Month: March 2025

The former UFC star, 36, has even given the powers that be a 12-day deadline to ‘present a clear plan of action’ as he pushes for immigration reform in his nation.

And if the government don’t bend to his will, McGregor appeared to threaten to use his new-found friendship with Donald Trump to force their hand.

The Irishman was in the White House earlier this week for a St Patrick’s Day (17 March) sit down with the US President.

It came a week after taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin made the trip to Washington to talk with Trump – who revealed that he has a soft spot for McGregor during the meeting.

“I do happen to like your fighter,” he told Martin in reference to the sportsman. “He’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen. Conor’s great.”

These compliments seemingly went straight to McGregor’s head, as he decided to pop on his political hat and dish out some fighting talk for Martin’s government during his White House visit.

He told Trump that politicians in Ireland have ‘abandoned the voices of the people’, complaining that there was ‘zero action with zero accountability’ and claiming there is an ‘illegal immigration racket running ravage’.

“We consider America our big sibling,” McGregor said. “We wish to be taken care of by the big bro. You know, the United States should look after its little bro.”

Politicians in the Emerald Isle quickly made it clear that the MMA star isn’t a mouthpiece for the country, with Martin taking to X to state that McGregor’s ‘remarks are wrong’.

He went on to say that they ‘do not reflect the spirit of St Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland’, while MP Colum Eastwood added: “He doesn’t represent the Irish people. In fact, we’re all pretty embarrassed by him.”

McGregor, who has declared he may run for President in Ireland later this year, then shared a scathing social media statement in response last night (19 March) calling out the ‘government elite’ and their ‘deflection tactics’.

Sharing a snap of him and Trump, he wrote on Instagram: “Ad hominem style attacks against me coming in hot by Ireland’s government elite. Classic, and glaringly obvious to everyone, deflection tactics.

“What is your response / plan of action to the issues I raised? Ireland wants to know. America wants to see!

“Chip,chop now fellas, don’t make me keep going,” McGregor wrote. “Do what you’re told by the people of Ireland and we will have no issue here. Do not and it’s over for you.”

McGregor then went on to say that he doesn’t mind going over Martin’s head to get his demands met.

“I will publicly send my orders for you to implement and mark my words it will be made to be done,” his statement continued.

“You have Twelve Days to present a clear plan of action, on 1. Dismantling Irelands human trafficking racket.

“2. Mass deportation of dangerous, criminal, and radicalised imports, as well as all who entered illegally, as well as all who are a strain on our welfare system who have made no effort to secure employment or assimilate with Irish culture and values.

“3. Stringent border protection adjustments to stop this from ever happening again.

“Be the hero here and save yourselves, and save Ireland, or my direct plan of action that Ireland and America wishes to see implemented will come in on White House paper attached with my signature.”

It seems that he believes his words might have more clout thanks to his alliance with Trump, who takes a notoriously tough stance on immigration.

If these threats don’t trigger the response he wants, it appears as though he plans to call the President in for back up and get the US to intervene. Bonkers, we know.

Appearing to announce his run for Ireland’s President in September last year, McGregor said: “I am the only logical choice. 2025 is coming.”

He has since promised that if he was in power, he would ‘have all the answers the people of Ireland seek from these thieves of the working man, these disrupters of the family unit, these destructors of small businesses’.

But what do we know about the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT)? How many people does it hold, what are the conditions like, and what can the inmates do while they are there?

What are conditions in CECOT like?

Few people have been inside the CECOT and been able to share their experiences, so it is thanks to CNN journalist David Culver that we are able to see the conditions inside the prison, which is reportedly able to hold as many as 40,000 inmates.

Culver visited the prison and spoke to prison officers, local police, and even a former gang leader to learn about their experience there. It is immediately obvious that there is little chance of escape due to the numerous security checks and armed officers who patrol the prison floors.

Men are also kept inside large cells which can hold around 80 people, and there isn’t any reason for them to leave, as toilet, washing, and eating facilities are all present in the cell at all times.

Those who misbehave will also be sent to solitary confinement, which is a dark room with just one tiny light from above.

How do the inmates at CECOT spend their time?

The prisoners are let outside of the cell for just 30 minutes per day for exercise, and even legal and doctor visits are conducted inside the prison, meaning that those inside rarely get to see the sun.

Occasionally, more trusted prisoners are treated to motivational talks, where they sit in rows in the corridors outside their cells.

Why is Trump sending prisoners to CECOT?

