Adolescence star praises grafter dad as role model

An actor who appears in the Netflix series Adolescence has praised his "grafter" dad for being his biggest role model.

Lewis Pemberton plays the role of Tommy, an "outcast" whose 13-year-old friend Jamie is arrested for stabbing a teenage girl from his school.

The four-part drama has been praised for shining a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynist influencers on some teenage boys, and was highlighted by Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

Mr Pemberton, from Beverley, said his dad had always taught him "if you want something, you can do it, you just have to work hard for it".

The series stars Stephen Graham, who co-wrote the drama, after seeing two separate reports of boys stabbing girls to death.

"I just thought, what's going on in society where this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence?" he told BBC's The One Show.

Mr Pemberton said his character was "completely different" to himself, "quite nerdy" and hard to play, but Graham, who he described as his "idol", gave him tips.

He told BBC Radio Humberside, "My dad - he's a grafter. I don't know if he's ever missed a day off work. He's always at work and he loves his job.

"I look up to him in all different ways.

"The way he speaks, he just gets his point across in everything that he does."

Mr Pemberton said his dad had taught him "the world's my oyster and I've just got to do everything I can and do it 100%".

Starmer said there was a need to tackle the "emerging and growing problem" raised by Adolescence.

He said the violence carried out by young men influenced by what they see online was "abhorrent" and "we have to tackle it."

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