Adolescence made free for schools as Keir Starmer meets creators

The prime minister has told the makers of hit Netflix drama Adolescence that it was “really hard to watch” with his teenage children, as he hosted a Downing Street meeting to discuss the influence of toxic material online.

Sir Keir Starmer said the show, about a 13-year-old boy accused of murder, served as “a torch that shines intensely brightly on a combination of issues that many people don’t know how to respond to”.

But he warned there was not a “silver bullet response” or “some policy lever that can be pulled”.

Sir Keir also welcomed a move by Netflix to make the series available to screen for free in secondary schools.

The programme has sparked a national conversation about the impact of social media and “manosphere” influencers.

Jack Thorne, who wrote the show with actor Stephen Graham, recently said the prime minister should “rather urgently” consider a smartphone ban in schools and a “digital age of consent”, similar to Australia, which has passed a law banning children under 16 from using social media.

Thorne and producer Jo Johnson gave their views to Sir Keir at Monday’s meeting, along with charities including the NSPCC and Children’s Society, and young people. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was also there.

The prime minister told them the show was “at times harrowing” but had “lit a touch paper” under the debate about the issues.

“We’ve been watching with our children – my boy is 16, my girl is 14 – and I have to say, I found it really hard,” he told BBC political editor Chris Mason.

It was so arresting, he said, because “in a sense, what happens in the drama could really happen anywhere, and almost happen to any child”.

It shone a light “on misogyny, on online content, and this sense of children, particularly boys, getting drawn in to this world”, he said.

But unlike some things the government deals with, “there isn’t an obvious policy response which will answer all of these questions”, he added.

“It’s much broader than that. It’s a cultural issue, and therefore we’re going to have to look more broadly, work as a society on this, and discuss it, which is why I’m really pleased that Adolescence is now going to be shown in schools free because I do think young people should be watching it.”

Netflix announced that the drama would be available to all UK secondary schools through the Into Film+ schools streaming service.

Asked about banning phones in schools, which has also been proposed by the Conservative opposition, he said 97% of schools were already doing that – so it was “not, to my mind, the central issue”.

“If we’re going to get to grips with this, I personally would much rather we focus on what I think is the real issue, which is, whether you’re at school or elsewhere, what are you actually accessing? Because that, for me, is the critical issue,” he said.

“And whether it’s at school or elsewhere, there’s material that clearly shouldn’t be accessed.”

The government has pointed to measures including the Online Safety Act, which says social media companies will have to protect children from harmful material including pornography, material promoting self-harm, bullying and content encouraging dangerous stunts.

Platforms will be expected to adopt “age assurance technologies” to prevent children from seeing harmful content.

Sir Keir said it was “an important piece of legislation”, but that “we should go back and revisit whether there’s further work that we need to do to protect young people”.

The PM also denied a suggestion that showing the programme in schools would demonise boys who spend a lot of time online but haven’t ended up like Jamie in Adolescence.

“I think it’s probably wrong to think that there’s just a group of boys that are drawn to this [material],” he told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat.

“Certainly, there’s a group that are drawn to the extreme edges of this, and we see that in the drama, of course, but I think many boys would be somewhere, possibly, on a continuum here.”

The government is also updating its guidance on how schools should teach children about relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).

The Times recently reported that it would include “lessons to counter misogyny and the growing appeal of influencers such as Andrew Tate”, in the wake of the discussions about Adolescence.

Speaking afterwards, Thorne said it was a “brilliant” meeting.

“The brilliant thing was that it wasn’t about us,” he said. “It was about facilitating conversations with charities and youth groups who really understand what’s going on, and I hope a solution can be found to this problem.”

The success of Adolescence has helped those charities and groups get “the opportunity to have conversations that they haven’t had before and that they should have had, and that might lead to a policy change and things being made better for our young people”, he added.

By Pria Rai and Riyah Collins, BBC Newsbeat

For 22-year-old Harry Foster, being radicalised as a teenager was “very easy”.

“When you’re a child, it’s very easy when there’s a lack of any sort of direction or positive role models to get swept along with something,” he said.

He said extremist groups exploited his vulnerability with addiction issues as a teenager, manipulating him into sharing racist and misogynistic views.

“I thought I was finding some sense of belonging,” he told Newsbeat. “What I was actually being given was a very harmful and very radical set of political views, which is almost like the trade-off for belonging to these people.”

He got help through The Warren youth group in Hull and now works with them to help other boys and young men in similar situations.

Harry welcomed Sir Keir’s plans to work with Netflix to show Adolescence in secondary schools, but said more work must be done.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a time where young people as a whole feel more disconnected from politicians,” he said.

“It’s one thing to make young men aware of the problems around these kind of ideologies, but it’s equally important we’re offering an alternative to young boys and men who are so desperately looking for something to identify with.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as showing a TV show. There needs to be a positive alternative for young people.”