It’s difficult to ever know for sure why Trump has done something but despite the federal judge ruling against it, the President has gone ahead and sent a reported 238 people from the US to the El Salvador prison.

He has managed to do so after striking a deal with Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, in February. Bukele has also explained that he was willing to take in anyone who is deported from the US.

How many prisoners are there in CECOT?

A figure from 2024 suggests that there were around 15,000 people in the 40,000 capacity prison, which was only built in 2022 as Bukele began his own crackdown on gang crime in El Salvador.

Around 7,000 people are said to have been wrongly imprisoned in CECOT, but given the vast reduction in crime numbers since Bukele took over, it is clear he and his government consider this to be collateral damage.

The prison is the largest in Latin America, and it seems likely that the 238 sent by Trump won’t be the last so-called ‘criminals’ to be deported and holed up in CECOT.

After a nine-month stint on the International Space Station, 59-year-old Suni and fellow Boeing Starliner pilot Butch Wilmore, 61, finally landed back on Earth earlier this week.

Considering the fact that pair were only meant to be in space for around eight days, the nine months away from home and the impromptu addition to the International Space Station crew will have come as a surprise to the pair.

It will also have had a major impact on their bodies.

As you probably already know, living outside of the confines of gravity isn’t just floating around and making sure you don’t spill any liquids – it can actually have a pretty significant impact on your health.

The impact of spending 286 days could be seen in the first photos of Suni after she landed off the coast of Florida, who appeared noticeably thinner and more tired than before.

Suni could be seen shaking hands and greeting various NASA officials alongside Butch and fellow ISS astronauts Alexander Gorbunov and Nick Hague in a new set of photos released by the space agency, with many appearing concerned about her ‘visibly thin’ wrists.

Responding to the images in an interview with MailOnline, Dr Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and Air Force veteran, explained that her thinner appearance was due to the absence of gravity on the ISS, which causes the body’s muscles to atrophy.

“I don’t think people realise that you need gravity to exercise your muscles, and if you don’t have gravity, your muscles have nothing to have resistance against,” he explained.

Bone density loss and muscle atrophy isn’t something which would come as a shock to astronauts, as there is a wealth of research examining their relationship with gravity.

NASA previously explained that for every month spent in space, an astronaut’s bone density drops by about one percent. The human heart also becomes weaker in space, as it doesn’t need to work as hard to pump blood around the body.

Weight loss is also a common side effect from being in space, with Dr John Jaquish adding to the outlet: “Without gravity, you don’t digest food as well. Compromising your ability to digest food is certainly going to contribute to muscle loss and bone loss on its own.”

The impact of spaceflight on the human body does sound pretty traumatic, which is why astronauts will dedicate years of their lives preparing for interstellar travel. NASA also has a comprehensive aftercare protocol in place at Johnson Space Center in Houston in order to make sure astronauts are able to regain their base level of fitness.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a rising number of young people embracing the sobriety, with recent statistics from Drinkaware suggesting that 19 percent of adults choose not to drink, a figure which rises to 26 percent with among young adults.

One person who decided to make the change is former Love Island star turned health influencer Dr Alex George, who has spent the last two years of his life sober.

The 34-year-old now makes regular content about his alcohol-free lifestyle, with a recent YouTube video exploring all the changes you’ll notice after six months without booze.

Here are all the changes which Dr Alex noticed, who explained how this was often a ‘pivotal point’ for people when deciding whether or not to resume drinking.

The physical changes from going sober

One of the biggest changes which Dr Alex noticed after six months was how his physical appearance changed, particularly with his weight.

“The biggest thing for me was that weight was just really falling off,” he explained, adding that two years without drinking saw him lose a whopping ‘six or seven stone’.

“In the first six or so months that weight just poured off. Why? Alcohol is very calorific and it really impacts your decision making around food and exercise.”

The weight loss may also be linked to his increase in ‘physical energy’ levels after quitting booze.

“My capacity to just move and just exist,” he added.

“Six months in, I’m getting, fitter, faster, stronger.”

Half a year without alcohol also saw a positive shift in Dr Alex’s sleep cycle, as well as allowing his organs to ‘recover’, although he does notes that our liver’s ability to recover is ‘overestimated’.

“Six months is a good amount of time for your body to start regenerating.”

The mental and emotional changes of going sober

The physician noted how the mental impacts of ditching the booze can often be harder, with newly sober people having to deal with alcohol cravings and sleep disturbances.

