What do people think about the reaction to the show? It has ignited a lot of absurd takes. I also think a lot of people didn’t really get the show from a psychological point of view. It was written pretty good.

So I saw it as them trying to portray how and why this could happen and essentially putting the responsibility on multiple things.

So they made bullying, peep pressure, social media, online cultures, toxic influencers, underfunded schools etc all part of it

Psychologically they wrote it as the final trigger was him responding to rejection and being laughed at with pure uncontrolled anger as they referenced before him being laughed at playing football and his dad looking away ashamed. So the deep rooted insecurities of not feeling good enough, shame and being laughed at so when the girl laughed at him for thinking he had a chance with her he lost it. So it combined everything in his life to how that flashpoint happened.

Yet when I see the takes it’s all simplistic agenda driven stuff. Showing it in schools makes it corny. Any kid who wants to see it will have already seen it. A TV show isn’t going to solve these issues it’s just amplifying them in a presentable way.

I do feel like what should have been almost a masterpiece in writing and acting is somewhat getting lost in the culture wars

Edited March 26Mar 26 by Liam S

I remember when I was at school they made us watch the film ‘Dead Man Walking’ when in RE learning about the death penalty.

^'Let Him Have It' was also shown for me on the death penalty topic. Though that has the advantage of being about true events.

There are probably a few parts of the show that could be turned into decently educational clips in the future for the purposes of starting off a discussion about online radicalisation and internalised misogyny, certainly from the psychologist episode. Topics like underfunded schooling and parents' involvement in their childrens lives could also be helped with the visual cues in the other episodes.

It is an excellent show that is being swept away a bit in the culture wars with a lot of bad faith commentators misrepresenting its conclusions. It has been encouraging to have it brought up in Parliament though, as much as some might sneer at TV shows influencing the government, better that than problems not looked at.

I watched this last weekend and it was superb. Really well executed throughout, it felt grounded and realistic, and the acting, writing, direction and camerawork was phenomenal. A really tough watch throughout, especially episodes 3 and 4 thanks to the powerhouse performances from all involved.

Working in a secondary school definitely makes me critical of how accurate television portrayals are (it's part of the reason I can't sit through Waterloo Road now, I just critique how realistic it is ), and whilst little details aren't totally right as mentioned on the previous page, it's the closest I've seen to a realistic portrayal of a school like the one I work in. One where bad manners and rudeness to staff are regular features. Thankfully, we actually had safeguarding training just a few months ago on some of the Tate-specific language like "manosphere" etc, which really needs to be a more widespread thing given the severely damaging effects it's having on young men, and by extension, on young women.

Can I ask, because it’s so long since I attended school, what the consequences are for pupil rudeness and having phones out are in your school for example @JosephBoone ?

7 minutes ago, Steve201 said:

Can I ask, because it’s so long since I attended school, what the consequences are for pupil rudeness and having phones out are in your school for example @JosephBoone ?

We have Yondr pouches for phones which are sealed magnetically upon entry, the students keep the pouches with their phones inside on their person/in their bag all day and open them again on the way out! It's a really good system and has been one of the best improvements the school's made this year. If they try to circumvent this then the sanction is generally a suspension for the rest of the day/the next day. For rudeness, at the bottom end of the scale is a 15 minute "correction" (detention, but we've pivoted to more restorative language) the same day after school. Obviously it can escalate further depending on the context. Not always perfect and a lot of it lies in the execution from senior staff + how they follow up non-attenders to the sanctions.

It’s interesting to hear about this. At my school there was obvious bad behaviour from certain people but generally the classes went ahead without too much disruption.

Think from memory you could get three cards - a Late Card from not arriving on time, a homework card for not doing homework and a detention card for bad behaviour which needed signed by the parents.

I always imagine things to be a lot worse these days but then I think that’s a stereotype I have in my head. And tbf the kids on the bus I get into work generally are well behaved.

2 hours ago, JosephBoone said:

We have Yondr pouches for phones which are sealed magnetically upon entry, the students keep the pouches with their phones inside on their person/in their bag all day and open them again on the way out! It's a really good system and has been one of the best improvements the school's made this year. If they try to circumvent this then the sanction is generally a suspension for the rest of the day/the next day. For rudeness, at the bottom end of the scale is a 15 minute "correction" (detention, but we've pivoted to more restorative language) the same day after school. Obviously it can escalate further depending on the context. Not always perfect and a lot of it lies in the execution from senior staff + how they follow up non-attenders to the sanctions.

We have been using Yondr pouches since September. I wasn't convinced that they would work, but they have made a huge difference. A lot of the youngest students quite like it, as they have been used to not having phones in primary school, and most of the older ones accept it even if they don't like it. We also have a similar approach to rudeness etc. Most students are well-behaved, but there are always some for whom manners are an alien concept.

With all the talk about shows of films being shown in schools I thought I would post this news here;

As it should be shown in Secondary schools, I hope this is a starting point for talks about the issues raised in the show both in schools and elsewhere.

The biggest takeaway should be for society and parents more than kids. Which is a kids brain isn’t able to handle all the emotions and pressures of social media. Many adults struggle with it. It can create insecurities that do not need to exist. Nobody 16 or under can be called incel or should be even thinking of things like this

On 31/03/2025 at 19:14, Liam S said:

The biggest takeaway should be for society and parents more than kids. Which is a kids brain isn’t able to handle all the emotions and pressures of social media. Many adults struggle with it. It can create insecurities that do not need to exist. Nobody 16 or under can be called incel or should be even thinking of things like this

I think there's stuff to take away for every age group. There are lessons to be learned for young people too, particularly boys. Lessons about the type of language they use, the people they look up to (Andrew Tate), the way they treat women and girls. That's before we consider the part of the boy who supplied the knife. Especially as students move through secondary school, they gain independence in their lives, and it's important for them to be aware of the dangers around them, just as important as warning and educating parents in my view.

Children under 16 are exactly the kind of crowd that could be susceptible to incel ideologies and those that promote them like Andrew Tate know this and they don't yet have the critical thinking skills to see the con they are being sold. There are many students that we take on where it's clearly only developed as they've got older. Parents should obviously be aware too, but it's also crucial for students to recognise it.

I have now watched the programme and can see why it has been praised so highly. Even allowing for the fact that each episode was recorded multiple times, getting a single recording with such brilliant performances from all actors is an impressive achievement.

Yes, some of the school scenes were a little off. Teachers in my experience don't resort to shouting as quickly as the ones in the programme. I would hope a fire drill (planned or otherwise) wouldn't be as noisy and shambolic as that one. However, that is always a problem when they portray something you know about. Last weekend's episode of Grace had the same problem.

On 21/03/2025 at 13:55, Steve201 said:

I’d recommend ‘Toxic Town’ if you do sign up, thinks it’s the same producer!

Ah yes, I remember the original story and read about the series. It's on my list!

On 21/03/2025 at 13:55, Steve201 said:

I’d recommend ‘Toxic Town’ if you do sign up, thinks it’s the same producer!

I saw that as well. Another very good series.

Yeh was really good, I’d say there’s plenty of corruption at local councils!