One of them doesn't have a rectum - it can get complicated

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2025

#12 : Dying For Sex

A story about cancer, coitus and, well, lots of other words beginning with “c”, Dying For Sex summons heart and humour from the most morbid of situations. Michelle Williams stars as Molly, based on real-life writer and broadcaster Molly Kochan, whose podcast of the same name detailed her sexual awakening while being treated for cancer. The show begins with Molly leaving her overbearing husband (Jay Duplass) and moving in with Nikki (Jenny Slate), a scatty actor and fiercely loyal pal. What ensues is a deeply moving, tender, and sometimes raucously funny journey of self discovery that spotlights and celebrates sex in its many forms. Williams shines in a performance that requires her to rapidly pivot from deep-rooted vulnerability to BDSM-charged conviction. However Slate is right up there with her, as Nikki becomes a more grounded carer with struggles of her own. Emotional and erotic storytelling at its best.

I know this got great write-ups but I'd decided I didn't have time for it - until I came to write up the end of the year, when it came high enough in the joint Empire/Guardian list that it felt wrong to have ignored it.

And in terms of plot, I really don't need to tell you anything more than Empire has already told us above. I will say though that considering it's basically about a woman dying of cancer, it's much more about life stuff, including relationships (family, friends and sexual), dealing with trauma and the choices you can make to live your life. I probably also don't need to warn you that it has a high sexual content but it's used very interestingly to make you challenge what is "normal" - it's surprisingly thought provoking. It is also, at times, very funny - I mean proper laugh-out-loud funny, which wasn't at all what I was expecting from the subject matter. It's fair to say the last episode is somewhat unsurprisingly lacking in laughs (although I did laugh at the flying dick) but it's sensitively handled (the bits I saw when I didn't have something in my eye anyway - the end is hardcore, man!).

Michelle Williams is really good in this - she has all the emotions to show in it and she never lets us down, it's quite a rollercoaster she takes us on. She also has a load of internal monologuing to do and she does some impressive voice work on that as well - the woman is talented! And Jenny Slate more than keeps up with her as her friend Nikki - I knew I recognised her but would never remembered she was in Parks & Recreation without Wikipedia's help. She's actually better known for her voice work, because she's been busy in Bobs Burgers (56 episodes), Big Mouth (53 episodes) and Muppet Babies (69 episodes) - but her best voice role for me has to be Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, which she also wrote. The pair of them have really good chemistry and it's interesting how they go on separate journeys whilst also navigating a very tricky path together - Molly was very lucky to have Nikki there for her and it's a beautiful portrayal of female friendship.

Esco Jouléy as Sonya, Molly's palliative care social worker gets a shout-out for a role which somehow manages to be both minor and important and Rob Delaney is also very good as Molly's neighbour in a role which is most certainly different but it's definitely an interesting one. And it was nice to see Sissy Spacek as Molly's mum - I haven't seen her in anything in ages, but it seems like she's still pretty busy out there. 

I'm also going to call out David Rasche as Molly's oncologist who is amusingly competent and incompetent. It took me some time to remember I knew him from Succession - Wikipedia tells me he's probably best known for Sledge Hammer! but the man has seriously worked over the years, with it listing eight TV series he's appeared in more than ten episodes in (and countless other TV series, films and theatre work). And finally we have to call out Paula Pell as Amy, the hospice worker who only appears in the final episode but her enthusiasm is certainly memorable.

It's well written and well acted - and it's certainly not let down by being poorly shot. It's generally pretty straightforward in its approach, but it has some fantasy elements which are combined well and both the sexual and the cancer elements are handled either sensitively or in a completely over the top manner, which works well for both of them. 

Overall, I really liked it because it had a good story to tell and it told it well in a very watchable manner - it was unlucky to be nominated for 9 Emmy awards (including for Michelle, Jenny & Rob) but not win any of them. It's on Disney+ if you fancy it and it's a strong recommendation from me, so maybe check it out (but maybe not with your parents or kids).

#17 - Perfectly charming
#9 - Decent, but not as good as season 1