Gillian Anderson to star in new Netflix series Sex Education

RadioTimes.com can confirm that Anderson's next major TV project will be on Netflix, with The X-Files star set to play a sex therapist in the eight-part British dramedy.

Hugo actor Asa Butterfield will star in Sex Education as awkward teenager Otis Milburn, whose mother Jean's job as a sex therapist proves surprisingly handy when it comes to earning kudos at school.

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Anderson quit both The X-Files and Amazon Prime Video's American Gods at the start of this year; this is her first TV role announced since she confirmed she was leaving those series. She is also set to feature in comedy movie The Spy Who Dumped Me later this summer.

Filming is now underway on Sex Education, created by Laurie Nunn and directed by Catastrophe director Ben Taylor.

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According to Netflix, the UK-based series will follow Otis as he and classmate Maeve (played by Emma Mackey) set up an "underground sex therapy clinic to deal with their fellow students' weird and wonderful problems".

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"Surrounded by manuals, videos and tediously open conversations about sex, Otis is a reluctant expert on the subject," the show synopsis explains. "When his home life is revealed at school, Otis realises that he can use his specialist knowledge to gain status."

The cast also includes Ncuti Gatwa as Otis’s best friend Eric, Connor Swindells as class bully Adam, and Kedar Williams-Stirling as head boy Jackson.

Sex Education is made by UK production company Eleven, the producers behind E4's Bafta-nominated teen series Glue and Channel 4 docudrama True Horror.

"We are delighted to bring Laurie Nunn’s brilliant creation to life with such a gifted team," said exec producer Jamie Campbell when the series was first announced in November last year. "Netflix is an exceptional partner and we are thrilled to go on this journey together."