THE NETFLIX series Adolescence has galvanised the nation more viscerally than any TV since Cathy drama Come Home highlighted the family-shattering impact of homelessness. Just like that drama did in the mid1960s, Adolescence has already prompted questions in Parliament. Its subject matter is a newer scourge: the radicalisation of teenage boys, leading to them committing savage acts of violence, especially against girls.
Its central character is a 13-year-old boy growing up in a normal, loving family. His parents are unable to comprehend his arrest by an armed police unit-on suspicion of murder.
The quality of the script and acting, especially from Stephen Graham as everyman father Eddie and Owen Cooper as his son Jamie, has left millions of viewers captivated. Many parents have found themselves thinking afresh about what their children watch and read online.
The Prime Minister revealed his family have made time to watch the series. Keir Starmer told MPs this week: "At home, we are watching Adolescence.
I've got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, and it's a very good drama to watch.
"The 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."
ON THE political Right, some have complained of how the apparent perpetrator of the violence in the series is a meek white boy.
With two of the most highprofile recent cases of teenagers murdering girls Axel Rudakubana in Southport and Hassan Sentamu in Croydon black youths, with a history of threatening others with knives, were the attackers. Yet nobody should doubt that teenage boys from all backgrounds are vulnerable to the sense that they are being turned into pariahs by society. Online algorithms frequently throw extreme content at them, which magnifies and intensifies this worldview.
The internet was supposed to open out the whole world of human knowledge to all of us at the touch of a button. All too often it has done the opposite, actively feeding us material to reinforce our prejudices.
One phrase cropping up in debate about Adolescence is "toxic masculinity", usually used to describe online "influencers" such as Andrew Tate with his ideology about men needing to dominate women.
The crossbow killer Kyle Clifford, a man in his mid-20s, watched videos by Tate just before he went on his sadistic murder spree, a court heard.
There can be little dispute that Tate and his imitators fully merit the "toxic" epithet.
But we should ask ourselves exactly why such extreme and primitive views are gaining traction among male youths.
Put simply, we live in an age where traditional male virtues have been marginalised and cul...
Its central character is a 13-year-old boy growing up in a normal, loving family. His parents are unable to comprehend his arrest by an armed police unit-on suspicion of murder.
The quality of the script and acting, especially from Stephen Graham as everyman father Eddie and Owen Cooper as his son Jamie, has left millions of viewers captivated. Many parents have found themselves thinking afresh about what their children watch and read online.
The Prime Minister revealed his family have made time to watch the series. Keir Starmer told MPs this week: "At home, we are watching Adolescence.
I've got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, and it's a very good drama to watch.
"The 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."
ON THE political Right, some have complained of how the apparent perpetrator of the violence in the series is a meek white boy.
With two of the most highprofile recent cases of teenagers murdering girls Axel Rudakubana in Southport and Hassan Sentamu in Croydon black youths, with a history of threatening others with knives, were the attackers. Yet nobody should doubt that teenage boys from all backgrounds are vulnerable to the sense that they are being turned into pariahs by society. Online algorithms frequently throw extreme content at them, which magnifies and intensifies this worldview.
The internet was supposed to open out the whole world of human knowledge to all of us at the touch of a button. All too often it has done the opposite, actively feeding us material to reinforce our prejudices.
One phrase cropping up in debate about Adolescence is "toxic masculinity", usually used to describe online "influencers" such as Andrew Tate with his ideology about men needing to dominate women.
The crossbow killer Kyle Clifford, a man in his mid-20s, watched videos by Tate just before he went on his sadistic murder spree, a court heard.
There can be little dispute that Tate and his imitators fully merit the "toxic" epithet.
But we should ask ourselves exactly why such extreme and primitive views are gaining traction among male youths.
Put simply, we live in an age where traditional male virtues have been marginalised and cul...
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Daily Express (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 22, 2025