Adolescence

Casting prioritizes authentic Northern English working-class accents and family dynamics with a white protagonist; includes visible diversity in supporting roles like the black detective, consistent with casting director's inclusive approach.

Multiple scenes and plot points directly depict and critique incel/red-pill online content, misogynistic attitudes toward girls and sex, and cultural radicalization of boys, with psychologist sessions framing these as dangerous ideological influences.

The core arc attributes the murder to the boy's immersion in toxic masculinity and manosphere ideas that blame women and distort gender expectations; heavy thematic focus on modern male identity crisis and societal accountability for boys' misogynist violence.

Portrays social media platforms, parents, schools, and government systems as complicit in enabling online misogyny and failing to protect girls; creators publicly call for radical interventions like smartphone restrictions and broader cultural shifts on masculinity.

Significant volume of right-leaning complaints that the show functions as anti-white propaganda by race-swapping real black knife-crime cases to portray a white boy as the villain, demonizes white working-class boys and men through a toxic-masculinity lens, and advances woke gender ideology while distorting crime statistics.

Co-creators bring experience with socially conscious UK dramas; Jack Thorne has a clear pattern of disability-inclusion advocacy including industry quotas and public support for trans perspectives, while Stephen Graham has focused more on class and violence themes with fewer explicit identity-driven statements.