ITV, Jeff Pope Team On Social Media Child Drama
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- ITV is teaming with Oscar-nominee Jeff Pope on an as-yet-untitled drama about social media's impact on children, with the broadcaster saying it will examine "the extent to which technology companies are able to evade responsibility and scrutiny"
- Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Julian 'Jools' Sweeney died in April 2022 after what his family describes as a typical day playing with friends, is consulting on the series; Roome has spent four years campaigning because the family has no access to her son's social media accounts
- Lauren Cowell, partner of Simon Cowell, brought the idea to ITV after campaigning alongside Roome and serves as an executive producer on the series
- The drama comes from Pope's Etta Pictures (backed by ITV Studios) in association with documentary indie Featuristic Films, which had been developing it with Roome
- The greenlight lands a month after UK PM Keir Starmer announced a full social media ban for under-16s and details of a midnight curfew for older teens, with ITV calling the series a story about "the devastating global impact of social media on children"
- This is ITV's first major greenlight since Sky officially confirmed last week that it is acquiring the 70-year-old broadcaster
Why it matters: ITV lands a high-profile campaigning drama in the same fortnight the UK government fast-tracks an under-16s social media ban and a teen curfew, putting bereaved families — whose private access to their children's accounts has been blocked by tech firms — directly into the regulatory debate.
