Physical gestures of love are a part of most healthy romances, even the fictional kind. And
thanks to undeniable star chemistry and sensual staging, that translates to some seriously
steamy scenes. Sometimes too steamy. Here are the love scenes that were too controversial for TV.
Citing, quote, "fundamental disagreements," Roswell,
New Mexico creator Carina Adly Mackenzie resigned from the show in July 2020. While
she kept those disagreements vague in her Instagram statement on the matter,
she was quite specific several weeks earlier about a particular grievance.
"This isn't gonna work out, Guerin. I cannot ignore what I saw tonight."
Mackenzie's frustration was clear when she tweeted disappointment with the UK's ITV
edit of a romantic scene between two queer characters, Alex and Michael, saying:
"Really, really, REALLY upset to hear that @itv cut out a (pretty tame) love scene between two men
and kept a (much more raunchy) heterosexual sex scene in their airing of an episode of
#RoswellNM tonight. There are a lot of angry tears happening at my house..."
The eye-opening thread continued:
"It's just... super upsetting not to have any advance notice of the way that my own
work gets sliced and diced [...] It's just blatant homophobia/biphobia/bigotry
and I'm so, so sorry and so, so angry."
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson for ITV2
refuted Mackenzie's claim — or confirmed it, depending on your point of view, saying:
"During our compliance process on episode two, we edited love scenes featuring the characters
of Alex and Michael and Max and Jenna. Editing is only ever undertaken to ensure content is
suitable for scheduling in a pre-watershed time slot when younger age groups may be watching."
Netflix's Hollywood doesn't shy away from the topic of intimacy and all of its parts. While
the series is chock full of steamy scenes, star Dylan McDermott told Schön! magazine that there
was at least one love scene cut, and it featured an unexpected couple. He said:
"My [...] scene with Patti LuPone w-as cut because it was too hot for TV."
It's not too surprising that the scene between McDermott's character Ernie — a good-natured
pimp that employs aspiring actors and has let go of his own dreams of stardom — and
Patti Lupone's Avis, the studio executive's wife, exists. It would just be nice to know
what is considered "too hot" at Netflix. But McDermott wouldn't give any further details.
"Oh! Here's one right here. Jack, today is your lucky day."
For her part, LuPone just seems happy the scene exists. While promoting the show on Extra with
McDermott and David Corenswet, who plays Jack, one of Avis' hook-ups, LuPone added:
"I get to have [...] scenes with these two guys, yes!"
"You know what I said, 'Finally! What took them so long?'"
There are sexy scenes, and even scenes of the deed on Netflix's The Crown, but according to Vanessa
Kirby — who plays a young Princess Margaret on the first two seasons of the show — they are scarce.
Plus, scenes featuring members of the royal family are rarely explicit if they must exist. Kirby said
on the Love Stories With Dolly Alderton podcast, that Queen Elizabeth's love story is handled with
special care. She said that there was a love scene between Elizabeth and Phillip in Season 1 of the
series that was cut while filming on location in South Africa because a collective decision
was made that the cast and crew didn't, quote, "think anyone wants to see the queen having sex."
"Everyone turn around, please."
As for her own character's scenes,
Kirby said that there was a scene in Season 2 Episode 7 cut because, as she explained:
"It just became clear that to sort of titillate was not the aim. With Margaret I was like,
'no one wants to see royal boob, not really.'"
The part of the scene where Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones actually
get physical was cut because, in Kirby's words:
"I always feel like it's about energy isn't it?"
She and co-star Matthew Goode just danced around the set and
the intimate moments were more natural. She said:
"It became way more about playfulness and vulnerability [...] I always think
that communicates so much more than any sort of like bum shot or something."
How To Get Away With Murder broke ground with queer representation and was never censored in
the US, but a scene between characters Connor Walsh and his partner Oliver did not make it
to air in Italy when the episode in question ran there in the summer of 2016. The show's creator
Peter Nowalk, executive producer Shonda Rhimes, and actor Jack Falahee tweeted their outrage.
Nowalk tweeted that he was, quote, "shocked and disappointed," and also
shared the uncensored version of the scene in question for Italian viewers to watch.
Rhimes also retweeted the scene adding that:
"Censorship of any love is inexcusable."
Falahee challenged a Twitter user for saying that Italy, quote, "isn't ready" for the scene, asking:
"Do you really believe that audiences in Italia
aren't "ready" for real life? Even [the] Vatican has begun to open its eyes."
"I don't kiss and tell."
Although there were clearly differing opinions on the controversial censorship,
at least social media provided a way for the show's team to share the scene as it was intended.
The United States is usually progressive when it comes to love scenes,
but many of the examples here prove that standards differ from country to country.
There are cases in which the UK allows for more graphic scenes, and that happened with
a lesbian love scene on the popular series Skins. When the series moved to BBC America,
the network appeared to censor a scene between the characters Naomi and Emily.
The US version of the outdoor scene kept the part where the women were making out
and stripped down to their t-shirts and underwear, but cut the part of the scene
beyond that, which depicted them on a blanket, according to AfterEllen.
"Go ahead and disappoint me."
BBC America released a statement to AfterEllen explaining the choice:
"British TV is generally more liberal in its content than American TV which means
we occasionally have to edit our shows. We adhere to BBC America's standards and
practices regarding language, nudity, violence and drug use.
Sex scenes — gay or straight — are sometimes reduced in length on screen,
but never to the detriment of the storyline. Be assured, the same guidelines applied to
the scene with Naomi and Emily have also been applied to heterosexual sex scenes in Skins."
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