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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Megan Nisbet

What year is Sex Education set in? Time period for Wales-filmed Neflix series

Sex Education is back on our screens showing off the very best of Wales.

The series has returned for its third instalment, with Maeve Wiley, Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson all reprising their roles. You can see season three's cast list in full here.

There's been some changes at Moordale High, the fictional comprehensive school which is filmed at the University of South Wales' Caerleon campus, thanks to new headteacher Hope Haddon, who is played by Jemima Kirke.

But while things are a little different on screen, fans of the Netflix hit are still confused about one major element - the time period Sex Education is set in.

Throughout all three seasons it's a question that's baffled fans, with '80s fashion and modern-day smartphones leaving everyone wondering whether we're in present day or have gone back a few decades.

The setting has also caused much discussion online, as although Sex Education is filmed in rural Wales, there's an American high school feel.

What year is Sex Education set in? Time period for Wales-filmed Neflix series (Netflix)

"I love that in #SexEducation time is an illusion. What decade is it? Who knows, just vibes," wrote one viewer.

Another added: "Another thing I love about it - it is intentionally vague on time period AND location. It is amazing!"

While a third agreed: "I was thinking this the whole time watching. 70s/80s vibe …!?!? but with smartphones. Love it!"

So what time period is Sex Education set in?

Creators of the show have confirmed that while the show is set in modern day, they were inspired by the '80s.

Laurie Nunn told Thrillist last year it was a "very conscious decision".

She said: "We all absolutely love the teen genre, particularly the John Hughes films of the 1980s so we really wanted to make the show have the feeling that it's an homage or that it has this nostalgic backdrop, but that we are talking about very contemporary, modern themes and storylines for the characters.

"So in a way we were also trying to take this tried and tested tropes of the genre and sort of flip them on their head and show a different perspective on it. I think those two things together and then with the Britishness just make it feel like it's its own thing."

The writer also told LadBible that in her mind " Moordale is not a real place".

She said: "Even though we shoot the show in Wales, it's very much a fictional place. We see it like a teenage utopia, and I like to think of it almost like a comic book world where these teenagers exist."

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