The star and co-writer of the hit Netflix show Adolescence has issued a tough warning to parents.
In case you've been living under a rock, everyone is talking about Netflix's hot new series, calling it the 'best drama' on the streaming platform at the moment,and it's raked in an almost-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The British limited series dropped on Netflix last week and was impressively shot in one take per episode, though that isn't the only compelling reason to watch it.
Adolescence follows a captivating storyline that has thrown an ugly spotlight on the very real issue of young boys being driven by incel culture, misogynistic content, and the so-called 'manosphere' of sexist influencers online.
In the story, a 13-year-old boy Jamie Miller is charged with the brutal murder of a female classmate.
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Stephen Graham, best known for for Peaky Blinders, Venom, and Snatch, co-wrote the show and plays the role of Jamie's dad, Eddie.
Now, the 51-year-old star is warning parents about the dangers of the internet and how the fictional story was inspired by the very dark reality of countless young girls being killed.
Speaking to The Independent, the This Is England actor said: "I read an article about a young boy stabbing a young girl.
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"And then maybe a couple of months later, on the news there was [another] young boy who'd stabbed a young girl, and if I'm really honest with you, they hurt my heart.”
He went on to explain how the storyline unearths some of the darkest troves of the internet that youngsters are likely exposed to, warning that parents need to be 'mindful' of nefarious influences planting negative seeds into children's minds.
“It's just being mindful of the fact that not only we parent our children, and not only the school educates our children,” he added. “But also there's influences that we have no idea of that are having profound effects on our young culture, profound effects, positive and extremely negative. So it’s having a look at that and seeing that we’re all accountable.”
In particular, Graham said the show seeks to explore what drives young boys to such extremism from seemingly 'ordinary' homes.
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He continued: “We wanted him to come from an ordinary family.
"We wanted to be mindful from the very beginning that there was no way you could point the finger. Dad wasn't particularly violent in the house and didn't raise his hand to mum or the boy or his daughter. Mum wasn't an alcoholic. Jamie wasn't abused sexually or mentally or physically.”
All of this was to pose the question, 'Who is to blame?'
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"Who is accountable?”, the Boiling Point star said. “Maybe we're all accountable family, school, society, community, environment.”
He further hinted the prevailing problem with the internet being fully accessible for young people with phones, adding that they 'have the world at their fingertips' unlike generations before who were perhaps better shielded from the world's darkness.
As for suggestions of Andrew Tate, accused rapist and human trafficker who is a key component of the 'manosphere,' writer Jack Thorne said the show wasn't in a nod to him directly but was more poised to explore 'male rage'.
“The kids aren't watching Andrew Tate,” Thorne said. “They're watching a lot more dangerous stuff than Andrew Tate."
Topics: Adolescence, Film and TV, Netflix, Parenting, Rotten Tomatoes, Social Media, Stephen Graham, Entertainment
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