Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia's 56 Days is 2026's steamiest new show yet

They say sex sells, and yet Hollywood has become increasingly chaste of late. Indeed, a 2023 study noted a 40 per cent decrease in big screen copulation since the turn of the century, perhaps a response to the fact nearly half of Gen-Z viewers apparently believe both TV and film have become too sexualised.

But hot on the heels of ice hockey phenomenon Heated Rivalry, Prime Video original 56 Days is yet more proof the entertainment world might be rediscovering its libido.

Based on Catherine Ryan Howard’s novel of the same name, the eight-parter stars Avan Jogia as Oliver Kennedy, a troubled young architect who strikes up an instant connection with mysterious tech worker Ciara Wyse (Dove Cameron) after meeting at a supermarket. The pair subsequently forge an intense relationship which, judging by the dissolved, decaying body discovered in a bathtub in the opening scene, ends in the most gruesome circumstances.

So what exactly happened in just 56 days to turn their meet-cute into murder? Well, the show takes an inordinate amount of time revealing all, constantly flitting back and forth between the present-day police inquiries and diary-like snapshots of their torrid affair. By the time its predictable twist unfolds, you'll feel like you’ve wasted 56 days watching.

Of course, the central mystery, which involves everything from sociopathic guidance counsellors and secret identities to crippling amnesia and child killers, plays second fiddle to the copious amounts of bedroom action. Titillation, not investigation, is always the prime objective here.

It takes just over half an hour for the show to get naked after Ciara and Oliver have essentially recreated Jack and Rose's "I’m flying" scene in Titanic, swapping the ship's bow for an apartment rooftop adorned with two giant wind machines. Cue some suitably throbbing electro as the twosome head indoors and expose various body parts amid neon lights, silk sheets and a decor which screams less Boston bachelor pad and more Amsterdam Red Light District.

The pair waste little time going for round two, interrupting their morning coffee with some kitchen worktop foreplay. And their appetites are so insatiable that by episode 2, they’re having it off, while fully clothed, in broad daylight down an alleyway.

At times, the show appears to be actively sticking two fingers up to the Mary Whitehouse brigade. Even when they’re not pouncing on each other, the lovebirds can’t stop baring flesh: see the gratuitous scene where a shirtless Oliver grunts away while indulging in some kind of ritualistic, sweat-drenched midnight yoga.

Creators Karyn Usher and Lisa Zwerling are certainly keen to make the most of their uninhibited stars, a duo they’ve described as "two of the best-looking humans on the planet." Nevertheless, as proven by the likes of Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You), Chris Evans and Ana de Armas (Ghosted) and Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson (the Fifty Shades franchise), putting impossibly attractive people together doesn't always guarantee sparkling chemistry.

Sadly, that proves to be the case with Jogia and Cameron. Both deliver fine performances separately, the former as a nepo baby haunted by a devastating incident from his privileged past and the latter as an equally enigmatic soul whose behaviour gradually leans toward the femme fatale. Despite how many times we see them jumping each other's bones (at least eight), they fail to convince as a couple utterly consumed by lust.

Both parties made their name in kids TV (Cameron in fantasy saga Descendants and Jogia in teen sitcom Victorious) and it’s hard to ignore the feeling here that shaking off their wholesome personas for good is the ultimate goal.

It’s perhaps unfortunate timing that the show arrives in the wake of Heated Rivalry, where Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams have set a new benchmark in steaming up the screen while simultaneously forging a connection that's seemingly got the entire internet invested in their romantic fate. In comparison, Jogia and Cameron struggle to create more than a few drops of condensation.

Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to see a modern TV show which doesn't feel the need to shield its audience. 56 Days alters many things from the source material, shifting the location from Dublin to Beantown, wisely removing the COVID-19 aspect and, more controversially, changing the whodunit and the whydunit. But there'd no doubt have been an even bigger outcry had it skimped on the physical contact, a factor which no doubt helped power the book to its pandemic-era success.

And there’s plenty more where this came from too. Indeed, any modern-day puritans might want to avert their eyes from the streaming world over the next 12 months. According to industry bible Deadline, there are no fewer than nine projects that could be classed as an 'erotic thriller' currently in production.

These include Teach Me in which Mandy Moore, another former teen favourite, plays a teacher who becomes embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game of power and sex with a wayward student; Hancock Park where former Bridgerton hero Regé-Jean Page stars as a guest house renter who infiltrates a swanky and sexually deviant Los Angeles community; and a Netflix adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the classic French novel which was only recently turned into a French-language series by HBO.

Whether any will be able to surpass 56 Days for sheer unadulterated horniness remains to be seen, and while it’s far from the best new show of 2026, it’s the first to suggest that TV’s 'no sex please' era may be coming to an end.

All eight episodes of 56 Days will premiere on Prime Video on 18^th February. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Prime Video and pay £8.99 a month after that.

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