Netflix’s Adolescence, a four-part thriller about a 13-year-old murder suspect, has hijacked Britain’s political conversation. Annie Kelly explains why the series hit such a nerve: it maps the online pipelines that radicalize boys in their own bedrooms, dramatizes the deadly consequences of misogyny, and spotlights the adults too clueless to confront these threats. Within weeks, MPs demanded it be shown in classrooms, tabloid headlines frightened parents over coded emojis, and right-wing investigators branded the show a taxpayer-funded anti-incel psyop involving Sophie from Peep Show.

Come listen as Annie breaks down how virtuosic television managed to inspire breathtakingly cynical discourse about race, youth violence, and fictional portrayals of social issues.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
www.patreon.com/QAA


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Annie Kelly on Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/annieknk.bsky.social



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Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

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REFERENCES

“Adolescence” and the Right’s War on Men
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/adolescence-and-the-rights-war-on-men/

Not Based On A True Story
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/april/not-based-on-a-true-story