In March 2025, Internet users criticized Netflix for the fact that the plot of one of the streaming platform’s popular series was allegedly based on the story of a real murder committed by a black youth, but in the film his role was played by a white-skinned artist. We checked whether these accusations are justified.
Similar publications about the controversial casting have spread widely in the Russian-language segment of Telegram. For example, the channel "Dvach” (308,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) presented the news as follows: “The mini-series “Adolescence” about a 13-year-old killer, played by a white actor, was released on Netflix. At the same time, the plot of the series is based on the real events of 2017, when 17-year-old black Hassan Sentamu stabbed 15-year-old Elianne Andam during a quarrel over a teddy bear. Hassan was sentenced to life imprisonment a week ago. Netflix classic." Moreover, some sources call the British killer African American.
Similar posts were released by the channels “Ax+"(2.1 million views), "Ax Live"(687,000), "First People's"(99,000), 1337 (86,000) and others, including Ukrainian-speaking ones - for example, “All-Seeing Eye: Ukraine"(280,000). In addition, public pages on VKontakte write about this, including Marvel/DC: Geek Movies (53,000 views) and MovieBlog (22,000), as well as X users, such as project Ateo Breaking* (36,000).
"Awkward age"(in some translations "Teenager") is a British miniseries consisting of four episodes and released on Netflix on March 13, 2025. In the story, police arrest 13-year-old Jamie Miller on suspicion of murdering his classmate Katie Leonard. The series became a hit - in its first four days looked more than 24 million times.
The basis for publications that the creators of “Coming of Age” allegedly transferred to the screen a specific story involving a black criminal is a tweet from Irish far-right blogger Keith Woods, a screenshot of which is cited by the authors of many Russian-language publications. March 19 Woods wrote in X: “Here's how Netflix portrays a 13-year-old knife killer in the UK. The second image is the person it is based on.” The blogger's post received more than 19 million views. Woods provided a frame with the actor for comparison. Owen Cooper, who played the role of Jamie Miller, and a screenshot notes BBC with a photo of Hassan Sentamu, accused of real murder.
Later, with the words “For those who think that this is not true, here are the words of the creator of the series,” the blogger posted a screenshot of a note that says: “Then there was another girl in South London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop.” [Co-writer and co-star Stephen] Graham cites the tragic death of 15-year-old schoolgirl Elianne Andam, who was killed by Hassan Sentamu after she got off a bus near the Whitgift Center on her way to Old Palace of John Whitgift School in Croydon on September 27, 2023." "Verified" found that Woods referred to the publication Surrey Live, and that, in turn, retold Graham's interview on Radio Times.
Woods appears to have (intentionally or not) ignored other statements from the co-creator of the series, which were quoted on both Surrey Live and the Radio Times. Even the beginning of the sentence, “Then there was another girl,” implies that Graham most likely mentioned other incidents before this. “Personally, I came up with the idea after an incident that happened in Liverpool, where a young girl was stabbed to death by a boy. I thought: why? - he recalled. Graham continued: “Then there was another girl in South London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop. And in the north, there was a case when a girl, Brianna Jai, was lured to a park by two teenagers, and then stabbed to death. I just thought: what's the matter? What's going on?
Graham, who has two teenage children of his own, says he was determined from the start that the show shouldn't play on stereotypes. “I wanted him (the main character - editor's note) to be a child from the working class, with hardworking parents. So that his mother was not an alcoholic, his father was not cruel, and his uncle did not molest him. I didn't want there to be a reason where we could say, "Oh, well, that's the culprit here." I think we are all responsible to some extent. We just wanted to bring it out into the open, ask the question "Why?" and see what comes of it. And if it sparks discussion in homes where whole families watch this series, our goal will be achieved.”
In an interview with Sky News, Graham told almost the same thing: “I read an article about a young girl who was stabbed to death by a young guy. Then, a few months later, the news showed a young girl being brutally stabbed to death by a young guy in a completely different part of the country. Frankly, it hurt my heart and I just thought, why? Why do these things happen? What kind of society is this? Why have we gotten to this point where these things happen? What is the reason? According to him, the series does not answer these questions, but poses another for society: how can these growing “misogynistic tendencies” be suppressed?
