Keir Starmer has spoken out after Adolescence co-creators Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne called for the show to be screened in schools and in parliament.
Earlier this week, the prime minister was asked about the show in parliament, where he confirmed that he and his family have been streaming it on Netflix.
“I’ve got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, and it’s a very good drama to watch,” he said.
“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.”
Earlier this week, Thorne told BBC News that he and the show’s lead actor Stephen Graham want it to be screened in both schools and within parliament.
“It’s crucial because this is only going to get worse,” he said of the cultural issues raised in Adolescence. “It’s something that people need to be talking about, hopefully that’s what drama can do.”
Adolescence centres around a teenage boy who is accused of killing a girl from his high school, and centres around prescient themes including masculinity, online misogyny and the struggling school system.
Per Sky News, Starmer told Labour MP Anneliese Midgley that he backs these calls when asked about them during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
During an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s US talk show on Wednesday, Stephen Graham explained: “You know that beautiful saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’? I just thought, ‘what if we’re all accountable?’. You know, the education system, parenting, the community, the government…”
“I’m not blaming anyone,” he insisted. “I just thought maybe we’re all accountable, and we should have a conversation about it.”
Adolescence is streaming now on Netflix.