The PM said he has been watching the show at home with his teenage children, as ITV News’ Cari Davies reports
The prime minister has hosted the creators of TV drama Adolescence in Downing Street, as the show has been made free to watch in all secondary schools.
Sir Keir Starmer met with co-writer of the drama Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson, along with charities and young people, to talk about the concerns raised in the show around misogyny and social media.
The PM told the roundtable that “as a dad, I have not found it easy viewing”, and that the drama was so powerful because it shows the events in it “could almost happen to anyone”.
“It instantly connects with the fears and worries, not just of young people… but also frankly the fears and worries of parents and adults across the country”, he said.
“Perhaps there isn’t one silver bullet response, some policy lever that can be pulled, it’s actually much bigger than that, almost a cultural issue,” Starmer asked.
The PM told the roundtable he wanted to have a discussion about how we can “prevent young boys being dragged into this whirlpool of hatred and misogyny”.
The meeting came as Netflix makes the drama free to all secondary schools across the country through the Into Film+ schools streaming service, a move backed by the PM.
Charities invited to Downing Street include the NSPCC, Movember, Beyond Quality, Children’s Society as well as a young person who shared their own experience of becoming immersed in similar online content.
The Netflix drama sparked a huge reaction after it was released earlier this month, and has been discussed multiple times in Parliament.
Adolescence is about a schoolboy who is accused of killing his female classmate, starring actor Stephen Graham, who also co-wrote the show alongside Jack Thorne.
Stephen Graham stars in the drama as Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie, played by newcomer Owen Cooper, who sees armed police burst into his home to arrest his son.
Eddie is then chosen as Jamie’s appropriate adult, accompanying him at the police interview, and learning the extent of what his son is accused of doing.
Jack Thorne, co-writer of the show, told ITV News the meeting was “brilliant”.
“I hope it leads to changes, I hope it leads to things happening at schools and at home to challenge this behaviour,” he said.
Thorne said he’s struggled to process the success of the show – “it’s completely overwhelming and I haven’t coped with it at all well, but I’m getting there”.
Starmer backed calls from the show’s creators to air the drama in schools and in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions last week.
The PM said he has been watching the show at home with his teenage children, telling MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions that violence carried out by young men influenced by what they see online, is “a real problem”.
Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley raised the Netflix drama during PMQs: “Everyone is talking about Adolescence – This series by Knowsley’s own Stephen Graham highlights online male radicalisation and violence against girls.
“The creators of the show are calling for screenings in Parliament and schools to spark change, so will the prime minister back this campaign to counter toxic misogyny early and give young men the role models they deserve?,” she asked Starmer.
“Yes,” Starmer replied, telling MPs: “At home we are watching Adolescence with our children. I’ve got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl and it’s very, very good.”
“This violence, carried out by young men influenced by what they see online, is a real problem. It’s abhorrent and we have to tackle it”, he told MPs.
“We are putting specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force, doing work on the 999 calls.
“But this is also a matter of culture – that I think it’s important that across the whole house we tackle this emerging and growing problem”, Starmer said.
Former England manager Gareth Southgate also recently criticised “callous, manipulative and toxic” online influencers and the impact they can have on young men.
In the 46th Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Southgate said that online influencers and a lack of present male role models in the lives of young men have contributed to their “suffering”.
He described how some online influencers “willingly trick young men into believing that success is measured by money or dominance, never showing emotion, and that the world, including women, is against them”.
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