That is, the co-author of the project has repeatedly said that he was inspired to create the series by several unrelated murders of girls in the UK, but the plot itself is not based on any of them (this confirms and Netflix, and the director of the series Philip Barantini). Graham mentioned at least three such crimes in various interviews.
When the co-author of Coming of Age spoke about the girl stabbed to death in Liverpool, he most likely meant the murder of a 12-year-old Ava White, which occurred on November 25, 2021. The 14-year-old boy reportedly stabbed her in the neck after an argument over a Snapchat video. According to the young man, he did this by accident, exceeding the limits of self-defense. The name of the killer has not been disclosed for legal reasons, but it is known that in July 2022 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with permission to seek parole after 13 years.
Graham also mentioned the story of a 16-year-old transgender girl Brianna Jai, who was killed on February 11, 2023 in Warrington, Cheshire. 15-year-olds Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe lured her to a park where they stabbed Jai 28 times. In February 2024, Jenkinson and Ratcliffe sentenced to life imprisonment, they will be able to request parole after 22 years and 20 years, respectively.
The girl who was stabbed to death at a bus stop in South London was named Elianne Andam. She was killed on September 27, 2023 at the age of 15. 17-year-old Hassan Sentamu was found guilty - he had a romantic relationship with his girlfriend Elianne (her name has not been disclosed), and after breaking up, the young man agreed to meet to return things, including a teddy bear. However, Sentamu came with a knife and, during an argument, stabbed the friend of his former lover. On March 13, 2025, the day of the premiere of “Coming of Age,” his sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of imprisonment of 23 years.
Although viral publications say that it was this story that was filmed by the creators of “Adolescent Age”, between the circumstances of the two crimes, real and serial, there are a lot of differences. For example, the first happened in the morning at a bus stop in south London, the second - late in the evening in a parking lot in an unnamed city (the official accompanying the detained protagonist introduces himself as an employee of the Doncaster social service, but in this city and its environs, Verified did not find the place names later mentioned in the interrogation scene). The real murder had witnesses, thanks to which the criminal was detained an hour and a half later, when he was driving home, but in the series, the killer, who stabbed the girl to death during a one-on-one meeting, was identified from the cameras and arrested at his home only the next morning. Finally, Sentamu was 17 years old at the time of the murder of his victim, and the main character of “Adolescence” was only 13. In an interview with the director of the series clarified, that they wanted to cast a 13-year-old actor in the role.
Compared to other viral publications, the post of the English-speaking right-wing blogger Ian Miles Chong is noteworthy. On March 20 on the social network X he wrotethat “Coming of Age” is a series about a British killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus (apparently available referring to Sentamu) and that the show's plot is based on real events such as the Southport murder. Chong emphasized that the authors deliberately cast a white actor in the role of a dark-skinned guy/migrant, and called it absolute anti-white propaganda. The tweet received 4.5 million views. Among others his commented billionaire Elon Musk, who wrote “Wow.”
At the same time, the attack in Southport could not in any way affect the plot of “Coming of Age”. By words Barantini, preparation for filming began in February 2024, in March took place announcement of the future series, from June passed rehearsals, and the filming process started no later than July 18. Attack to a dance studio in Southport in western Britain happened 11 days later. On July 29, a teenager armed with a knife broke into a dance class, where he stabbed three girls (they were six, seven and nine years old) and wounded ten more people. Soon it became knownthat the 17-year-old detainee is not a refugee from the Middle East, as many right-wing bloggers reported on social networks, but a son of Rwandan immigrants who was born and raised in the UK. However, the attack caused riots and anti-Muslim pogroms throughout the country. It later became known that the name of the attacker at the dance studio was Axel Rudakubana. In January 2025 he was sentenced to life imprisonment, he will be able to ask for early release only after 52 years.
Thus, “Coming of Age” is not based on any specific murder story, so accusations against the creators of the series, who allegedly specifically invited a white rather than a black actor to play the main role, are in this sense unfounded.
*Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation contributed the Ateo project to the register of “foreign agents”.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / Netflix / Metropolitan Police
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