The television series "End of the F***ing World" follows two teenage outsiders, James and Alyssa, as they go on a road trip across England. James believes he is a psychopath while Alyssa wants to escape her troubled home life. The series explores their developing relationship and addresses issues like mental health, technology use, and family dynamics among modern youth. It also portrays some law enforcement in a sympathetic light toward teenagers' struggles. Overall, the show aims to subvert stereotypes about today's teens while highlighting real problems they may face internally or externally.

1. END OF THE F***ING
WORLD

2. WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
• End of the f***ing world is a drama television Programme which follows James,
who is 17, and Alyssa. James believes that he is a psychopath and Alyssa is a
classmate of James and sees him as a way to escape her home life. They are both
opposite to the normal stereotype of a teenager, being revolved around
technology, which gives the show a retro feel and expresses that you do not need
to constantly spend time on phones. They go on a road trip across England and
develop a relationship after a variety of problems. James goes on the road trip as
he sees an opportunity to kill and imagines doing so throughout the time they
spend together. Both Alyssa and James are shown as outsiders and observers
instead of the ’normal’ popular high school kids.

3. WHAT CHANNEL IS THIS SERIES ON?
• End of the f***ing world is aired on Channel 4 and was co-produced with
Netflix who released this internationally. With it being firstly released on
Channel 4 and it being a British television Programme it focused on the
representations of these youths and was a way to show how these teenagers
do not conform to the normal stereotype of teenagers being frequently
known to be stuck to electrical devices.
• This series only has one season which includes 8 episodes which are all
around 20 minutes long. It was released to channel 4 in 2017 and was then
shared on Netflix at the beginning of 2018.

4. James
James is presented as a psychopath and the TV Programme shows him as having frequent
thoughts of how and when to kill, as he is known of previously doing so to several animals and
became addicted to this.
James character is use to show that teenagers struggle with mental health issues and many may
not know about this factor with some individuals.
He is considered as weird by others as he doesn’t fit into the social normality of using technology
to constantly communicate but he expresses his thoughts in voice overs throughout the series
which do raise and highlight the issues that teenagers do struggle with daily.
”Dead people are happier than alive people”-James. James could make himself think that due to
this saying, killing Alyssa (as he continuously imagines) would help Alyssa as he starts to care for.
He wants her to be happy and normally just views her as angry, which she is on the outside, but
her real feelings she expresses are scared and worried and wants to feel comforted.

5. Alyssa
Alyssa is a rebellious teenage girl and lives in a family with divorced parents, living with her mum
and step dad. This is to show a normal family situation and the show has an insight to her
thoughts and feelings as a teenage girl who wants to escape a struggling family home life, she
does this by trying to spend more time James.
Her language she uses constantly involves swear words which conforms to the stereotypical
teenager.
She is rebellious and portrays a ‘does not care’ attitude, which many teenagers are considered as
moody and rude. However, with the messages of the series, it shows her struggle within her
home life and that many teenagers are like her and want to take their mind off of what affects
them. This is an issue for Alyssa as not only does she have divorced parents but her stepdad also
tries to ‘touch’ her back, where she is then shown as vulnerable.
Alyssa contributes to the growing factor that teens are now starting to over power the older
generation as she her character is forthright and confident which is not expected of a girl her
age, especially towards people she does not know.

6. CLIP OF JAMES AND ALYSSA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAuGLeJoIM
Within this clip it shows a short scene from one of the episodes in the series that
shows the two main characters, Alyssa and James, as finally opening up their feelings.
Alyssa pleads for James and shows her worried, scared emotion that she portrays in
her head but never in the open. This gives the representation that youths find it
difficult to express themselves in society today despite being around their peers.
Throughout all of this series it very old fashioned also with neither Alyssa or James
using a mobile phone, Alyssa is shown using a telephone box in order to contact her
home and get hold of her mum, and James’ dad has no way of contacting him.
Throughout the series one of the main themes revolves around technology and how
this can affect teens mentally, but the other message is to show that not all teenagers
live on an electrical device and they still do have issues within themselves that are
normally hidden and unknown.

