Save sex scenes on TV from Generation Z prudes, pleads Mescal

PUTTING sex on television is “massively important”, and removing it to placate Gen Z is “doing everybody a disservice”, the actor Paul Mescal has said.

Mescal, who starred in Normal People, which was praised for its sensitive and truthful portrayal of sex and relationships, said Gen Z’s distaste for intimacy on television is linked to the rise of internet porn. But he added that film and television makers must not be tempted to remove it from storytelling.

“It’s massively important,” he said of sex on screen. “If we remove it, to make younger people comfortable, we’d be doing everybody a disservice.

“Sex is a huge part of life, a form of communication.”

Research published last year found Gen Z viewers between 10 and 24 years old believe there is too much sex on television. A study at the University of California, Los Angeles, found 51.5 per cent wanted more content focused on friendships and platonic relationships. Almost half said sex was not needed for most plots and 44 per cent said romance was overused in television storylines.

Gen Z, it was reported, had a growing appetite for programmes that are entirely romance-free.

Normal People, broadcast on the BBC during the pandemic, won acclaim for, among other things, its treatment of sex in its young adult characters.

“If you want a progressive male, sad character, I’m your guy!” Mescal joked, in an interview with The Sunday Times Culture magazine.

His latest role, in All of Us Strangers, is as the neighbour and love interest of a character played by Andrew Scott.

Asked by The Sunday Times about the modern debate on whether straight actors can play gay characters, Mescal said: “It depends who’s in charge of telling the story.

“The issue is that there have been so many queer performances in cinema that have been offensive, but that’s because the filmmakers and the actors have been careless.

“I don’t think this film exists in that conversation whatsoever. And that’s it.”

Saying that he takes the craft of acting “very seriously”, he lamented the trend for studios picking actors based on social media popularity.

“It scares me greatly,” he said. “Acting should never be reduced to numbers of Instagram followers.

All of Us Strangers, which also stars Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, is in cinemas from Jan 26.