However, this is an important part of the journey.

“Think of it like therapy… in therapy things get worse before they get better,” Dr Alex explained.

“That’s also the process of what happens in the first six months [without] drinking.”

He then went on to add that the three to six-month mark allows you to begin processing how alcohol impacts your emotions as well as developing healthier coping mechanisms.

“At six months you have to want to establish ways of coping,” he said. “It’s a necessary part [but] I don’t think it’s easy.”

The social and lifestyle changes of going sober

Make it to half a year booze-free, and Dr Alex explains that you begin to develop a new identity as a ‘non-drinker’, which allows you to more easily navigate social situations where drinking is commonplace.

He also highlighted how developing your identity as a non-drinker will also allow you develop hobbies and interests outside of knocking back the booze, due to the increased amount of free time.

“You’ve got to create your excitement, that involves getting dopamine in new ways,” he said, suggesting activities such as hiking, running, or going to the theatre.

“You’ve got to create your own highs.”

Inspired by the shocking rise in knife crime amongst young people in the UK, Adolescence tells the story of 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie (Cooper) who is arrested on suspicion of murdering his female classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday).

The following episodes then show Jamie’s parents (Graham and Christine Tremarco) struggle to navigate their new reality as viewers learn what motivated their teenage son to take the life of his classmate.

The series has since shot to the top of Netflix viewing charts, with viewers praising writers Graham and Jack Thorne for shining a light on how easily young people can become radicalised by extremist content online, with Jamie revealed to have visited incel sites.

Observant viewers have also pointed out all of the clever details weaved into the series, which include the emojis which Jamie uses, foreshadowing of his fate in the opening scenes, as well as the reason why his psychologist offers him half of a sandwich in episode three.

However one particular heartbreaking detail has caught one viewer’s attention. Taking to TikTok, @indigoreports pointed out that Holliday’s character actually has a bigger role in the series then we initially realised.

“Throughout the show we don’t ever get to hear from Katie,” she explained. “However the haunting detail is that Katie is actually talking to us throughout the show in her own way.

“That’s because a lot of the songs on the soundtrack are actually sung by Katie herself.”

This wasn’t just a theory. Speaking about the children’s choir we hear covering Sting’s ‘Fragile’ at the end of episode two in a video shared on Instagram by Netflix, Graham said: “The beautiful part of the process is that we used a choir from the actual school [they filmed in] and the kids from that area.

“The girl singing [the final section] is the girl that played the girl that got killed.”

Another goosebump-inducing musical moment comes at the end of the final episode, with ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ by Aurora playing over the series’ closing moments.

Director Philip Barantini explained it’s Holliday’s voice we hear there too.

“The voice in the score is Katie’s voice,” he confirmed in an interview with Tudum. “Katie is a part of the whole series, her presence is always there.”

The director also touched on the decision to use the Norwegian singer-songwriter’s track, which talks about loss and longing for a ‘childlike soul’, in final scene of the series.

Explaining that he’d come across the song after being sent a script for the series, Barantini said: “I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s just absolutely incredible.”

For the last three years, an e-cigarette was never too far from Kallie Banks clutches, as she admits she was ‘completely addicted’ to puffing on them.

She was ‘easily’ blitzing through up to five e-liquids each day, while topping herself up with a lemon and lime flavoured disposable vape as and when she felt like it.

As well as costing her a hell of a lot of money, Kallie told LADbible that this habit was affecting both her physical and mental health, as well as impacting how present she was as a parent.

Despite previously being convinced that she couldn’t make it through an hour, let alone a day, without a vape, it’s now been more than seven weeks since she last took a drag on one. And she’s feeling tons better for it, as Kallie explained that ‘everything is more enjoyable’ now she’s kicked her habit.

The mother-of-two – who shares a six-year-old son and daughter, three, with husband Bobby – recently went viral on TikTok with an emotional video of her discussing her vaping struggle.

Although she usually posts light-hearted content on the social media page (@hanandkal) which she runs with best pal Hannah, Kallie sat down with her more than 6,000 followers to discuss a more serious topic.

In the video, Kallie, from Staffordshire, said she was kicking herself about ever picking up a vape, fearing it ‘could have knocked years off her life’ and ultimately cut her time with her two beloved children short.

“What breaks my heart is that I’ve got two young kids and I just think…what a stupid girl I was,” she said in the candid clip – which has racked up over 164,000 views – while fighting back tears.

