'Please, help us make this book' - Adolescence star Stephen Graham calls for dads to write letters to their sons about what it means to be a man

When it was released earlier this year, Netflix's Adolescence became a cultural phenomenon. The unflinching look at the rising problem of toxic masculinity and violence against women was something the world needed to see.

The show went on to clean up at awards ceremonies, with breakout star Owen Cooper making Emmy history by becoming the youngest ever actor to win the accolade for best supporting actor in a limited series.

Conversations even extended to parliament, with Keir Starmer meeting with the show's creators to discuss the online radicalisation of boys.

In the wake of important discussions surrounding the show, Stephen Graham is to keep them going with his new global project. "After Adolescence, I realised how little space there often is for fathers and sons to talk openly about what it means to be a man today," he says in a recent YouTube video.

The actor is therefore asking fathers from all over the world to write to their sons about what it means to be a man. The letters will be compiled in to a book about masculinity to be published by Bloomsbury next October, titled Letters to Our Sons.

Letters to Our Sons | book by Stephen Graham & Orly Klein - YouTube

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Stephen will work with psychology lecturer Orly Klein on the project, as he stresses the importance of the book in the midst of an "even bigger disconnect between fathers and sons than ever before."

Alongside fathers from around the world, Stephen will be making his own contribution to the book, as well as other high profile dads.

Anybody wishing to take part has until January 12, 2026 to submit their letter, which can be done through the Letters to Our Sons website.

If you're wondering whether there's any criteria to take part, Stephen shares that anyone who is a father in any way can be a part of the project.

"We want to hear from men of all ages," he says. The actor adds, "first-time fathers, absent fathers, fathers who’ve been there but never truly been there, fathers who’ve lost and fathers who just want to find a way to say I love you, to tell their sons what they mean to them and to talk openly about what it means to be a man."

Explaining further about the origins of the book's concept, Orly Klein shares the inspiration behind it.

The psychologist says that for her own son's 13th birthday, she "asked a load of men who we loved and admired to write him a letter on what they believe makes a good man, and what they wished they'd known when they were younger.

"And we ended up with all these amazing letters full of nuggets of wisdom, and life lessons for him to carry through now for the rest of his life in becoming a man."

While the lessons we can all learn from Adolescence remain at the forefront of the public's minds, projects such as this will keep them there.

As part of their work on the book, Stephen Graham and Orly Klein will make a donation for every letter published. These will go to the charity MANUP? and the social enterprise Dad La Soul.

Both of these organisations offer help to young men struggling with mental health.

All episodes of Adolescence are available to watch now on Netflix.