation and the battle between stability and lust – the kind of subjects you’d never dare bring up at a holiday dinner table.
Nevertheless, it offers a deliciously steamy, sweat-raising watch for the rest of us at home.
3) Elite
Elite, Netflix’s Spanish teen drama, explores the dark underbelly of a private high school in Spain
The series follows rich students and full-ride scholarship ones whose lives collide
This Spanish teen drama explores the dark underbelly of a private high school in Spain and the chaos – including murder – unleashed by the arrival of three scholarship students.
The hit Netflix series Elite, spanning eight seasons, does not shy away from topics that are far from family-friendly, one of which even including teases of full-on incest.
Set at the Las Encinas school, the series follows rich students and full-ride scholarship ones whose lives collide in a storm of prohibited romances, love triangles, shocking secrets, betrayal, nudity, transgender-on-cisgender intimacy and tangled consent.
Over the years, the series has earned acclaim for its honest take on young, emotionally-driven sex and relationships, complete with several steamy shower scenes.
In Season 4, three of the show’s gay characters engage in numerous threesomes. The season also features the series’ first lesbian sex scene.
One montage in particular captured two characters releasing their teenage tension, licking melted chocolate off each other before stripping down and having sex.
4) Dark Desire
In Dark Desire, Alma, a married law professor, becomes entangled in an affair with the younger Dario
The show has released two seasons and some viewers have called it the catalyst for their ‘sexual awakening’
In Netflix’s steamy 2020 series Dark Desire, a married law professor, becomes entangled in a passionate weekend affair with a younger man.
With two seasons, including a first season of 18 episodes, the Mexican drama rapidly rose to become one of the platform’s most-watched non-English shows.
Some viewers have gone so far as to call it the catalyst for their ‘sexual awakening.’
What begins as a minor flirtation quickly catapults into fiery passion, which then spirals into dangerous obsession, betrayal and homicide.
And where else could a tension-fueled affair lead but to a chain of past secrets that fatally binds them all?
True to any good erotic drama, the hunger plays out amid relentless, over-the-top sex scenes.
Dark Desire is one of several series developed by Netflix as part of its push to produce original content in Mexico, showcasing local talent both in front of and behind the camera for a global audience.
5) Big Mouth
Across eight seasons, Big Mouth revolved around sexual themes: curiosity, awkward crushes, masturbation and experiencing menstruation for the very first time
One of the show’s most chaotic creations is the hormone monsters, wildly exaggerated embodiments of teenagers’ raging puberty hormones
Big Mouth has been a Netflix fan favorite since its 2017 debut, and the series recently wrapped up with a full eight-season run.
The hilariously raunchy adult animated comedy dives headfirst into the messy and painfully awkward world of puberty – particularly that of middle schoolers.
Each episode often centered on bold sexual themes: curiosity, awkward crushes, masturbation, body changes, erections and the experience of getting a first period.
These pimply teens dish out secondhand embarrassment as they stumble through first loves and libido-fueled misadventures, typically in the most absurd ways imaginable.
One of the show’s most chaotic creations is the hormone monsters, or wildly exaggerated embodiments of teenagers’ raging puberty hormones.
Every main character is paired with their own hormone monster – occasionally even a hormone demon – who relentlessly nudges them toward sexual curiosity and impulsive decisions.
A sidekick, mischievous guide and instigator all in one, the hormone monsters pop up throughout each episode, serving brutally honest – and often absurd – advice about the thoughts that silently torment every teen.
6) 365 Days
The controversial erotic thriller 365 Days follows a woman who becomes entangled with a dominant mafia boss
The mafia boss gives her one year to fall in love with him, promising that she will be released if her feelings don’t develop by then
The Polish, controversial erotic thriller 365 Days is the kind of movie you’d want to skip during a family-filled night in the living room.
Since its 2020 release, it quickly climbed to number two on the charts. Despite poor reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it has cemented its place as one of Netflix’s most sexually explicit films.
The guilty-pleasure film follows a woman who becomes entangled with a dominant mafia boss, who ultimately imprisons her – with an unexpected twist.
He gives her one year to fall in love with him, promising that she will be released if her feelings don’t develop by then.
However, several provocative scenes sparked controversy, including instances where the boss Massimo gropes, manhandles and coerces his victim into uncomfortable situations – despite promising he wouldn’t touch her without consent.
In the film’s most notorious scene, he forces her to watch him receive oral sex from someone else.
The movie has been compared to Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight, portraying what would seem like a dangerous situation as a glamorous, sexy predicament.
In this case, being held hostage ignites a whirlwind of passion, luxury, and scandalous escapades filled with intense chemistry, erotic tension and daring scenes that leave little to the imagination.
The sequel, 365 Days: This Day, premiered in 2022 and racked up nearly 78 million streaming hours on Netflix in its first week alone.
7) Sex Education
Sex Education is a popular British comedy-drama that debuted on Netflix in 2019. It follows a socially awkward teen and his friends at Moordale High School
Robyn Holdaway as Layla in Sex Education. The show has been praised as being very relatable
Sex Education is a popular British comedy-drama that debuted on Netflix in 2019, exploring the teenage years.
The often-steamy series follows a socially awkward teen and his friends at Moordale High School as they navigate the challenges of love, sex and growing up.
Adding to the mix, the teen’s mother is a sex therapist, and despite his own inexperience, he becomes an unlikely sex expert when he starts an underground ‘sex therapy’ clinic at school with a classmate.
The show’s intentions are clear from the very start, with one of its most explicit sex scenes occurring within the first 10 seconds.
The show is celebrated for being both endearing and provocative in its own unique way, giving each character a storyline that explores gender, sexuality, fantasies, relationships and mental health in an open and non-judgmental manner.
The series also includes a diverse cast of adults, each facing their own personal challenges over four seasons.
From the start, it has been praised for being educational, with characters who are multidimensional, flawed and as complex and relatable as real people.
8) Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy
Dakota Johnson plays leading lady Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan stars as Christian Grey
Based on the books by E L James, the films follow a college graduate who becomes entangled in a complicated romance with a wealthy businessman
The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy is arguably the most well-known set of provocative films available for streaming on Netflix.
Based on the bestselling erotic romance novels by E L James, the films follow a young college graduate who gets involved in a complicated romance with wealthy businessman Christian Grey.
The innocent student encounters Grey, a man with a penchant for BDSM, and their relationship unfolds amid tension, attraction and careful negotiation of boundaries.
One of the most notable elements of both the novels and films is the Red Room – Grey’s private ‘playroom’ where he explores his fantasies, including bondage, discipline, dominance and submission.
The Red Room symbolizes both control and intimacy, and their relationship soon takes on a distinct power dynamic.
‘I really had to get ready for it each time and know exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to accomplish shooting the scenes, the more intimate ones,’ Dakota Johnson, who played leading lady Anastasia Steele, told ET Online.
Johnson admitted the Red Room scenes were ‘not easy to do,’ and required ‘serious psychological preparation.’
‘Over the course of the three films, it never got easier,’ she added.
You’ll need to catch the trilogy over the holidays on the streaming service as it’s due to leave Netflix in January
Many critics have called the story problematic for romanticizing controlling behavior, lacking literary depth, and depicting an unhealthy relationship.
Nevertheless, the books and films achieved massive global popularity, particularly for their erotic content and dramatic romance.
The trilogy is scheduled to leave Netflix in January.
