I had a couple of weeks left on my Now TV streaming subscription, which meant that for once, I was able to watch the current hot show at the time everyone else was talking about. And when we say hot, we mean it in more than one way.

Heated Rivalry has become a word-of-mouth sensation, following the very steamy love story of two ice hockey players in a sport not traditionally known for its acceptance. It’s based on a book that was pretty successful, but the six episode series has hit new heights.

It’s so good. Firstly, the production and direction are great - it’s a show you can’t really look away from, not only because there are a lot of time changes and text exchanges to read on screen, but also because it draws you in. Then you have the two leads who are, I would say, not handsome in the traditional sense but entirely captivating. They’re not stereotypical in any way, they’re each going through their own things but have just the right kind of sulky chemistry to make this odd couple relationship entirely believable.

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have been in various other projects before, but this has sent them soaring - they’ve just been confirmed as torchbearers for the upcoming Winter Olympics. What a great advertisement for this series!

So great cast, great production and then you throw the love story on top. We’re talking Romeo and Juliet levels of star-crossed lovers. There are so many layers on this - their own confusion around their sexuality, hiding things from their parents, being in a sport that doesn’t really expand for different lifestyles, playing for different teams and countries, and yes, one of them being Russian.

I’ve seen so many reviews and articles going on about whether this should be for women, or why women particularly enjoy romance so much, and analysing it to death. Who cares? It’s a great story, a fantastic show that has reached a huge audience and been successfully received. The book series that it’s based on has been launched in physical form in the UK where it wasn’t previously available, to huge pre-orders apparently. So hopefully there will be more rivalry on the ice in the future and hopefully more focus on the show rather than who makes up the audience that is watching it.