Boris Johnson has criticised Prime Minister Kier Starmer‘s welcoming of plans to air Netflix‘s Adolescence in secondary schools, calling the show “tosh”.
Since its release on March 13, the drama about a father dealing with the fallout of his son being suspected of murder has prompted a wider discussion about toxic masculinity in the UK.
In late March, it was confirmed that Netflix would be making the series available to all UK secondary schools in the hope that its examination of the internet and toxic online influences will help steer young people on the right path.
The news followed Starmer telling makers of the show that it was “really hard to watch” with his own teenage children, and that the show acted as “a torch that shines intensely brightly on a combination of issues that many people don’t know how to respond to”.
Starmer also welcomed the move by Netflix to make the series available for free in schools.
As a father, watching Adolescence with my teenage son and daughter hit home hard.
We all need to be having these conversations more.
I've backed Netflix's plan to show the series for free in schools across the country, so as many young people as possible can see it.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) March 31, 2025
Now, former Prime Minister Johnson has criticised Adolescense and Starmer’s support of it, calling the Stephen Graham-starring show “well acted tosh”.
In his latest column for the Daily Mail, Johnson wrote, in reference to Starmer, “Who does he think he is, telling teachers what TV programmes to show the kids? According to the BBC – and if you can’t believe the BBC, what can you believe? – Starmer has personally mandated every classroom in the land to have formal showings of a four-part TV drama called Adolescence.
He continued: “In making this announcement with full prime ministerial authority amid the ancient solemnity of the Cabinet Room, Keir Starmer has perfectly encapsulated the fundamental flatulence of the Government, and its emetic finger-wagging mixture of humbug and wokery.”
Johnson added that he believes the move to show the series in school time demonstrates the government’s “cruel indifference to the real educational needs of children today,” adding: “In case you haven’t watched Adolescence I can save you the bother. It’s tosh – well-acted tosh.”
He went on to say that the show’s depiction of “incels” as the causes of teenage knife crime as “irrelevant”, adding that “unlike the teenage couple in this drama, the victims and perpetrators are disproportionately young black males.”
This theory is something the show’s co-creator Jack Thorne has already dismissed, saying: “It’s absurd to say that [knife crime] is only committed by Black boys. It’s absurd. It’s not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.”
Thorne went on to say: “We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another, we’re saying that this is about boys.”
Speaking about the show to BBC political editor Chris Mason, Starmer said he’d been “watching with our children – my boy is 16, my girl is 14 – and I have to say, I found it really hard” and added: “In a sense, what happens in the drama could really happen anywhere, and almost happen to any child”.
He went on to say that it shone a light “on misogyny, on online content, and this sense of children, particularly boys, getting drawn in to this world”, he said. When discussing how to tackle the issue, he said that “there isn’t an obvious policy response which will answer all of these questions.”
He continued: “It’s much broader than that. It’s a cultural issue, and therefore we’re going to have to look more broadly, work as a society on this, and discuss it, which is why I’m really pleased that Adolescence is now going to be shown in schools free because I do think young people should be watching it.”
Starmer also met with Thorne, who recently said that children should be refused access to social media, as well as phones in school, in order to tackle ongoing problems in society.
In a four-star review of Adolescence, NME wrote: “Its unflinching commitment to the darkest corners of the story will remain with you long after the credits have rolled. These four episodes alone won’t stop the encroachment of the so-called ‘manosphere’ on regular boys’ lives but it has the power to start some much-needed conversations.”