Makers of Netflix drama Adolescence meet UK Prime Minister to discuss online harm
The co-writer and producer of the hit Netflix drama ‘Adolescence’ have met with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to debate tips on how to forestall younger folks from being influenced by poisonous on-line content material.
‘Adolescence’ co-writer Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson headed to Downing Road on Monday, together with chosen charities and younger folks, to fulfill with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and focus on the affect of on-line poisonous – and particularly misogynistic – materials on younger folks.
Sir Keir described the present as “at occasions harrowing” and stated it “lit a contact paper,” shining a lightweight “on a mix of points that many individuals do not know the way to answer”.
The drama, which centres on a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a woman, has sparked intense conversations about misogyny and social media.
“It immediately contacts with the fears and worries, not simply of younger folks – as a result of I used to be actually struck by how riveted our kids had been to it – but in addition frankly the fears and worries of oldsters and adults throughout the nation,” the prime minister commented.
The assembly got here as Netflix introduced it’ll make ‘Adolescence’ out there without spending a dime to secondary faculties, in an effort to additional interact younger audiences with the urgent themes of the present. This initiative was met with reward from the prime minister, who referred to as it “an essential initiative to encourage as many pupils as potential to observe the present.”
“We made this present to impress a dialog. We needed to pose the query – how can we assist cease this rising disaster. So to have the chance to take this into faculties is past our expectations. We hope it’ll result in lecturers speaking to the scholars, however what we actually hope is it’ll result in college students speaking amongst themselves,” Thorne stated of Netflix’s resolution.
Sir Keir warned, nonetheless, that there was not a “silver bullet response” to resolve the difficulty of poisonous on-line content material.
“Maybe there isn’t one silver bullet response, some coverage lever that may be pulled, it’s truly a lot greater than that, nearly a cultural problem,” stated the prime minister.
Thorne, who co-wrote the present with actor Stephen Graham, lately referred to as on the Prime Minister to “quite urgently” take into account implementing a smartphone ban in faculties and introducing a “digital age of consent,” much like Australia’s regulation, which prohibits kids underneath 16 from utilizing social media.
The four-part British drama ‘Adolescence’ debuted earlier this month on Netflix to wide-spread acclaim. Netflix reported that it had 66 million world views in its first two weeks.