“I’ve come to a point in my life where I really want to take care of myself I want to be there for my kids, hopefully grandkids one day.”

It’s a feeling which a lot of people will be able to relate too – and although the 28-year-old wishes she’d stopped vaping sooner, she acknowledges that she really was dependent on it.

“I genuinely, hand on heart, didn’t think that I could live without it,” Kallie told LADbible. “I was that addicted to it. It was the first thing I thought of in the morning. I was desperate for the nicotine.

“I felt like I had a vape more than I had oxygen. That’s how ridiculous it was. I used to be at soft plays with the kids and all I could think about was going for a vape.”

Kallie confessed she would even nip out for a drag on an e-cig while working out at the gym whenever she got a craving, before resuming her workout – albeit a bit breathlessly.

“The amount of times that I would puff and puff and puff away and think, ‘Yeah, I feel better’,” she recalled. “Then ten minutes later, you feel worse for it. I don’t know why I did it.”

Considering Kallie only use to smoke cigarettes socially on the odd occasion, she was shocked when she became ‘instantly hooked’ on vaping from the moment she first tried it in 2022.

It’s a slippery slope which a lot of Brits are all too familiar with – and although vapes were initially touted as a safer alternative to smoking, recent research suggests otherwise.

A bombshell study by experts at Manchester Metropolitan University indicates that the latter is a lot worse for your health, despite the NHS previously describing vapes as ‘substantially less harmful than smoking’.

“It was in my hand, in my mouth, continuously,” Kallie said. “I’m embarrassed by it. Who wants that? Who wants to be addicted to something that’s so s**t for you? My poor lungs!”

Despite being well aware of the damage that vapes can cause, the mum said she simply ‘didn’t even care’ at the time as she simply ‘enjoyed it too much’.

Kallie admitted that she ‘didn’t support’ the disposable vape ban which is coming into force from June, as she thought people should be allowed to make their own choices.

But she’s now done a complete U-turn after stopping vaping, as she said: “I think [the ban] needs to come in right now. I cannot imagine these poor kids who are just sucking on it because it’s fashionable or cool. It really upsets me.”

A rude awakening later managed to jolt Kallie to her senses and encourage her to cut vaping out for good.

The mum explained that she recently needed to undergo an emergency colonoscopy as doctors began ‘investigating her for cancer’.

Kallie said: “And that made me think, ‘f**king hell, I’m 28-years-old and I’m being investigated for this?’ I’m almost certain it’s not going to be that, but god forbid if it was.

“But they could have been investigating my lungs. I haven’t done anything to my bowel to cause that issue, but why am I giving my body a reason to have these issues?

“We literally do live once, I think people think they’ve got nine lives like a cat. I’ve always had bowel issues anyway, but I just think, I’ve been doing something that could have been impacting my health so much.”

Although a lot of parents reckon their vapes keep them sane, in hindsight, Kallie believes that she was almost blowing things out of proportion just so she had an excuse to reach for hers.

She continued: “What I was doing was thinking, ‘This is a really stressful situation right now, I need a vape’. But it was actually just a marginally stressful situation and I’d be going for the vape.

“It was ridiculous. I just think I was pathetic. Stop making excuses for yourself, because you’re making excuses to live a shorter life.”

Kallie explained she wasn’t ‘even thinking’ about her vape these days after her third week of going cold turkey – which is a seriously mean feat, considering it used to be pretty much surgically attached to her.

Now, more than seven weeks on, e-cigarettes no longer cross her mind.

“I did struggle with like car journeys and stuff, but not now,” she said. “Because the withdrawal was so bad for me, it made me realise what I was doing to my body.

“That made me not want to pick it up even more because why is my body that reliant? Why is my body struggling so much after coming off it? It’s because I’ve been pumping it into my body for years and it’s not good stuff.”

Thankfully, Kallie says her body is now getting ‘back to normal’, although she believes she will continue to see benefits from giving up vaping for the next year or so.

“I just feel so happy I’m not doing it anymore,” she added. “I can breathe, I can appreciate air, I can appreciate smells again. Normally, I wouldn’t even be able to smell because I’d have a vape in my mouth.”

Aged just 41, the singer sadly took his own life in July 2017, and did not leave a suicide note.

Bennington, who would have been 49 today, is widely considered to be one of the most influential musical figures of his generation, with his unique voice setting the tone for nu-metal and alternative rock bands in the 2000s.

But even today, almost eight years after his passing, the messages around his death are amplified by those closer to him, as they highlight how important mental health really is.

