The Guardian

‘I broke out in a cold sweat’: could you stomach seeing your memories of bullying play out on TV?

When Rebecca Starford was 14 she spent a year living in the bush as part of an outdoor education program at her elite boarding school. The bullying she experienced and witnessed there was violent and disturbing, escalating from scathing glances to one girl defiantly setting herself on fire – a dorm full of teenage girls turning into a vicious hunting ground.

Bad Behaviour, Starford’s 2015 memoir, chronicled that year and its impact on her adult relationships. Now the book has been adapted into a four-part Stan miniseries, which unflinchingly brings these events to life and examines the ripple effects of trauma.

“It’s quite an uncanny experience,” the Brisbane-based author says

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