"Abhorrent": UK's Prime Minister calls for action as Adolescence sparks debate on online radicalization

Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne's Netflix drama Adolescence has taken the world by storm. With the show sparking discussions everywhere as its subject matter presents relevant concerns, the show also got a response from the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He highlighted its importance and just how it presents relevant topics that needs to be tackled.

With Adolescence coming out right, as there has been a spark in young kids online being easily influenced by mysoginistic influencers, the show presents a wider discussion about the incel subculture. Saying that he watches the show himself, he called the actions that are nowadays carried by young men after being influenced online:

"Abhorrent..."

Starmer further mentioned that the violence carried out by young men against women needs to be tackled. He further also mentioned that his household has been glued to the show.

"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 a really good drama to watch," said Starmer.

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What is Adolescence on Netflix about?

Adolescence is a brand-new British crime drama miniseries on Netflix. The show is created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, with episodes directed by Philip Barantini.

The show centres on a 13-year-old boy called Jamie Miller who's arrested on suspicion of murdering his classmate Katie Leonard. He's subsequently subjected to intense questioning and reprimanded.

As the investigation continues, it's revealed that Jamie used to be heavily bullied and has been influenced by social media where he has become a part of the incel subculture. The official synopsis of the show reads:

"When a 13-year-old is accused of the murder of a classmate, his family, therapist and the detective in charge are all left asking: what really happened?"

The show consists of four episodes - which are all around 50 - 60 minutes and are shot in one continuous take as well.

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Is Adolescence based on a true story?

While Adolescence itself isn't based on a true story, creators Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne took inspiration from many real-life cases. Graham specifically spoke to Tudum about coming across a case where a boy had stabbed a girl and constantly coming acrosss similar cases to see what the issue is.

"'What’s the inciting incident here?’ And then it happened again, and it happened again, and it happened again. I really just wanted to shine a light on it, and ask, ‘Why is this happening today? What’s going on? How have we come to this?,’” said Graham.

Talking about the character of Jamie as well in the series, Graham mentioned to the BBC how he has ideas polluted in him that he may have come across online and decided to act upon them.

“Jamie has been polluted by ideas that he’s heard online, that make sense to him, that have a logic that’s attractive to him, that answer the questions as to his loneliness and isolation, and lead him to make some very bad choices," said Graham.

He continued:

"We have to understand the things he’s been consuming and that means especially looking at the Internet, the 'manosphere', and incel culture.”

The show comes right as influencers like Andrew Tate have expressed extreme views to a younger and male dominated audience. These views often can be mysoginstic towards women and has sparked much discussion in society.

For further updates on Adolescence, stay tuned with us.