The Prime Minister has backed a calls to air TV drama Adolescence in schools and Parliament, after the Netflix show sparked a huge reaction.
Sir Keir Starmer 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”.
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.
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.
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.
The PM’s comments follow a speech by former England manager Gareth Southgate, who criticised “callous, manipulative and toxic” online influencers and the impact they can have on young men.
Delivering the 46th Richard Dimbleby Lecture on Tuesday, 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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