The Results Are In: These Are the 42 Sexiest TV Shows of All Time

If your favourite TV shows are rated TV-MA due to suggestive dialogue and sexual content, then you’ve come to the right place. TV shows continue to push the envelope when it comes to raunchiness, and with the invention of HBO, Starz, Netflix, and Hulu, censorship is basically a thing of the past. But they aren’t the only ones churning out the sexy content – even networks like ABC and The CW manage to get some pretty saucy scenes past the FCC. From historical romances to modern comedies, here are just 42 of the sexiest series ever to grace our TV screens.

Everett Collection / Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

Orange Is the New Black

When privileged New Yorker Piper Chapman is sent to a minimum-security prison due to her involvement with a drug runner 10 years earlier, she never imagines she’ll run into the woman who got her involved in the first place – and who also happens to be her old girlfriend. Seriously, who knew a women’s prison could be so sexy?

Everett Collection / Chuck Hodes

Empire

Revolving around a hip-hop entertainment company and the three sons who fight to take control when their father hands it off to them, this series is full of great music and epic guest stars – and tons of sex. Lucious, Hakeem, and Andre get plenty of action, but no one has quite as many spicy scenes as their mother, Cookie (played by Taraji P. Henson).

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

Californication

In this series, David Duchovny plays an erratic, hedonistic NYC novelist with a drinking problem who still harbours feelings for his ex but instead drowns his sorrows in all the debauchery and sex that Los Angeles has to offer – and believe us, there’s a lot of it. LA may not look super glamorous in Hank Moody’s world, but it’s definitely hot.

Everett Collection / Sophie Mutevelian/World Productions/Netflix

The Bodyguard

Starring Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden (otherwise known as the ill-fated Robb Stark), this new BBC drama is centered on a war veteran turned cop and special protection officer who is assigned to guard the home secretary from mysterious assassins. If you’ve been hoping to catch the sexy Scottish actor (Robb) Stark naked, then you’re in for a treat.

Everett Collection

She's Gotta Have It

Based on the 1986 Spike Lee film of the same name, this series follows a Brooklyn-based artist who tries to juggle her friends and her job with her overactive love life – which is pretty tricky when you’re seeing three equally hot guys at once. She’s Gotta Have It also deserves a round of applause for having a queer sex scene between two black women that lasts for a full two-and-a-half minutes, which is pretty much unheard of.

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

Shameless

Starring Emmy Rossum and William H. Macy, this incredibly raunchy and hilarious series follows a woman attempting to keep her life, her relationships, and her five younger siblings together in Chicago’s South Side, while her bumbling alcoholic father continuously wreaks havoc on them all. The best part: Fiona Gallagher is able to maintain an impressively active sex life, despite having to constantly do damage control for her family.

Everett Collection / Alison Cohen Rosa/Netflix

Tales of a City

Based on the book series by Armistead Maupin, this miniseries stars Laura Linney as Mary Ann Singleton, a woman who returns home to reunite with her family and the sex-loving residents of 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco, 20 years after leaving behind her daughter (played by Ellen Page) and ex-husband to pursue her career. Expect to see a lot of colourful characters and just as many ship-worthy same-sex relationships.

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

The L Word

This show is Sex and the City with hot LA lesbians, but even better, following the relationships and affairs of a group of lesbians and bisexuals questioning their sexualities, hiding their identities, discovering their desires, and sleeping around – oftentimes with each other. Need we say more?

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

Masters of Sex

Set in the 1950s through the late 1960s, this series revolves around real-life sexperts Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two pioneering researchers of human sexuality played by Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan. If you’ve been dying to see some vintage dildos and vibrators, then this is the show for you.

Everett Collection

Grey's Anatomy

You may not think of hospitals as a hotbed for sex, but given that all of the doctors at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital happen to be ridiculously good-looking, it’s no wonder they spend as much time handling medical emergencies as they do getting to know one another’s anatomy. Seriously, Shonda Rhimes, how do you convince ABC to let you make your shows so raunchy?

Everett Collection

Pose

Created by Ryan Murphy, Pose takes on the underground ball culture world of 1980s New York City, and the series has made history by featuring the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles ever. Set against the background of the AIDS crisis, Pose manages to feel like a sexy queer fever dream without ever losing touch with the very real things happening outside the club.

Everett Collection / Katrina Marcinowski

Now Apocalypse

Set in LA, Now Apocalypse is all about hookups, dating apps, and a guy who isn’t sure whether he’s having dark, premonitory dreams or smoking bad weed. This sexy Starz series only lasted for one season, but once you watch it, you’ll wish we were getting more.

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

The Tudors

Period pieces may not be your thing, but this Showtime drama (which takes place during the early years of King Henry VIII’s reign) delves into the young and lustful monarch’s tumultuous relationships with Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. If you like hot-and-heavy romances, then we guarantee you’ll be a fan of this one.

Everett Collection / Nicole Wilder

Vida

This Showtime drama revolves around two Mexican-American sisters from East LA who couldn’t be more different but who are brought back together after their mom passes away. Even though the series opens with an orgy scene, it only gets raunchier from there, if you can believe it.

Everett Collection / Paul Sarkis

The Affair

This series follows the forbidden romance between young diner waitress Alison and an aspiring novelist, telling the story from each of their perspectives (and eventually from the perspectives of their spouses) and showing how memory bias results in very different tellings of how the affair came to be. To say this series offers a lot of gratuitous nudity would be an understatement.

