BBC Breakfast has come under fire as Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt pushed Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on why she hadn’t watched Netflix’s Adolescence.
BBC Breakfast presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt have come under fire for grilling Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on why she hadn’t watched Netflix drama Adolescence. As Naga probed Badenoch, she quickly responded: “In the same way I don’t need to watch Casualty to know what’s going on in the NHS, I don’t need to watch a specific Netflix drama to understand what’s going on.”
Charlie asked: “Have you watched Adolescence yet?” to which Kemi replied: ‘No no I haven’t, I probably won’t. It’s a film on Netflix, and most of my time right now is spent visiting the country…” Naga quickly jumped in to say: ‘It’s a four-part series on Netflix, and everyone is talking about it. It is prompting conversations about toxic masculinity, smartphone use, young men feeling that they’re being ignored, and the idea of misogyny being increased in school.’ Naga added: ‘Why would you not want to know what people are talking about?’
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Naga Munchetty grilled Kemi Badenoch on why she hadn’t watched the show (Image: BBC)
Kemi replied: ‘Well, I think that they are all important issues, and those are issues that I’ve been talking about for a long time.
She continued: ‘But in the same way that I don’t need to watch Casualty to know what’s going on in the NHS, I don’t need to watch a specific Netflix drama to understand what’s going on, it’s a fictional series, it is not a documentary.”
The interview has sparked huge backlash, with politicans, commentators and TV figures hitting out at the BBC for the bizarre line of questioning.
Michael Gove hit out: “The BBC have the Leader of the Opposition on – and waste more than 4 minutes talking about a *fictional* drama series and ignore her important points about the failure to tackle *real* child abuse – these are not serious people.”
Writer and Producer Christian Frankplads penned: “It’s extremely worrying that @TVNaga01 refers to Adolescence as a “documentary” – just seconds after @KemiBadenoch has pointed out that it’s a fictional show and not a docu. This indicates strongly that Naga Munchetty can not properly differ between reality and fiction.”
Kemi Badenoch defended why she hadn’t watched the show (Image: BBC)
Political commentator Kevin Edger: “Good on Kemi. She’s talking to real people across the country about issues and concerns they have. The BBC would rather she watch a fictional drama series on Netflix
Historian and politician Norman Leeds added: “Once again – Defund the BBC.” Other viewers have agreed, with one saying: “The BBC clearly don’t live in the real world! Who watches them any more? I certainly don’t. Time to defund them,” as a second chimed in: “Defund the BBC I object to paying for this garbage.”
Baroness Foster agreed: “Spot on @KemiBadenoch. @TVNaga01 is always extremely rude to anyone who’s not on the ‘left’ … Both carried away with a TV series… And really didn’t want you to mention the ‘grooming rape gangs’. Well done you.”
Adolescence follows a family being torn apart when a teenage boy is accused of stabbing a schoolmate to death. It made British TV history after becoming the first streaming show to become the most-watched show of the week.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has gotten behind making the series a school watch to highlight to teenagers the consequences of knife crime.
