How Based on Truth is Netflix’s ‘Adolescence?’ 

Watching Netflix’s Adolescence is every parent's worst nightmare unfolding on the small screen. What makes it even more disturbing is that Adolescence is not just a work of fiction. But how much of the British crime drama series, loved by critics and fans alike, is actually based on truth? Is Adolescence Based on a True Story?  Adolescence follows the story of Jamie Miller (played by Owen Cooper in his breakthrough role), a 13-year-old boy arrested for brutally killing his schoolmate, a teenage girl. In an interview with The Independent, co-creator Stephen Graham (who also acted in the series as Jamie’s father, Eddie) said of the show’s inspiration, “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.”  The knife-related cases in the U.K. also increased by “80 percent over the past 10 years,” per The Ben Kinsella Trust. A similar case happened in Florida in 2021 when a teenage boy was sentenced to life after stabbing a teenage girl 114 times. The case was extremely disturbing since there was no motive. The perpetrator simply just wanted to satisfy his “internal desire to feel what it was like to kill someone,” according to CNN.  Graham also told Netflix that they wanted to focus their story on “an ordinary family’s worst nightmare” and let viewers think that the story could be happening to them since it’s becoming more common. He added, “I really just wanted to shine a light on it, and ask, ‘Why is this happening today? What’s going on? How have we come to this?’”  Incel Culture  The series also touched on “incel culture.” Graham mentioned in another interview with The Independent, “The kids aren't watching Andrew Tate. They're watching a lot more dangerous stuff than Andrew Tate. We were trying to present a portrait of the complexity of this kid that had been made by all sorts of different influences and the thing about incel culture is there's a logic to it.”  Incel is a portmanteau of the words “involuntary” and “celibate.” In simpler terms, it’s used to describe someone, usually a male, who does not have any sexual experiences and often blames women for their lack of romantic or sexual conquests. The word is also used to describe a misogynist, per CNN.  The series received critical acclaim and high viewership ratings. However, the show's writer, Jack Thorne, remains more focused on ensuring it reaches its intended audience. Thorne said, “I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in Parliament. It's crucial because this is only going to get worse. It's something that people need to be talking about, hopefully that's what drama can do,” per BBC.  Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix.