Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie Miller in Adolescence, recently became the youngest ever male winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at the Golden Globes, following a similar history-making win at the Emmys.

Adolescence terrified parents, with its portrayal of a sweet boy from a flawed but loving, stable family being radicalised by incel ideology to the extent that he kills a schoolmate.

While the acting, direction and cinematography of Adolescence are first class, how does the premise of the series stand up at this remove?

Stephen Graham, who plays Jamie’s plumber Dad, Eddie, and who cowrote the series with Jack Thorne, initially conceived the idea after becoming alarmed by accounts of young boys stabbing girls.

The brutal murder of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel in Ireland in 2018 by two 13-year-olds, Boy A and Boy B, had already brought home to us the reality of such callous cruelty.

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© The Irish Times