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Adolescence: Parents share thoughts on 'sobering' Netflix show

Adolescence: Parents share thoughts on 'sobering' Netflix show

BBC News23-03-2025

Parents in the Channel Islands have expressed a need to "come together" after watching the four-part Netflix series Adolescence.Vicky O'Neil, from Jersey, has a 10-year-old son and said she found the show "sobering". Adolescence follows the family of a 13-year-old boy arrested for killing a female classmate and tackles themes of bullying, incel (involuntary celibacy) culture, and navigating social media as a young person.Ms O'Neil said the show "reiterates this safeguarding crisis that we're having".
'No easy answer'
She said: "It's quite easy I think sometimes to say 'oh just don't give your child the phone', but I know from experience that our very restrictive approach to technology resulted in social exclusion for one of our children."She added she wanted to start talking about it and to try and do something as a community.Ms O'Neil said: "We're seeing how deeply entrenched misogyny...is becoming with our boys and I think we should be really, really alarmed by this."I'd just love us to start talking about it, accept there's no easy answer and try and do something".She said schools should support parents who did not want their kids to have smart phones at an early age.
Adolescence – which stars Graham as dad Eddie and Owen Cooper as Jamie – was the most-watched show on Netflix around the world in the days after its release last week.Sally Rochester, from Guernsey, who has children aged 14 and 16 said she found the final episode of the show "harrowing".She said: "As parents we find ourselves wanting to protect our children but letting these devices into their lives for various understandable reasons puts them at some extraordinary risk."Constable Richard Vibert, minister for children and families in Jersey, was questioned about online safety in a States Assembly meeting in February.He directed people to the Government of Jersey website, which he said featured practical advice and guidance for parents, including how to talk to children about online risks; parental controls, and screen time.

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A Scottish legend says cancel culture is over. Yeah right
A Scottish legend says cancel culture is over. Yeah right

