"Sex and violence!"

"Spartacus: Blood and Sand," the new Starz drama about the Roman Republic's most fiery rebel, is already raising some eyebrows among TV insiders who say there's a lot of sex alongside the blood and sand.

In fact, some television writers are saying the series -- which stars Andy Whitfield, Lucy Lawless and John Hannah and features plenty of action and bloody battles -- also has some of the steamiest sex scenes ever in a television series.

The distinction seems to delight Steven S. DeKnight, the head writer and one of the show's executive producers. "Sex and violence!" he quipped.

But DeKnight said the scenes are not pornographic and are always character-motivated. "There's always something these characters want, like power. Every sex scene has a purpose."

Lawless added that the scenes are very well planned out, and there was no "skin on skin" during filming. "What you think you're seeing, you're not," she said.

-- Greg Braxton