Heated Rivalry: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Spicy Canadian drama about the secret love affair between male ice hockey rivals
Year: 2025
Certificate: 18
A low-budget Canadian drama about two male ice hockey rivals who embark on a secret affair? It doesn't sound like the stuff of hits, but six-parter Heated Rivalry certainly caught fire when it was released in the US over Christmas 2025 and then it made the jump to the UK. If you're familiar with Netflix's Heartstopper then there's a bit of crossover here, from the secrecy of the affair to the surprising sweetness at the heart of the tryst between nervous Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and blunt Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), but that's really where that comparison stops.
While Heartstopper teased out its relationship, Heated Rivalry jumps through its story fairly quickly, opening in 2008 and flipping between the subtly flirty, on-ice competition and off-ice heat between Hollander and Rozanov. It all feels very real, which is perhaps why it was a bit of a hit in the first place. Based on a novel by Rachel Reid and written and directed by Jacob Tierney, Heated Rivalry also features - as the title implies - quite graphic sex scenes. (Six episodes)
