Sex Education became a mega-hit when it premiered on Netflix in January 2019. The show centres on Otis Milburn, a high school student who offers sex advice to the other kids. He learned his skills from his sex therapist mother, Jean, while his best mate Eric and on-again off-again love interest Maeve support him in his business endeavour and embarrassing teenage growing pains.
The series is created by Laurie Nunn, with Ben Taylor as the primary director. Sex Education received critical acclaim for its cast, directing, writing, production and themes. Aimee Lou Wood won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for her role in the second series, and the show won Best Comedy Series for season three at the 50th International Emmy Awards.
What do we know about season 4?
While the first three seasons took place at Moordale Secondary School, it has now been disbanded with the students spreading out across different new schools. Season 4 sees Otis setting up shop at Cavendish Sixth Form College, an ultra-progressive school where kindness is cool, and there’s daily yoga in the communal garden. But there’s a problem - Cavendish College already has a sex therapist, landing Otis’ business in trouble.
Jean struggles as the recently single mother of a newborn. In the season 4 trailer, it is confirmed that Jakub has left her, after finding out that the baby isn’t his. The trailer also shows Otis and Maeve struggling with the long distance, and a first-look at Dan Levy as Maeve’s mentor. As season 4 approaches, Netflix tells us to ‘Get your tissues ready, let's finish together’.
Which characters are returning to season 4?
Asa Butterfield is returning to star in season 4 as Otis Milburn, with Ncuti Gatwa as Eric Effiong and Emma Mackey as Maeve Wiley. Mackey can also be seen in this summer’s Barbie film, while Gatwa is preparing for his role as the fifteenth doctor in Doctor Who.
Aimee Lou Wood, Connor Swindells and Gillian Anderson are all reprising their roles as Aimee Gibbs, Adam Groff and Dr Jean Milburn respectively.
Kedar Williams-Stirling returns as Jackson Marchetti, Mimi Keene as Ruby Matthews, Chinenye Ezeudu as Viv Odusanya, Dua Saleh as Cal Bowman, George Robinson as Isaac Goodwin, Samantha Spiro as Maureen Groff, Alistair Petrie as Michael Groff, with Rakhee Thakrar as Emily Sanda, Jim Howick as Colin Hendricks and Daniel Ings as Dan.
Patricia Allison, who plays Ola, and Tanya Reynolds who plays Lily will not be returning. Simone Ashley who played Olivia, also won’t be returning.
Are there new characters in season 4?
Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy is joining as Thomas Molloy, a renowned author who tutors Maeve in the US with Doctor Who’s Thaddea Graham, Maternal’s Lisa McGrillis, comedian Eshaan Akbar, and Marie Reuther. Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim, Anne Boleyn) is also joining the cast.
Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James, Reda Elazouar, Bella Maclean and Imani Yahshua are also confirmed to join.
When will it be available?
The Sex Education season 4 release date is September 21, 2023. There will be eight episodes in the final season, which will stream exclusively on Netflix.
Here’s a recap of what’s happened so far (spoilers ahead):
Season 1
Otis and Maeve set up a sex therapy clinic at Moordale Secondary School - Maeve handles the business, and Otis dispenses the advice. Things don’t stay strictly business for long though, as Otis quickly develops feelings for Maeve. When she says she needs to meet after school, it’s not the date he had in mind, however, as Maeve takes him to a hospital because she’s having an abortion.
It turns out hot-shot school athlete Jackson is also interested in Maeve and asks Otis for help. Torn between whether he should help him, or give him bad advice so that he can be with Maeve. He gives bad advice, which ends up working a treat, with Jackson and Maeve getting together. Whoops. Ola then gives her number to Otis and the two of them start dating. Ola’s father, Jakob, also starts dating Otis’s mum, sex-guru Jean.
Otis and Eric plan to see the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and dress up in full costume for Eric’s birthday. Otis stands him up, and Eric is assaulted on the way home with his phone and wallet stolen. The two best friends eventually reconcile at the school dance, in which Eric arrives in full drag. Maeve realises her feelings for Otis, and when Jackson lets slip that he paid Otis for advice on how to win her over, she shuts down both her friendship and business with Otis.
Maeve’s estranged brother Sean arrives back in town, and sells drugs at the school dance, leading the headmaster to think that Maeve and Otis are running a drug ring. She takes the fall for him, and ends up getting expelled. A heartbroken Jackson has stopped going to swimming training after their breakup, and agrees to come back to practice on the condition that Maeve is allowed to return back to school. The headmaster reneges on the agreement.
After a physical altercation, Adam and Eric are put in detention together, whether they end up hooking up. Adam is then sent off to military school, Otis apologises to Ola, Jean breaks things off with Jakob but then they sleep together. Maeve goes round to Otis’ house to make up, but she sees him and Ola kissing, leaving before they notice.
Season 1 was also when the iconic “it’s my vagina” scene happened.
