Heavy Petting: Tonight, Josephine?

Truth is stranger than fiction. And history even stranger.

If you have watched Masters of Sex , you will know it is based on the actual studies that Dr William Masters and Virginia Johnson conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Washington University in St Louis.

Their research changed the way sex was understood (and for many, enjoyed). The merit of the show is - quite simply - in the way the complexities of sex are screened.

Bluntly put, Masters and Johnson watched people engaging in sexual activities and measured their physiological responses. In the show, you get the full monty.

For the audience, it is a mixture of highbrow voyeurism combined with an incredibly interesting sex education lesson - the stuff your guidance counsellor probably didn't even know.

At the start of their research in 1957, data on sexuality was limited.

The story follows the difficulties of conducting the project at a time when Sigmund Freud had convinced the world that women could not orgasm "maturely" without a man.

As to the show's authenticity, some of the information was too odd to translate to screen.

In real life, the people taking part in the experiments performed their duties with a paper bag over their heads. Later in the study, they abolished this. Instead, Dr Masters' mother sewed silk masks for the copulators.

So what's coming in season two?

Throughout the first season you sense a growing chemistry between the two researchers. And, yes, in real life the pair hooked up and physically took part in the experiments.

But, when interviewed later in life, Johnson said if she had not acquiesced to her boss's suggestion, she might have been sidelined in the study. The show has been criticised for not addressing this nuance.

The show portrays Johnson as a modern-day woman with choices, while Johnson herself believes that in that milieu, she had to do what she had to do.

By the 1970s Masters (Martin Sheen) divorced his first wife, Libby, and married Johnson (Lizzy Kaplan). All's well that ends well? Unfortunately not. Masters tracked down a woman who once refused his marriage proposal. He asked Johnson for a divorce in 1992. To this day, Johnson claimed she never loved him.

But let's not worry about that now. Hopefully, in season two the flame that flickers between the researchers engulfs them and us.

• 'Masters of Sex' Season One has been scheduled then cancelled on DStv twice. Season Two is currently showing in the US