7. Topher
When he is with Alyssa he is still
not the dominating one which is
what was expected of a male in
the media today.
However Alyssa still was making
all of the decisions. Whilst in the
police station his language he uses
is quite limited and basic and
conforms to the stereotype of
teenagers not being as smart and
intelligent anymore. His
vocabulary in his sentences
confuse the detectives and
therefore he comes across as quite
ditsy and unhelpful.
DC Teri Darego + DC Eunice Noon
These are two police detectives in this
series and are shown as sympathizing
with the two teenagers and being
concerned for them. This represents
these adults as how the older
generation should perceive and view
teens today, not every single teenager
conforms to the negative stereotypes.
This compares to the adults in this series
who think the kids are irresponsible
such as Alyssa’s step dad. He is
disrespectful and views them as little
kids who should feel unwanted and
belittles them.

8. Messages … Themes ... Intentions ... Points
- One of the main themes within this series revolves around the use of technology. The teenage stereotype is being stuck to
their mobile phones or device however Alyssa and James are opposite to this and provide an example that not all teenagers
need a mobile phone to communicate or carry out daily tasks.
- Another theme of this is too show that some teenagers put up a guard that hide them true selves. In this case, Alyssa
struggles with her home life and takes it out on those around her by being rude and sarcastic. This is showing that although
some teenagers, whether in or out of school, do have daily struggles despite how they appear on the outside.
- James being presented and even describing himself as a psychopath enhances the theme of mental health and that although
some teenagers are quiet and are just considered boring for not taking part in the normal daily tasks such as joking around
with friends, being loud and taking part in social media, this message shows that he is quiet and keeps him self to himself
because he has out of the ordinary thoughts about killing things and people. This then changes when he finds a comfort and
develops feelings for Alyssa. This is with intention to show that dark thoughts, similar or the same to James, can go away in
time if you seek help or surround yourself with people that help this factor.
- A theme of rape and molesting is slightly touched upon when Alyssa is touched by her step dad and James has his hand forced
down a mans pants in the toilet. This is with the intention that it is okay to speak about issues such as these and it doesn’t
happen between the ‘typical’ opposite gender it can happen between the same sex and between any ages. This is also shown
when Alyssa is almost raped by the owner of the house they stayed in.
- Alyssa just wants to be ‘wanted’ which is what a lot of teenagers want today, this is showing the message that a lot of
teenagers are in the dark. Similar to James’ situation of not feeling anything.

9. Positive Representations
- James is patient and respects his elders which is what is expected of those who are younger.
- Both of the teens are shown cuddling which shows that teenagers are calm and caring about
others and one another despite what their personalities come across like.
- When they dance and close their eyes, James is shown as different to his usual personality and
happy, this is when he escapes his mental thoughts of killing and is shown as enjoying himself.
This shows that his mental health issue is overtime going away as he has a distraction.
- Teenagers can be ‘old-fashioned’. This is shown through the interest of going on walks, being
interested in polaroid images and not using any type of device whilst they run away.

10. Negative Representations
- In the first episode you are shown a scene where all of the teenagers except Alyssa and James
were on their mobiles during their break time which conforms to the stereotype of a teen being
obsessed with technology.
- Alyssa frequently uses swear words in her vocabulary, this is seen as a way of her being
sarcastic and is a part of a front that she puts up in order to protect her from showing her real
emotions; vulnerable and scared of her home life.
- Alyssa is hasty and rude to those her peers and those older than her. She is shown as being
apologetic but can not express her feelings out loud, only in her head to herself.
- Both of the teenagers escape their home life and go against their parents showing that they
don’t care about anything but themselves. They conform to the stereotype of being selfish
and self-absorbed.
- Alyssa drinks alcohol even though she is underage and uses this to escape her thoughts and
rebel once again.
- They murder the gentleman who's house they stay in for a while. This links to the
representation of teenagers being involved with knife crime which is frequently shown with
the media.
- Alyssa continuously thinks and talks about sex. This could be considered a negative