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I wrote Adolescence. I won’t give my son a smartphone till he’s 14

Jack Thorne’s story of a boy radicalised by online misogyny has been a Netflix smash hit. He tells Jane Mulkerrins why we should treat digital devices like cigarettes

The prolific 46-year-old screenwriter behind the This Is England trilogy, the Covid drama Help and the sexual abuse miniseries National Treasure has never shied away from tackling tricky topics. However, his most recent hit, the harrowing Netflix drama Adolescence, has not simply charged to No 1 in the streaming charts but also ignited an urgent discussion about teenagers, smartphones and the powerful influence of the toxic manosphere, which every parent, teen and politician has spent the past week debating. Thorne is married to the comedy agent Rachel Mason, with whom he has a son, Elliott, 8.

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