Referrals to a government anti-extremism programme went up after the hit Netflix drama Adolescence was broadcast in March, an official report reveals.
An investigation by David Anderson KC on Prevent, the Home Office deradicalisation scheme, found that after the series was screened, parents and social workers referred more teenagers to the programme.
The series-written by actor Stephen Graham about a 13-year-old boy, played by Owen Cooper, who kills a female classmate for rejecting him and mocking him online – was critically acclaimed for dealing with toxic masculinity among teenagers.
Lord Anderson's report mainly focused on the extremist murder of Tory MP David Amess and the killing of three girls in Southport by Axel Rudakubana last year.
He was told by experts and Prevent specialists across the country that referrals went up thanks to the show, which deals with males who defines themselves as 'incels' – blaming women who don't respond to their advances for forcing them to be involuntarily celibate.