Season 2
Otis and Ola’s relationship is going strong, and so are their parents’. Tensions between Otis and his mum Jean are further worsened when a chlamydia outbreak at Moordale sees Jean hired to work directly with Moordale students as a sex therapist.
Maeve is allowed to return to Moordale after her expulsion, with the help of her English teacher. She then reopens her sex clinic with Otis, but their business is affected due to Jean’s professional (and free) advice. Their business also causes friction between Otis and Ola.
Eric is left hanging after Adam is sent off to boarding school, but he enters into a relationship with exchange student Rahim. Adam is then expelled from boarding school after drugs are planted in his bunk, and he returns home to take a job at a shop under Rahim’s apartment. Eric is stuck in a love triangle between the two men.
Aimee spends the season dealing with the consequences of being sexually assaulted on her way to school, and the girls at Moordale band together to support her. Jackson is drowning under the pressure from his parents to succeed in swimming, as well as dealing with his breakup from Maeve. He purposely breaks his hand as a way to take a break from swimming, jeopardising his athletic career. Jackson focuses on academics, and gets tutored by Viv. They support each other and pursue their goals, and when Viv finds out that he broke his hand on purpose, she tells Jackson’s mothers.
Otis’s dad Remy returns to spend time with him, with Jean and Remy rekindling their relationship. Jean then breaks up with Jakob, but realises this was a mistake and asks for him to take her back. Jean finds out that she’s pregnant, and also learns about Otis’s sex clinic which she calls extremely unethical. While things started off well with Remy’s return, Otis found out that he only came back because his new wife kicked him out of the house.
Ola is jealous of Maeve and Otis’s relationship, and asks Otis to cut off contact with Maeve. He does this, but then Ola realises she is pansexual and their relationship ends anyway. Ola begins a relationship with Lily, and a friendship with her co-worker Adam.
Maeve’s mum Erin returns back to town, with her half-sister Elsie, promising to get clean and make amends. Maeve joins the quiz team, and makes friends with disabled neighbour Isaac. Isaac discovers that Erin is using drugs again and Maeve makes the decision to call social services on her mum.
Headmaster Groff’s marriage is on the rocks, and his wife turns to Jean for some advice. A jealous Groff then copies all of Jean’s therapy notes and publicly distributes them around the school, causing absolute chaos. Groff’s son Adam then publicly confesses his love for Eric at the school play, Otis stands up for his mum when she comes under fire for her work with the school, and Groff is put on leave. Otis then goes to confess his love to Maeve but instead finds Isaac. Otis leaves a message for Maeve, but Isaac deletes it before she can listen to it.
Season 3
Moordale’s new Headmistress Hope is trying to turn the school into a pillar of excellence. Otis tips her off about the sex clinic and she has the bathrooms demolished. Hope makes Viv head girl, over Jackson, and makes school uniforms compulsory. Adam and Eric go public with their relationship, but Adam struggles. Otis starts sleeping with Ruby.
Maeve applies for a study program in the United States, while confronting Erin at Elsie’s foster home. Maeve kisses Isaac, who then reveals that he deleted Otis’s message. Ola and Jakob move in with Otis and Jean, leading to tension. Aimee starts therapy with Jean. Ruby tells Otis that she loves him, but he can’t bring himself to reciprocate so they break up.
Eric and his family travel to Nigeria for a wedding, where he struggles to fit in. Meanwhile, on a class trip to France, Jackson and Cal hallucinate on magic mushrooms on the bus, resulting in Karim causing a car crash. Adam takes the blame for Rahim. Otis and Maeve are left stranded when the bus leaves without them, and Maeve says she needs time to process her feelings for him. Jakob doesn’t trust Jean and asks for a paternity test.
Maeve is accepted into the study programme, but the school won’t give her funding. Hope is pressured by the board to deliver results, and publishes Cal, Adam and Lily publicly. Rahim is suspended, and Maeve finds out that Erin kidnapped Elsie out of foster care. Adam turns to Rahim for help with Eric, and Eric cheats on him with a photographer in Nigeria.
Maeve and Aimee find Erin and Elsie, who goes back to the foster home. Open day at Moordale goes wrong as Hope desperately tries to make everything perfect for the investors. Jean goes into labour while giving a television interview, giving birth to a baby girl but suffers serious complications. Eric comes clean to Adam, and Mr and Mrs Groff sleep together again. Otis and Maeve kiss and make up.
Jean wakes up from surgery and is surprised at the paternity test results. Hope is removed as headmistress, and bumps into Otis at the hospital who is going through another round of in vitro fertilisation after trying for three years. Erin gives Maeve the money for the study abroad programme, but she decides not to go because she’s finally with Otis. Adam forgives Eric for cheating, but Eric breaks up with him because he’s losing a part of himself while being in a relationship with someone who’s not comfortable with their identity. Adam finally tells his mother that Eric was his boyfriend. Aimee convinces Maeve to go to the United States, so Otis and Maeve say goodbye. The school is sold to developers and the students need to find another arrangement for next year.
Sex Education season 4 comes out on September 21, only on Netflix.