Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne has said he has faced “abuse” over his appearance following the series’ release.
The 46-year-old told Parliament’s Women And Equalities Committee (WEC) during an evidence session that people who were against the show, which is about a schoolboy accused of killing a girl in his class, had claimed the reason he made the series was because of the way he looked.
Asked whether those involved with the show had been subjected to “personal criticism or even abuse” since it began streaming, Thorne said: “Yeah, I’ve had a bit, and I’m very comfortable with it.
“You know that I’m a bald, skinny, weird looking man, and some people have made something of the fact that I’m a bald, skinny, weird looking man, and saying these things and that somehow my masculinity is the reason why I’ve questioned other people’s masculinity.
“Well, if you look at how Stephen Graham (Thorne’s fellow co-creator) looks, he looks more male than anyone else on the planet, I think, and so we’re a combination of things and we work together on it all.
“So yes my looks have been put under the microscope a little bit by it all but I’m absolutely comfortable with those questions being answered, and that’s the thing, when I talk about boys feeling that they need to look a certain way.
“When I grew up, my role model was Jarvis Cocker, and Jarvis Cocker made it OK to look like I do.
“If you’re being told constantly the only way that you can have any legitimacy is if you’ve got muscles, that’s hard for some boys. I would have found it very hard because I don’t grow muscles very easily.”
Thorne said he felt the comments about his appearance were a symptom of the issues the show is highlighting.
Asked if the show’s young stars had been abused by those critical of the show, its executive producer Emily Feller replied: “I’d start by just saying that we put an awful lot of safeguarding around our younger cast members.
“In particular, working alongside Netflix in this particular instance, we didn’t know how global it was going to become, but we did think that people were going to watch it, and it’s the younger people that will have more of an online presence.
“So we wrapped people around with a lot of advice and a lot of safeguarding. We haven’t had too much of a negative response towards those people.”
Adolescence features This Is England star Stephen Graham as 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 examines so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture, which has led to misogyny online and bullying using social media.
Speaking about the TV industry’s reluctance to make shows like his own, Thorne added: “I think TV’s become quite conservative, and I think the reason why TV’s become quite conservative is because we are frightened about how to get international finance.
“And often if you’re trying to do something a bit wilder, it becomes very hard to attract international finance, and it’s very hard to make something for BBC or Channel 4, ITV, without international finance.
“And I do worry about the next generation of writers, that they will be told the way to get a show made is by putting a murder in it.”
