Referrals to a government anti-extremism programme went up after the hit Netflix drama Adolescence was broadcast in March, an official report reveals.
An investigation by David Anderson KC on Prevent, the Home Office deradicalisation scheme, found that after the series was screened, parents and social workers referred more teenagers to the programme.
The series-written by actor Stephen Graham about a 13-year-old boy, played by Owen Cooper, who kills a female classmate for rejecting him and mocking him online – was critically acclaimed for dealing with toxic masculinity among teenagers.
Lord Anderson’s report mainly focused on the extremist murder of Tory MP David Amess and the killing of three girls in Southport by Axel Rudakubana last year.
He was told by experts and Prevent specialists across the country that referrals went up thanks to the show, which deals with males who defines themselves as ‘incels’ – blaming women who don’t respond to their advances for forcing them to be involuntarily celibate.
His study said: ‘Reactions to the incel-themed Netflix series Adolescence may also have played a part in encouraging referrals.
‘Statistics yet to be published will record the extent of any such increase and whether it is best understood as a spike or a more permanent upward shift.’
It is not known whether Adolescence has caused a significant rise because the Home Office, which collates Prevent data, will not publish figures for the first quarter of this year until December.
But experts have told The Mail on Sunday that Prevent referrals went up particularly in areas such as the Home Counties.
Police have warned parents to be vigilant about their children’s online habits.
Days after Adolescence came out, Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan, the Met’s Prevent co-ordinator for London, said: ‘While it’s a fictitious drama, the story is grounded in a reality that we are seeing more and more in counter-terrorism policing.’
One in five people arrested for terrorist offences are aged under 18. Ghaffar Hussain, a counter-terrorism expert and former Prevent manager, said: ‘It is not surprising referrals went up since Adolescence was broadcast, as it tapped into a serious concern – extremist misogyny among young boys.’