Sir Keir Starmer reveals he’s watching Adolescence at house together with his teenage kids – after requires it to be proven in faculties
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed he is watching Adolescence as calls grow for the hit Netflix mini-series to be shown in schools.
The thriller starring Stephen Graham, who is also a co-writer, centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl.
It has gripped the nation gaining an eye-watering 24.3million views since its release last week.
One of the millions of viewers is Sir Keir who told PMQs yesterday that he was watching the show with his teenage children.
Asked by Labour MP Anneliese Midgley if he backs the creators’ calls for it to be aired in parliament and schools, Sir Keir said he does.
Sir Keir said: ‘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.
‘This 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.’
Sir Keir Starmer at the PMQs yesterday said: ‘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 thriller starring Stephen Graham (left), who is also a co-writer, centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller played by Owen Cooper (right) who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl
Cooper’s portrayal of Jamie has been praised and prompted a discussion about the impact of social media on children
Graham and fellow co-writer Jack Thorne said they wanted the critically acclaimed series to ’cause discussion and make change’.
Speaking to Sky News, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said that the government was ‘acutely aware’ of the issues raised in Adolescence.
The hit show has prompted a discussion about the impact of social media on children.
Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said: ‘Adolescence is not just a TV drama – it is a disturbing glimpse into the minds of thousands of young British boys warped by the extreme violence and sexual abuse they are witnessing every day online.’
To try and limit the violent and dangerous content children are exposed to on social media, Labour is pressing ahead with the Online Harms Act – a bill to make social media companies more responsible for user’s safety on their platforms.
However some MPs want more radical steps to be taking including a private member’s bill raising the age of social media consent from 13 to 16.
Although this was later watered down in order to gain the support of the government.
Speaking on Radio X, Graham said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK.
Labour MP Anneliese Midgley (pictured) asked the PM if he backs the creators’ calls for Adolescence to be aired in parliament and schools
The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said that the government was ‘acutely aware’ of the issues raised in Adolescence
Joining his wife Hannah Walters on the show the actor said: ‘Okay, let’s get this serious nature of the show out the way, and then we can have some fun, with all due respect.
‘Look, it started when I read an article, and it was an article about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and it just, you know, it made me feel cold.
‘And then a couple of months later, there was a piece on the news, and it was about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart.
‘And these two incidents were opposite ends of the country. And I just thought, “Why? Why is this happening?”
‘Not just because I’m a father, but I think any kind of human being with an ounce of moral compass can look at that kind of situation and think, “What’s happening? What’s going on with society today that we’re in?”‘
Grahm added that the spate of stabbings was a sharp contrast to the world he grew up in.
Graham said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK
‘We’re entering this kind of era where there was, like, four, five, six, seven cases of young boys – and I’m going to call them young boys, they’re not men – stabbing girls to death,’ he said.
‘And, you know, that beautiful saying, “It takes a takes a village to raise a child”, I just wanted to create something that kind of looked at it from that perspective, but also looked at it like, look, maybe we are all slightly accountable in some way, be that parents, be that school, be that government, community, society.
‘And now, let’s be completely honest, when I was a kid, when we were kids, we didn’t have these kind of things. But today, the internet is as much of a teacher and a parent to our children as we can be. Do you know what I mean? And that was kind of where it came from.’
The show is on course to smash all streaming records and also schoop up a number of awards with Cooper’s performance now amongst the favourites to bag an Emmy later this year.
