Stephen Graham stars in Netflix 4-parter “Adolescence”

£14 for Netflix? I only pay £5.99.
And I don't agree about the 'dross'.

I pay the same as you henetha! Great value.

This was such a powerful drama and showed how little older generations understand on the emoji language used by teenagers on the internet. The detective had to be told by his son about the meanings of the symbols and how the lad was being bullied. I didn't know about Incel and the influence of Tate on how young men may view girls. The acting of the boy and the female psychologist was brilliant and terrifying.

He is of the Shane & Paddy league. Well known in those circle of actors and musicians for whom ideas started from college and or workshops , learning and developing their creativity there and on the job, ie story tellers, script writers, directors, producers, motivator not forgetting their music etc etc.
I do have some bias having followed their talents for possible for over 35 years!!!!! They have observed the world and want to portray concerns of issues found. Not everyone wants to see these issues but they are there.Stephen Graham recently discussed his rationale for his work in adolescence following 2 incidences of knife crime in opposites ends of the country and his concern turned into research, I believe, of these horrendous crimes and their consequences/ outcomes.
Respect, I mantra, to anybody who takes critical issues by the ‘horns’ to bring attention to the public/media to say (IMHO) STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN life is too short, it isn’t always easy so why make it harder for all, find solutions where you can as the consequences of hitting out are too unbearable for all !!!!!!

Our family don’t swear and we wouldn’t allow adults to swear in front of of children. I regularly asked people not swear when out in public when our children were with us, but as my DH served 32+ years as a police officer he was aware that not everyone lived their lives as we do. He used to escort young children home when they were out later than you would expect, therefore bad language and what I would’ve classed as parental neglect aren’t new it’s been going on forever. I will watch this series, no doubt with my tissues to hand.

Who are Shane and Paddy?

There is so much violence at the moment. Here a young man was recently murdered because he was suspected of interfering with a child. Only suspected. Police did nothing.
The consensus on local Facebook was
that the uncle did the right thing by killing him and we all would have done the same!

kircubbin2000

Who are Shane and Paddy?

I don't know, but Shane Meadows was responsible for This Is England, which launched Stephen Graham as Combo. Maybe that is who was meant by Shane?

It was an excellent film, followed up by three series, which are available on 4OD, and well worth seeing if anyone missed them first time round.

Meadows' style is to let the actors ad lib a lot of the time, and he takes on issues of the day, which is what Adolescence is doing. Whether or not Meadows is the same Shane, I agree that it is in a similar genre to his work.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Thank you Wyllow.

But as to your second point I think ‘politeness’ is one thing but craving ‘permission’ is another.

An example:
About 3 years ago I took L’il Miss a doctor’s appointment. She was 5 years old. The doctor asked “is it okay if I look in your ears?” Ye gods. What would he have done if she’d said “no”?
Years ago a GP would just have said to a young child “come here please I need to look in your ears”.

I honestly think we’ve swung the pendulum too far across.

Permission for everything these days. Gah.

The attitude of doctors not asking for permission meant I was sexually abused by doctor when I was a child. I didn't even understand what had happened. This was the GP who cared for my mother when she was pregnant with me.

I'm all in favour of the doctor asking your GCs permission before he touched her, maybe that attitude will mean another child won't go through what I did.

I can vividly remember a doctor asking me if he could look at my chicken pox on my back. That was about 55 years ago. I think that's quite normal thing to do.

A sit up and take notice drama that anyone with a teenager in their family should watch. It didn't show the stereotypical, dysfunctional family from a feral council estate but decent hard-working parents just trying to do their best. It showed, very forcefully, that this could happen to anyone.
My 13 year old GD speaks another language but I had no idea of the sinister messages that emojis can send.
The Tate brothers are a frightening pair of influencers who bring misogyny to another level. At a time when society is trying to make the world a safer place for women, this nasty duo penetrate young boys and men's minds with their sick preaching against women. Worryingly, they have a huge following.
Social media has a great deal to answer for in my opinion but little is done to try to clear the Tate brothers and their kind from the platforms.
A disturbing and worrying watch.

watched it all yesterday, very powerful, very emotive. The effect it has on the whole family and how they handle it. Good performances all round

henetha

£14 for Netflix? I only pay £5.99.
And I don't agree about the 'dross'.

We just dropped down to the £5.99 subscription as a cost cutting exercise, we thought if the ads drive us mad we will go up to the ad free version again. So far the ads aren’t a problem so we will stick with £5.99 a month.

We haven't got Netflix any more but family were talking about this series recently.
Stephen Graham is always worth watching. Perhaps we should take up a free offer and watch this. It is terrifying, the way things are going now and how violence is almost normalised even at primary school age.

Finished watching last night. Yes social media is part of the story but also the father's attitude. Given his background can understand why. Tge female police officer hit it on the head re the school.

I'm not a Stephen Graham fan. He plays the same character in everything. However, I am "enjoying" Adolescence (2 episodes in). The male cop gets my vote for principal actor in this drama. It's all very believable.

The young lad (14) who played Jamie was superb. I’m sure we will see more of this talented boy in the future. Apparently, this was his first acting role.

Um, watched parts of the first two episodes. I was mostly disturbed that parents would let their, admittedly, 15 year old do this. It is particularly harrowing and not sure I’d have wanted my 15 year old to perform in this.

My daughter is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in a Community Forensic role - her son is 12 …. Not sure if she’s going to watch as it will be a busman’s holiday but would like to know if she feels it’s authentic. Her husband is a Consultant forensic Psychiatrist who deals with kids up to 18 - not sure what he will make of it either. He deals with youth knife crimes quite often.

Agree. The male copper is excellent.

My problem is that although Owen Cooper is actually 15, I wound’s want my 15 year old acting in this absolutely harrowing drama.

My husband I watched all 4 episodes yesterday. It's a thought provoking and emotional drama on a subject that is eye opening and at times, difficult to watch. The acting is wonderful, from a great cast, but Stephen Graham is magnificent. The last scene is so powerful and raw. What a watch!!

We binged watched it on Saturday night. Terrific casting and acting but I found it very harrowing and depressing, especially as I have grandsons of a similar age, who are never out and about at 10p.m. Are schools really like that? Zero respect for the teachers or each other. It did make me feel really sorry for teachers! It also did make me feel really out of touch with adolescent children, boys in particular.

I thought it was a wonderful series superbly acted but terrifying. This could have been any family. I worry about social media as I have 10 year old and 7 year old grandchildren.
Self esteem is so easily eroded by others on social media even with grown-ups.
I have felt it on GN.

A good teacher could use this series in class to discuss sensitive issues with children. I would have liked a discussion where the whole class would discuss how hurtful comments, albeit through emoji symbols, make both boys and girls feel about themselves and each other. The young will always find a new way to use language to confuse their elders. We did it ourselves. Very sad series, but excellent for what it set out to show.

I knew I would enjoy watching Stephen Graham as he never disappoints.

Excellent drama and so true to life.

I found it very sad, depressing and bleak.

I imagine schools are very much the way they are now as depicted in the play.

I think all phones should be banned in schools now.