Television’s portrayal of adolescence has challenged adult complacency about young people’s lives. The best coming-of-age dramas have not just shown young people behaving badly, or dangerously, or foolishly. They have asked questions about a society that leaves them to learn about sex, addiction and violence with little help.
That idea has driven shows such as Skins, Chewing Gum, Sex Education and, at its best, Euphoria. Their value did not lie in provocation alone. Drugs, humiliation and self-destruction were ways of dramatising how power affects young lives: through families, friendships, money, class and the internet. The characters mattered to audiences – and therefore so did the scandals.
