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The British screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne has written several TV dramas that he hoped would stir political debate. Until last week, they never quite took off.<\/p>\n
Then, his new show, \u201cAdolescence,\u201d appeared on Netflix.<\/p>\n
In the days since its March 13 release, the four-part drama about a 13-year-old boy who murders a girl from his school after potentially being exposed to misogynist ideas online has become Netflix\u2019s latest hit. According to the streamer, it was the most watched show on the platform in dozens of countries after it debuted, including the United States.<\/p>\n
In Britain, the show has been more than a topic of workplace chatter. It has reignited discussion about whether the government should restrict children\u2019s access to smartphones to stop them from accessing harmful content.<\/p>\n
Newspapers here have published dozens of articles about \u201cAdolescence,\u201d which Thorne wrote with the actor Stephen Graham<\/a>. A Times of London headline called it \u201cThe TV Drama That Every Parent Should Watch<\/a>,\u201d and campaigners for a phone ban in schools<\/a> have reported a surge in support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In Britain\u2019s parliament, too, lawmakers have used the show to make political points. Last week Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the House of Commons<\/a> that he was watching \u201cAdolescence\u201d with his two children, and said that action was needed to address the \u201cfatal consequences\u201d of young men and boys viewing harmful content online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thorne said in an interview that he was glad that the prime minister mentioned his show. Still, he added, he wanted British lawmakers to do more than talk about his drama: He wants them to pass a law that bans young people from accessing social media until they are 16.<\/p>\n \u201cAdolesence\u201d has appeared at a moment of growing global concern about the impact of smartphones on children\u2019s health and social development. Last year, Australia barred children under 16 from social media<\/a> (though the law includes many exemptions). In February, Denmark\u2019s government announced it would soon ban smartphones in schools<\/a>, something France has already implemented<\/a> in primary and middle schools.<\/p>\n There seems to be no appetite for a similar law among Britain\u2019s governing Labour Party. But there is a long history here of television shows that transform topics of social concern into the most urgent political issues of the day, going back to the 1960s, when the BBC broadcast gritty dramas like Ken Loach\u2019s \u201cCathy Come Home.\u201d That show shone a light on the plight of homeless people<\/a>, a topic that was little discussed at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n More recently, after the 2024 broadcast of \u201cMr. Bates vs. the Post Office<\/a>,\u201d a drama about hundreds of real postal workers who were wrongly convicted of theft, Rishi Sunak, the prime minister at the time, quickly announced a law to exonerate them.<\/p>\n James Strong, the director of \u201cMr. Bates vs. the Post Office,\u201d said that part of the reason \u201cAdolesence\u201d was stirring so much debate was that viewers could easily relate to the show, which centers on a normal, loving family.<\/p>\n It also tapped into a social concern that was \u201cready to explode,\u201d Strong said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thorne said he began working on \u201cAdolesence\u201d about two-and-a-half years ago when Graham, the actor, contacted him to say he had been shocked by a series of murders<\/a> in which boys had stabbed girls to death<\/a>, and wanted to write a show that explored why those crimes had occurred.<\/p>\n