Parents' Guide to Wasteman

Parents need to know that Wasteman is a tense British prison drama centered on Taylor (David Jonsson), who is on the brink of release but has that jeopardized by the arrival of a new, unpredictable cellmate, Dee (Tom Blyth). The threat of violence looms throughout and is intense when it erupts, with characters severely beaten. In one scene a television is used as a weapon, in another a man is stabbed repeatedly, and a character's child is threatened as a means of coercion. Language is very strong throughout, including "f--k" and "c--t." There is a reference to oral sex, and an incarcerated man is shown with pictures of naked women on his cell wall. Drug use is frequent: Taylor is seen snorting a white powder throughout the film, other characters smoke cigarettes, marijuana, and vapes regularly, and one scene depicts an overdose. Taylor is serving time for supplying drugs that caused the deaths of two young men. He shows remorse and is determined to reconnect with his estranged son upon release—a thread that offers some redemptive value amid otherwise bleak material.

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