Netflix’s Adolescence tops weekly UK TV ratings with 6.45 million viewers

The series beat the likes of BBC Oneâ??s The Apprentice and Death In Paradise, and ITV1â??s The Bay.

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Netflix drama series Adolescence has topped the UK’s weekly TV ratings, with its first episode pulling in 6.45 million viewers in its first week, according to ratings provider Barb.

The results make it Netflix’s most viewed series in the UK in a single week, as its first and second episode, which got 5.9 million viewers, beat the likes of BBC One’s The Apprentice and Death In Paradise, and ITV1’s The Bay.

Adolescence’s third episode ranked fifth in the UK’s top 50 shows, with 5.1 million views, from March 10 to March 16, while its fourth and final episode ranked ninth, with 4.65 million views.

Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne (Ian West/PA)

PA Wire

The Netflix crime drama is about a boy accused of killing a girl in his class, with This Is England star Stephen Graham playing Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie, played by newcomer Owen Cooper, who sees armed police burst into his home to arrest his son.

Eddie is then chosen as Jamie’s appropriate adult, accompanying him at the police interview, and learning the extent of what his son is accused of doing.

The programme, created by Graham and writer Jack Thorne, examines so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture, which has led to misogyny online and bullying using social media.

The show also beat the likes of BBC gameshow Gladiators and soaps Emmerdale, EastEnders and Coronation Street to the top of the rankings.

Adolescence has prompted a national conversation around online safety, with Graham and Thorne accepting an invite to a parliamentary meeting on the subject by Labour MP Josh MacAlister.

It comes after Thorne advocated for the show to be shown in Parliament and schools, with Sir Keir Starmer indicating that it should during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Prime Minister said he watched the programme with his children, and added that “this violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem, it’s abhorrent, and we have to tackle it”.

During an interview with BBC Two’s current affairs programme Newsnight, Thorne said he hopes “we can use this moment to provoke this Government to consider quite serious change”.

He referenced that the Australian senate has passed a social media ban for young children.

Thorne said: “I would extend it further, it is about gaming too, and it’s about getting inside all these different systems.”

He admitted there were “good” things about social media and gaming, but stressed the Government should legislate to protect teenagers and see “what change that could bring to our society”.

Australia is set to make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (£25 million) if they systematically do not prevent those younger than 16 from holding accounts.

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