The creator of Netflix hit series Sex Education has admitted she keeps a document with different slang words for genitalia on her laptop.
Laurie Nunn, who penned the show starring Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield, has been named one of Bafta’s breakthrough Brits – a list of 20 of the UK’s most promising future stars of film, games and television.
The series follows an insecure school pupil, the son of a sex therapist, who sets up his own clinic for his classmates.
It has been a hit for Netflix and is expected to return for a second series next year, but Nunn said researching the show, which speaks frankly about sex, has landed her in some awkward situations.
She told the PA news agency: “I have a particular website on my laptop which is just all the different slang words for penis and it’s always there and when I’m in cafes I’m always like ‘Ooh I need to put that down’.
“There are many things that we discuss in the writers’ room of the show that have to stay behind closed doors.”
Nunn, 33, added she is always working to stay up to date with terms used by teenagers, saying: “I think that the younger generation are just so much more in tune with conversation around sex and relationships, sexual politics.
“I think when I was at school the sex education that I had was pretty appalling so I think they have really come a long way since then and I’m learning all the time through writing the show. It’s really eye opening.”
She added it was a “lovely surprise” to be chosen by Bafta as a breakthrough Brit, and said: “I’m really hoping to reach out to different creatives, particularly women who write and direct their own TV work because that is something I really would like to move into post Sex Education, so I’m looking forward that.”
