sex education is a british comedy-drama web television series. the creator of the series is laurie nunn. the series stars asa butterfield as a socially awkward teenager and gillian anderson as his character's mother, a sex therapist. co-stars include ncuti gatwa, emma mackey, aimee lou wood, connor swindells, patricia allison, tanya reynolds, kedar williams-stirling, mikael persbrandt and anne-marie duff. the first season was released on 11 january 2019. it became a critical and commercial success for netflix, with over 40 million viewers having streamed the first series after its release. the second series was released on 17 january 2020 and the third on 17 september 2021. a fourth series was announced on 25 september 2021.