And I think a whole root of toxic masculinity
really comes from that, sort of, tally system,
and it made me look at that within my own life
and how often I do that with people that I love.
Hi, I'm Connor Swindells
and I play Adam Groff on 'Sex Education'.
I think the main things that 'Sex Education'
has taught me about
relationships is just the value of communication
and being able to speak openly with your partner
and to hash out differences that you might have and to
to create a stronger bond with people that you love most,
and not just romantically speaking, but, you know,
within your family as well.
And being open and honest
about things that have upset you in the past or things that you
love about them and not being afraid to say so.
It's made me look at my own version of masculinity,
and a lot of the time this is something
I've only really figured out recently, is how,
and it has happened because of the show, but how
often as a man you, how many times you have to
check yourself in a conversation to see if you are
speaking to someone, another man, or if
you're speaking to someone
and you're point scoring, how many times can
you really catch yourself point scoring against other men?
And I think a whole root
of toxic masculinity
really comes from that, sort of, tally system.
And it made me look at that within my own life
and how often I do that with people that I love.
How terrible my social skills were before
being thrown together with a bunch of people
my age and being forced to come out of my shell.
I was painfully shy beforehand.
And I think that being
around such amazing personalities and such
fun people who really care
about the stories that we're telling made me
feel more confident in myself through, also, playing
someone who's not so much, not so confident,
made me think how, you know,
I've definitely found
myself in situations
or acted in a way that Adam has
when I was a kid, and I think that through looking
back at that part of my life and seeing how far I've come now
did make me feel more confident in myself, yeah.
So, the way in which we prepare for the show's intimate
scenes is by having long, in-depth conversations with
our directors, our producers, our wonderful producers,
and most importantly,
an intimacy coordinator who acts as a stunt coordinator
or choreographer for these, sort of, very vulnerable moments
that we all have or that some of us have.
And they act in a really effective way
of being a mediator for any, sort of, awkwardness or
fear that you might have and they're able to traverse
that very effectively
and make our lives, all of our lives a lot easier.
I think the things that make the show
so special is the, sort of, mass representation that it has,
just the general diversity that has been put together
and casted so brilliantly.
I've spoken time and time again about our wonderful casting
director Lauren Evans, who we all owe so much to,
and how she has really put together and brought forward
all these amazing young actors who represent all of us.
There isn't really one, there's probably anything that I've
shot with Alistair Petrie, because he's just a
fantastic human being, always so fun to be around.
And he's taught me a lot as well about
just who to be in this business
and the way in which to carry yourself and
I value that more than just the great scenes
that we've had together.
It's the things that he's taught me about
just how to be a good person really.