Everett Collection / Starz! Movie Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection

Outlander

Based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling series, Outlander tells the story of a former World War II combat nurse, her MI6 officer husband, and the time-travel incident that lands her in 18th-century Scotland (and in the arms of a sexy Scottish Highland warrior). Traditional romantic tropes are tossed out the window with this one, and choosing between two men has never been more difficult.

Everett Collection

The Borgias

This historical-fiction drama tells the story of the titular Borgias, a family of outsiders from Spain who try to take control of 16th-century Renaissance-era Italy through the use of any means possible, including bribery, extortion, torture, and even murder. Think Game of Thrones, but perhaps even more sex, if that’s possible.

Everett Collection

Easy

With a stacked cast that includes Zazie Beetz, Dave Franco, Orlando Bloom, Jake Johnson, and Emily Ratajkowski, among many others, this series revolves around beautiful people living in Chicago and navigating the complicated trappings of modern romance. With plenty of role playing, threesomes, and BDSM parties, this one constantly pushes the envelope.

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

Weeds

In this dark comedy, Nancy Botwin is a widowed mother of two trying to make some extra money by selling weed in her suburban neighborhood while simultaneously navigating an endless parade of problematic men. Here’s what makes Mary-Louise Parker’s character so great: she loves sex, and she’s not sorry about it.

Everett Collection / Liam Daniel

Harlots

Set in 18th-century London, this scandalous Hulu original follows a war between a brothel owner and a ruthless madam who wants to take control of the city’s most profitable service: sex. This definitely isn’t your average English period drama.

Everett Collection / Alison Cohen Rosa/Netflix

Gypsy

Naomi Watts stars in this psychological thriller series as Jean, who appears to be just your run-of-the-mill NYC therapist – but secretly, she has a habit of developing illicit relationships with the people in her patients’ lives, and as you can expect, things get more than a little unprofessional. Netflix, remind us again why we only got one season of this sexy show?

Everett Collection / Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy Everett Collection

Queer as Folk

This sex-filled series follows the lives of gay men and women in Pittsburgh as they traverse their careers, family dramas, ambitions, and – of course – complicated love lives. Wondering what US TV series portrayed the first simulated sex scene between two men? That’s right – thank you, Queer as Folk.

Everett Collection / Murray Close/Netflix

Sense8

What happens when eight strangers around the globe find themselves inexplicably connected both emotionally and physically? Those eight sensates get pretty hot and bothered for one another. We don’t know about you, but we’ve never seen a Christmas special that features an orgy before watching this series.

Everett Collection / CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection

Reign

Reign follows the fictitious exploits of Mary, Queen of Scots, against the backdrop of the rising religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants and the threat of the rival House of Bourbon for the throne of France. How this CW historical drama got so many shocking scenes past the network censors is still a mysterious to us.

Everett Collection / McFadden

Being Mary Jane

Gabrielle Union stars in this series as a successful cable-news anchor whose life is seemingly perfect – save for her totally tumultuous romantic relationships. Mary Jane is unapologetically independent and confidently sexual, and if you’ve ever wanted to watch an erotic sex scene involving a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy, then you’ll want to check out this one.

Everett Collection / Starz! Movie Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection

Spartacus

Inspired by the historical figure Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic, this historical series has all the sex and violence you would expect – plus a ton of hunky shirtless men. We would have paid more attention in history class if it had looked like this.

Everett Collection / Leon Galan Marquez/Netflix

Ingobernable

What happens when the first lady of Mexico, a woman of honour and ideals, starts to lose faith in her president husband? That’s exactly what happens in this Spanish-language crime drama, which follows Emilia Urquiza as she attempts to improve the conditions of her country and uncover some dark truths – even if that means going behind her husband’s back (or having hot sex on her desk) to do it.

Everett Collection / ITV/Courtesy Everett Collection

Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour, this naughty drama revolves around a 27-year-old college graduate whose parents think she’s a legal secretary, but in reality, she’s a high-end London escort who goes by the name Belle. As it turns out, having a secret makes everything sexier.

Everett Collection / Starz! Movie Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection

Black Sails

Set on New Providence Island in the early 1700s, this historical series serves as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, following the power struggle between pirates and the British Empire. While there’s plenty of violence and adventure, there may be even more wildly graphic sex scenes.

Everett Collection / Bob Mahoney

Dynasty

This reboot of the primetime ’80s soap of the same name revolves around two rival families in Atlanta, the Carringtons and the Colbys, and the tension between heiress Fallon Carrington and her billionaire father’s new wife, Cristal Flores, whom she doesn’t trust. Despite being blue bloods, this crew isn’t afraid to fight dirty – as well as get down and dirty.

Everett Collection / Starz! Movie Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Girlfriend Experience

Inspired by Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 movie of the same name, this provocative show is all about a struggling law-school student who leads a double life as a high-end escort – though she provides way more than just sex. The second season gets even hotter when it shifts focus to the relationship between a female political fundraiser and another well-trained escort.

Everett Collection / Sci-Fi Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection

Lost Girl

In this supernatural drama, a young woman discovers she has superhuman abilities – though unfortunately, she doesn’t figure out those powers until after she accidentally kills her boyfriend during sex. After that, Bo quickly learns that being a bisexual succubus who can seduce and manipulate anyone with the touch of your hand makes you pretty damn powerful.

Recent Posts

Exit mobile version