Consent: the teen drama that's got London talking

Channel 4's controversial show gives a shocking insight into the so-called 'rape culture' in schools — is it as true to life as young people say, and should it be shown in schools as a warning of what can go wrong? Katie Strick reports

- Katie Strick

WHEN Channel 4's new rape culture drama Consent popped up on Tarana Choudhury's TV recommendations on Saturday, she knew it was going to be a tough watch.

Even still, the mother-of-two was horrified by what she saw. Teens masturbating together to violent porn; schoolboys peer-pressured into filming their sexual encounters; and girls being slut-shamed after being assaulted. At the centre of the show: private school "golden boy" Archie, who films himself having sex with his classmate Natalie while she is almost comatose from alcohol, before sharing the video on a WhatsApp group.

Sitting with her husband on the sofa, Choudhury, 52, felt sick to think their daughter Zaara, 16, could be going through such scenarios at parties. "I found it really alarming," she says. "You can almost see who's who [in the show] within [Zaara's and her sister Tamara's, 19] friendship groups. The moment I decided both my girls need to watch it is when Natalie and her friend are geting ready [to go out] and doing their own little videos. Having two daughters, it's exactly what they do. Taking videos, doing selfies... this is very real."

Zaara, a year 12 student, sat down to watch the programme the next evening and Choudhury says the most shocking part of her reaction was that she wasn't surprised. "It was almost too believable - that's what made it really horrifying," says Zaara. "It's not often as a teenager you see a show that feels that real."

Zaara and her mother can hardly be alone in suddenly having candid conversations around the dinner table this half term. The same questions are dominating parents' WhatsApp groups: Have you seen Consent? Have you spoken to your kids about it? Did you know things were this bad?