Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne says online trolls are questioning his masculinity amid Netflix series success

The four-part series follows the story of 13-year-old Jamie Miller, who is accused of murdering his female classmate. Adolescence focuses on themes of incel culture, masculinity, misogyny, and the effect social media can have on the outlook young boys have on women and relationships.

Thorne revealed on Newsnight on Wednesday evening (March 19) that since the show’s release, his picture has been circulated in certain corners of the internet with abuse directed towards him for raising the issues. He told Victoria Derbyshire: “It’s been very interesting.

“I’ve been on the television a little bit and what’s been happening in the last few days is that my picture is being circulated with questions as to my masculinity, questions as to whether I’ve got too much estrogen in my system, questions as to whether I’m a man or not. Weird things, like people saying that I’m Jewish when I’m not.

“It’s been very odd and it’s given me a taste of something that is very strange. I’m very comfortable with how I look and I don’t mind it, but it’s been scientifically very interesting.”

The series, which stars Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters, has hit the top of the Netflix charts across the globe after being released last week, with almost universal acclaim from critics and viewers for its handling of hard-hitting topics and performances. Thorne co-wrote the show alongside Graham after the actor was inspired by multiple reports of young boys stabbing young girls.

Thorne told Newsnight: “I thought I could read this incel stuff and go ‘this is a foreign problem, this is something that doesn’t affect me’. I read it, I watched it, I consumed as much as I possibly could and I realised that there was something really attractive in it.

“I realised that if I was a teenage kid and I had heard that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men so it’s your responsibility to manipulate the situation in order to live a normal life, so that you can feel attractive, so that you can be the person you want to be - I would have gone with that, I would have been very taken by it, I would have listened to the solutions they were proposing.”

The success of the show has even seen the matter discussed in Parliament, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer backing a campaign to show the miniseries in schools. When asked about his response to Starmer saying during PMQs that he was currently watching the show at home with his two teenagers, Thorne told Derbyshire: “That’s amazing, and it’s important. I hope that means we can use this moment to provoke this government to consider quite serious change.”