The Linkin Park vocalist married former Playboy bunny Talinda Bentley in 2006, with the couple having three children together.

To this day, Talinda has been raising awareness of the importance of mental health, and how people can go under the radar when it comes to their wellbeing.

She took to X back in 2017, posting: “My next tweet is the most personal tweet I have ever done. I’m showing this so that you know that depression doesn’t have a face or a mood.”

Talinda then posted a 40-second video of Bennington with their children, laughing and playing a game.

The musician seemed to be having a Bean Boozled jelly bean, not knowing its flavour, along with his son and another close friend/family member, as his son explained to the camera: “This is chocolate pudding, or canned dog food!”

In a hilarious and wholesome moment, it looks like all three of them got the latter flavour, as Bennington was particularly more animated while coughing, to the amusement of his family.

The video was captioned: “This is what depression looked like to us just 36 hrs b4 his death. He loved us SO much & we loved him. #f***depression #MakeChesterProud.’”

Following his tragic passing, Talinda said that he was now ‘pain free’.

In a statement at the time, she said: “He was a bright, loving soul with an angel’s voice. And now he is pain free, singing his songs in all of our hearts. May God bless us all and help us turn to one another when we are in pain.

“Chester would’ve wanted us to do so. Rest In Peace, my love.”

Fans took to the comments of the video to share their support for Talinda and Bennington, with one writing: “Thanks for sharing this and thanks for speaking out to help people understand more about mental illness and depression. I’m so so sorry”

Another said: “Huge respect for everything you have been doing Talinda to help steer the world in the direction of achieving global empathy. Much love <3”

A third added: “When I watch this its hard to believe he was suffering at all. Just goes to show we never know what’s happening inside a person’s mind.”

Karen Kennerley, a 57-year-old from Lancashire, has been told by the NHS that palliative chemo, which focuses on prolonging life instead of curing the cancer.

However, the teacher is determined to keep fighting and is hoping to raise £30k to cover the cost of TACE (trans arterial chemoembolization), a potentially life-saving cancer treatment which is offered in Germany.

Sadly, tragic cancer diagnoses are far too common and frustratingly the disease is often hard to detect and doesn’t present symptoms until it has developed to a life-threatening point.

While some with stage four bowel cancer present symptoms such as intense stomach cramping pains and blood in their stool, it was actually something very different which led Karen to get herself checked out by the docs.

She first visited her GP in December 2022 after struggling with fatigue but after a full blood count, her signs of tiredness were simply put down to her working full-time as a teacher in a special educational needs school.

Karen eplained: “The scary thing is, I had no symptoms apart from a bit of fatigue. I worked in a small school for SEN pupils, I was working really hard at the time – I was exhausted.

“I went to my GP, who ran some blood tests, and referred me for a FIT test and then I was referred for a colonoscopy in January 2023.

“Everyone was telling me I was fit and healthy, that there was nothing to worry about but they were doing the tests to rule things out.”

Unfortunately for the mother-of-two, medics discovered a tumour during the colonoscopy.

A major surgery followed in June 2023 to remove the tumour as well as part of her large intestine, before eight rounds of chemotherapy. But by March 2024, she was rushed back to hospital and told that the cancer had progressed to stage four where she was told that palliative cancer treatments were now the only thing she could be offered through the NHS.

Karen added: “I was devastated from being told that I was benign to then being told I have stage three colon cancer.

“There were so many emotions – I was obviously devastated and then horrifically scared.”

However, the teacher has been offered hope after undergoing three cancer treatments in Germany for the hefty price of £35k, but she has now run out of money and is desperately trying to fundraise the rest in order to give her the best chance of survival.

Karen concluded: “The results I have had so far show that the tumours have shrunk nicely but I still need further treatment.

“I have had three rounds so far and I am now out of money.

“The mental torment is horrendous, worrying about not working, worrying about how I will fund the treatment.

“I am on statutory sick pay which runs out at the beginning of April.

“People with stage four cancer feel totally abandoned, I want to change that, not only for me but for everyone else going through this.”

But why is Brad Pitt’s name popping up in the credits?

Adolescence stars newbie actor Owen Cooper who takes on the role of 13-year-old murder suspect Jamie Miller.

Jamie is arrested at his parents’ home, as Stephen Graham plays the father Eddie Miller, while Top Boy star Ashley Walters is tasked with taking him down as detective Luke Bascombe.