The Herald Scotland

time2 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

A Scottish legend says cancel culture is over. Yeah right

He is not alone in his view. The comedian Ricky Gervais was getting his star on the walk of fame the other day and said something similar to Mr Millar. 'We've had a few weird years of cancel culture, people telling you what you can and can't laugh at or talk about,' he said. 'But we pushed back, and we won. I'd love to claim that it was due to my unrivalled genius, but truth be told, it's a cocktail of luck, persistence and a little bit of pushing against the tide.' So that's two big figures in popular culture telling us it's all over. But let's take a minute shall we. For a start, it's significant who's talking here. As I say, Mr Millar sold his empire to Netflix for £25m and Mr Gervais is also someone who's not short of a bob or two. Same thing with another public figure who's spoken out against cancel culture: JK Rowling. The mob did bay for her, and some people did stop speaking to her, and there were calls for her to be ejected from Harry Potter, her own creation. But in the end, like Gervais and Millar, money is a shield and Rowling was too rich to cancel. It's a good thing that Gervais and Millar have spoken out against cancel culture, but their relative immunity to its effects perhaps makes them a little too prone to declaring that it's over before it actually is. Because it isn't, not really. You may have seen the story about the comic Andrew Lawrence who's had shows cancelled after making a joke about the horrible incident at the Liverpool football parade. This is a sensitive area, and the joke was crass and in my view not funny. But I've been in many audiences where the comic has touched on sensitive areas and made jokes that are crass and in my view not funny, and people laughed. And if we cancel comedians for doing jokes some of us don't like, we risk ending up in a place that is, to use Mark Millar's words, safe and benign. Yes, it's awkward to defend someone like Andrew Lawrence but that's how freedom of expression works: it's awkward but important. There are other problems with the idea that cancel culture is over. One of the most high-profile casualties of it all was the comedy writer Graham Linehan, whose career was effectively ended because of his opinions on trans issues. I spoke to Graham about what happened and the effects were absolutely real: jobs fell away, virtually no-one in the media would return his calls, and his plans for a musical version of Father Ted ended when the producers asked him to stop talking about the trans issue and he refused. What's remarkable now is that we can see his opinions were not unusual and are shared by the majority of the population and yet they ended his career and there's still no prospect of Graham working again in British comedy. So if cancel culture is over, it isn't over for Graham. Read more Britain is Scottish: a truth from history that's still true today A Pride hate crime on Arran? No, just a sign of where we are now The best building in Glasgow, and what we can learn from its tragedy But even if we accept the premise that cases such as Graham's are becoming rarer, or will no longer happen, that doesn't mean cancel culture is finished because its effects do not always operate openly. I was speaking to a friend of mine last week who's working on a play that's about to tour the country and he was telling me about the pressures he's been under over script, casting and production, specifically on sex, gender and race. It's clear that anything that strays from the progressive viewpoint sometimes called 'woke' is out of the question and might jeopardise the future of his project and so he finds himself self-censoring to ensure he keeps his job. It's happening in theatre, and it's happening in movies and telly too. And the result? Safe and benign. Perhaps the phrase we should use to describe the phenomenon here is self-cancel culture although it amounts to the same thing as cancel culture because most people don't have as much money as Mr Millar or Mr Gervais or Ms Rowling and worry about losing their job, or the chances of promotion. You see it in academia too, where there have been plenty of examples of overt cancel culture, with speakers de-platformed or forced to withdraw because of protests and so forth. But equally insidious is the self-cancel culture that goes on, the self-censorship. One of the academics I've spoken to about this, Neil Thin, honorary research fellow at Edinburgh, told me how it works. What happens in practice, he said, is that because of overt, aggressive or denunciatory attacks on individuals, people at universities start to monitor and edit their own behaviour. They see what's happened to other people and think 'I don't want that, I'll avoid that topic'. And so freedom of speech is affected and damaged. As I say: self-cancel culture. Doctor Who (Image: PA) It's all of this kind of stuff, plus more recent and more overt cases such as Andrew Lawrence, that make me very wary of accepting Mark Millar's argument that cancel culture is over. What may help his case a bit is that the sort of people who've toed the line are starting to struggle. I'm thinking of the recent Snow White movie, which was heavy with cancel-proof progressive messages and bombed spectacularly at the box office. Same with the recent series of Doctor Who: on message certainly but also on course for the worst viewing figures in the programme's history. And it has now, probably, been rested. Or to use a better word: cancelled. The point is that the situation is probably a lot more uncertain than Mark Millar thinks it is. He may be right that the world is more relaxed again and we're about to see more dangerous stuff on screen and in print. But then again, someone who was working on a television drama being made in Glasgow was telling me last year about their Christmas party and how they'd been issued with a list of do's and don'ts including 'no swearing' and 'no sexual advances'. Relaxed is hardly the word I would use. But let's end by being hopeful shall we. The cultural moments that linger in my mind aren't the cosy ones, they're the crazy ones. The moments where I've been appalled or amused (or both at the same time). The best and most exciting television, movies and books are also much more likely to emerge from a culture of freedom than they are from a culture of fear. So let's hope Mark Millar is right. Let's hope cancel culture is over and writers have indeed regained their freedom to produce edgy material. Let's hope.

‘Stranger Things' play wins Tony Awards, setting stage for TV series finale
‘Stranger Things' play wins Tony Awards, setting stage for TV series finale

Reuters

time3 hours ago

  • Reuters

‘Stranger Things' play wins Tony Awards, setting stage for TV series finale

NEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - With bloody body contortions, booming blasts and brooding high school angst, "Stranger Things: The First Shadow,' based on the 12-time Emmy-winning Netflix science fiction series 'Stranger Things,' took home Tony Awards on Sunday for best scenic design, lighting design and sound design of a play along with a special award for its illusions and technical effects. Miriam Buether, the scenic designer for "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" reflected on the journey of creating frightening moments on stage. "We love scaring people," she said backstage at the ceremony hosted by "Wicked" film star Cynthia Erivo. The play, directed by Stephen Daldry, was nominated for five Tony Awards in total, including best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for Louis McCartney for his performance as Henry Creel, the younger version of the main antagonist of the 'Stranger Things' series who is later called Vecna. 'Stranger Things: First Shadow' is one of the expansions of the 'Stranger Things' universe created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, who announced the launch of Upside Down Pictures in 2022, marking an overall deal with Netflix that will also include a live-action Stranger Things spin-off series. The series has spawned video games, cosplay, in-person immersive experiences and merchandise licensing deals, including the January 2025 deal with the company behind the popular Squishmallow plush toys. Last month, at Netflix's globally livestreamed fan event called 'Tudum Live,' it was announced that the 'Stranger Things' TV series would have a fifth and final season split into three parts, with part one on November 26, 2025, part two on December 25, 2025 and the series finale on December 31, 2025. The final season of "Stranger Things" was delayed by dual Hollywood strikes in 2023. "Stranger Things," the story of a group of adolescent friends in rural Indiana in the 1980s who battle creatures from an alternate dimension called the "Upside Down," premiered on Netflix in 2016 and became a smash hit created by the Duffer brothers for the streaming platform. The play, produced by the Duffer brothers, takes audiences back in time to 1959, two decades before the period explored in the TV show. Jim Hopper and Joyce Maldonado - adult characters in the TV show - are seen as high school classmates with normal teen concerns about cars and classes until a new student named Henry arrives. Henry Creel is an odd and troubled boy that holds the future of the small town of Hawkins, Indiana in his hands. The New York cast includes 'Harlem' actor Burke Swanson as Jim Hopper, 'Shameless' actor Alison Jaye as Joyce Maldonado and McCartney as Henry Creel, who reprised his role after being in the London production. The monster-filled play debuted in London in 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre and made its New York Broadway debut in March 2025 at the Marquis Theatre.

