Stephen Graham has issued a warning to parents of young children following the release of his gritty new Netflix series.
Adolescence, which landed on the streaming service today (13 March), sees Stephen Graham act out every parent's worst nightmare when his teenage son is arrested on suspicion of murdering a classmate.
To make the series even more impressive, each episode was remarkably shot in one go - just like Boiling Point, which Graham also starred in.
Praise has already been flooding in for young 15-year-old actor Owen Cooper, who was handed the star role in what represents his first-ever acting job.
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Given the serious nature of the show, which serves as a social critique on the alarming growth of toxic masculinity in the social media age, particularly fuelled by the likes of Andrew Tate, it is easy to see why some viewers might be disturbed by what they see in the new series.
And Graham, who was left heartbroken by recent stabbings in the UK amongst young teens, has issued a warning to parents about some of the themes explored in the drama, and how they can protect their children from outside negative influences.
The This Is England star told The Independent: "I read an article about a young boy stabbing a young girl. And then maybe a couple of months later, on the news there was [another] young boy who'd stabbed a young girl, and if I'm really honest with you, they hurt my heart.
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"It's just being mindful of the fact that not only we parent our children, and not only the school educates our children.
"But also there's influences that we have no idea of that are having profound effects on our young culture, profound effects, positive and extremely negative. So it’s having a look at that and seeing that we’re all accountable.”
The 51-year-old actor also talks about how parents need to adapt to kids having 'the world at their fingertips' even if they're sent to their room, which, if you're as old as I am, simply wasn't the reality when lots of parents were growing up.
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He added: "When we were kids, if you got sent to your room or if Kenny Everett was on the telly, and it got a bit racy, you'd be sent to your room and then you couldn't watch it.
"But today even within the context of that home, when lads and girls go to their bedrooms, they have the world at their fingertips."
Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Stephen Graham, Netflix, Andrew Tate, Parenting
James Moorhouse