With a 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, critics have called it ‘masterful’ and ‘flawless’.

Having watching the series, however, fans have been ‘caught off guard’ after catching the Fight Club actor’s name in the credits.

So Pitt co-founded Plan B Entertainment in 2001, the company who co-produced Adolescence.

But it just so happens that the award-winning movie star is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations.

Viewers were clearly not aware, as one person tweeted: “Produced by Brad Pitt on Adolescence caught me off guard.

“#Adolescence named on the credits was a Brad Pitt. Was it THE Brad Pitt or someone of the same name?” a second penned.

Another added: “Seeing Brad Pitt executive producer credit on Adolescence.”

So, Plan B Entertainment was founded by Pitt, his then-wife Jennifer Anniston and his manager Brad Grey.

Pitt became the sole owner of the company following his divorce from Aniston, as Grey left to become CEO of Paramount Pictures.

In late 2022, French company Mediawan acquired a majority stake in Plan B Entertainment after the actor sold 60 percent of his holdings.

Notably, the company has produced a number of hit films, including The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight.

This comes after Adolescence director Philip Barantini told Radio Times that ‘Brad was on the phone with us and he was so enthusiastic’.

Barantini is a long collaborator with Graham after the pair worked on Boiling Point together, filmed all in one shot.

And this was the case with Adolescence, as writer Jack Thorne insisted how the single camera impacted the storyline.

He told 5Live: “As a writer you have to think about corridors, you have to think about staircases, you have to think about all of those technical things.

“You also can’t tell all the story. So you are telling an incomplete story, because there is only so much you can see in an hour.

“So Jamie’s legal process, anything that the family is doing in terms of mourning the loss of Katie – any of these things you can’t cut to. And so you are sort of stuck in something and that forces you to be partial, and it forces you to be incomplete.”

Released on the streaming platform last week, the four-part drama is currently receiving praise from both fans and critics for tackling the heartbreaking subject of rising knife crime amongst young people.

Adolescence stars newcomer Owen Cooper as troubled teenage boy Jamie Miller, who is arrested after stabbing a female classmate and explores the impact which it has on his parents (Graham and Christine Tremarco).

The series is currently number one on Netflix’s ‘Most Viewed’ programmes, with several viewers pointing out the details masterfully weaved into the episodes.

The significance of Jamie’s sandwich

In the third episode, we see Jamie be handed half of a cheese and pickle sandwich, as well as a vending machine hot chocolate with marshmallows, by child psychologist Briony (played by The Crown’s Erin Doherty) after she arrives to interview him at the young offenders facility.

The interaction was one which stuck in viewer’s minds, particularly as Jamie had previously mentioned that he didn’t like pickles, prompting plenty of discussion amongst viewers.

According to psychologist Dannielle Haig, the decision to hand the teenager a sandwich containing an ingredient he didn’t like was a deliberate move to gauge his character and responses.

“The half-sandwich, particularly the fact that it contains something Jamie dislikes, could be a way of testing his response,” Haig explained to Tyla. “If he simply tolerates it without complaint, it may suggest a history of feeling powerless and being accustomed to having things done to him rather than for him.

“If he refuses it outright, it might indicate defiance or a need to exert control in a situation where he has very little power.”

Episode one foreshadows Jamie’s guilt

Viewers are introduced to Jamie and his family in episode one when armed police officers burst into the family home to arrest him on suspicion of killing his female classmate, Katie.

Moments before the teenager is taken into custody, viewers see the 13-year-old hold out his arms, with one hand hovering above a tear in his wallpaper which resembles the blade of a knife.

The moment is unlikely to catch the attention of viewers upon first viewing but would appear to foreshadow the outcome of the series, which sees Jamie admit to stabbing Katie.

The significance of episode four’s closing scene

In the final episode of Adolescence, which takes place 13 months after the first three, Eddie receives a phone call from his son to inform him that he’ll be pleading guilty in court.

A heartbroken Eddie then walks into his son’s bedroom and picks up one of Jamie’s teddies, before saying: “I’m sorry, son. I should have done better.”

Meanwhile Aurora’s song ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ plays in the background, which also features actress Emilia Holliday (Katie) singing over.

Explaining the decision to include the track alongside Holliday’s vocals, director Philip Barantini explained to Tudum that it was important to have Katie’s presence felt throughout the series.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he told Tudum. “It’s just absolutely incredible. The voice in the score is Katie’s voice. Katie is a part of the whole series. Her presence is always there.”