Netflix quietly adds 'superb under-the radar comedy' set in Victorian London
Netflix quietly adds 'superb under-the radar comedy' set in Victorian London

Metro

time4 hours ago

  • Metro

Netflix quietly adds 'superb under-the radar comedy' set in Victorian London

A show fans dubbed 'one of the best British sitcoms in years' has now been added to Netflix. Initially airing on Channel 4 in 2019, the series Year of the Rabbit largely went under the radar despite receiving glowing reviews. Running for one season, the six-part series was created by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, who have worked on shows together including The Great Outdoors, Hyperdrive and Slacker Cats, as well as Veep, Little Britain and Spitting Image. This series of theirs was set in London in 1887 and followed 'a group of Victorian detectives including Detective Inspector Rabbit, a hardened boozehound who's seen it all, and his new, hapless, by-the-books partner.'. Matt Berry – best known for appearing in The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh and What We Do in the Shadows played Detective Rabbit, while Freddie Fox was Detective Sergeant Wilbur Strauss, Rabbit's junior partner. The pair's boss – Chief Inspector Hugh Wisbech was played by Alun Armstrong. Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. It was teased of the series: 'While investigating a local murder, the chief of police's lewd but insightful adopted daughter becomes the country's first female officer. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'Together, the trio must fight crime while rubbing shoulders with street gangs, crooked politicians, Bulgarian princes, spiritualists, music hall stars, and the Elephant Man.' The show, which was added on Netflix this week, currently holds an impressive 94% rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes. 'It's a strange kind of comedy – but it is also brilliant,' Radio Times wrote in its review. 'The most surprising thing about the whole mad shebang was that it worked. It was really, really funny,' The Times admitted. 'Year of the Rabbit has Berry hitting the right comedic notes, helped by a funny supporting cast and a setting that's always ripe for comedy,' Decider shared. 'The Year of The Rabbit is not to be missed,' What She Said added. In their reviews, viewers said the show was 'superb' and 'one of the best period comedies they'd ever seen', while others begged for a second season. Although Year of the Rabbit was renewed, Channel 4 went on to reverse the decision in January 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic and budget cuts. Layla Smith, chief executive of the show's production company OMG, said at the time: 'Year of the Rabbit is a victim of the devastating effects of COVID. […] IFC are very committed to the show, but we will need to find another partner — and we're working on that.', Before the show hit screens, Matt spoke about jumping at the chance to star. More Trending 'I just wanted to do something different. Those kind of shows based around that time, they're always dramatic and without much of a sense of humour. If you were to watch Peaky Blinders and one of the characters did a pratfall, followed by a forward roll, some kind of physical comedy, you'd think it was odd. But that was what I wanted to do. That was my inspiration. I just wanted to do something you hadn't seen before with that backdrop,' he said. The actor also spoke about previously working at the London Dungeon assisted this project. 'You have to know your history there because people would ask you. I don't know what it's like now but it certainly was back in the early 2000s, when I was there, you had to know about Jack the Ripper because people would ask. It just stayed with me. Then my interest in Victorian London widened. You use bits and pieces. View More » Year of the Rabbit is streaming on Netflix and Channel 4. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Netflix fans urged to watch 'incredible' new movie with shock twist MORE: Adele thanks Netflix hit for 'changing relationship with son' MORE: Gogglebox family announce heartbreaking death as fans pay tribute

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