‘I could have been Jamie’, says youth worker after Adolescence screening

A youth worker who was arrested aged 12 has said he “could have easily been Jamie” from the “powerful” Netflix show Adolescence.

Ryan Davis, 25, is a youth board member at Tender, a charity which uses drama to instil lessons about healthy relationships highlighting the importance of consent, respect and standing up to harmful behaviour.

The charity hosted a preview screening of the first episode of Adolescence for key figures in the Violence Against Woman and Girls sector and ran a panel discussion with co-creators Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, as well as producer Jo Johnson.

They also recorded an interview with Graham and Thorne exploring the issues and the work Tender does.

Adolescence stars This Is England actor Graham and tells the story of 13-year-old Jamie Miller, played by Owen Cooper, who is arrested for murdering a teenage girl at his school.

The show, created by Graham and writer Thorne, has sparked a national conversation about men’s violence against women and girls, and the impact of misogynistic influencers on social media.

Mr Davis, from Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, spoke about his experience being arrested at the age of 12 for a non-serious offence, which he declined to elaborate on, and said he could relate to the Netflix programme.

“I know it might sound really bad and an awful way of saying this, but I quite easily could have been Jamie when I was 13,” Mr Davis told the PA news agency.

He said he grew up in the care system, moving to various local authorities and foster carers, and was permanently excluded from school aged 12, which he said was “a very isolating point in my life”.

“I was arrested as a child when I was 12 years old, so even younger than Jamie – I wasn’t arrested for a serious offence on his level but I remember it was a terrifying experience,” he said.

“You don’t really understand what’s happening, what it actually means, or the criminal justice system.

“I definitely think, in that sense, it was very relatable to me and my time in life.”

Mr Davis became a youth board member at Tender around 18 months ago after his girlfriend encouraged him to talk about issues surrounding young men.

He said he has seen how the charity has helped men to “step up as allies, actively listening and using our voice to foster a safer culture”, adding the Netflix show was necessary to start conversations around incel culture.

“It’s been a long time coming for this conversation to happen,” he said.

“I see Tender’s work as really essential… through education and open dialogue, Tender has probably given thousands of young people the tools to not only support one another but to challenge themselves and the assumption around what it actually means to be a man.”

Mr Davis said social media has played a large part in promoting harmful behaviour, adding there is an urgent need for “good role models for people to look up to”.

“Adolescence is a powerful demonstration of the influence of what young people are facing in modern-day society,” he said.

“Young people are being bombarded with harmful content and too many of them are left without the skills and the understanding of challenging these beliefs.”

Kate Vine, communications manager at Tender, said the show highlights how drama and arts can be a powerful tool to teach valuable lessons.

“I think this really shows the root of where Tender is coming from, that drama can be powerful. Watching these things play out can have that power to instil something that reading or being told about something just doesn’t have,” she told PA.

“I think something like this could have been really overdone or sensationalised but I think because it’s had such fantastic people on board who’ve handled it so carefully and done it so well, I think that’s where this amazing reaction has come from.”

Mr Davis thanked the creators of Adolescence for shining a light on issues surrounding young men and boys, and has urged young people to be vigilant on social media.

“Don’t believe everything you see on social media. You don’t have to be involved in this toxic masculinity that is being influenced by social media,” he said.