You might know him as sulky teenager Jake in BBC's Outnumbered, the long-running sitcom that came to a close back in March after a seven-year run, but now Tyger Drew-Honey has made steps into the documentary film world – starting with a film about porn.
It's not a totally random subject for the 18 year old to broach for his first film (Tyger's got a series of three films coming up on BBC3) as soon as you know who Tyger's parents are. Ever hear of Ben Dover, Britain's most famous porn star? Yeah. That's Tyger's dad. And his mum? That'd be Linzi Drew, a former Page 3 girl-turned-editor of soft-porn title Penthouse, before being jailed along for distributing pornography along with Ben (real name Simon). So, just your average childhood for Tyger then.
We sat down with Tyger Drew Honey to talk about what it was like growing up with parents in the porn industry and how his generation are being affected by having porn on tap.
The Debrief: Hi Tyger! How come you decided to focus on porn for your first documentary?
Tyger Drew-Honey: Hi! It’s a hot topic at the moment and does need to be addressed. Also, because of my upbringing, I felt I had things I had to say about it. It just seemed really logical.
**DB: Can you explain a little bit about how you think porn's changed for your generation?
**TDH: Before everyone had a smartphone, people would have had to go to somewhere like Soho, go into a sex shop, show ID (you’d have to be of age) and then buy a DVD that you’d then watch for the next six months. Nowadays, as soon as someone’s got a smartphone – and you’ve got plenty of 10 year olds with a smartphone – they can just search stuff on their phone and there’s potentially hundreds of thousands of videos of hardcore pornography for them to sift through and watch. A lot of people are watching this amount of porn who aren’t yet sexually active and haven’t had any sex education. It’s the first generation that has that kind of access. It’s definitely going to be warped by it.
A lot of people are watching this amount of porn who aren’t yet sexually active and haven’t had any [sex education](http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/2014/01/campaigners-calling-for-sex-education-to-include-porn-and-sexting)
DB: There's a really awful scene in your documentary, where you speak to a girl who was abused by her boyfriend after he became addicted to porn…
TDH: Exactly, yeah, and she didn’t even see herself as his victim. She saw them both as porn’s victim.
DB: So how were your dad's films different to what you can watch online now?
TDH: He belongs to a different generation of porn stars. In the past, porn films were more real sex in real-ish situations. Nowadays, it’s not representative of sex at all, just very weird situations. Because things are getting more extreme in the porn videos we’re seeing, people think that those things are normal and taking them out into the real world.
DB: Do you think that the porn industry has become less responsible for its actions then?
TDH: I wouldn't say that it's less responsible. But I would say that people have got a taste for certain things over time due to over exposure, and that's kind of the dangerous thing.
**DB: You and your dad talk quite openly in the documentary – were your parents quite open about what they did when you were growing up?
**TDH: Pretty much, it was always explained to me euphemistically. It was never like they sat me down and told me outright. But I was never confused about anything and, as I got older, my understanding of it just kind of grew in its complexity, but I always sort of knew what they did.
Because things are getting more extreme in the porn videos we’re seeing, people think that those things are normal
DB: So were you the first kid at school to know what sex was?
TDH: Maybe in the sense that I had some sort of preconception of what ‘special hugs’ or ‘kissy kissy’ meant. You know, that men and women could have this kind of intimacy. But I think it I found out what sex was at the same sort time that most of my other peers did actually!
DB: Did everything click into place suddenly?
TDH: No, it was so seamless in the process. As I start gaining that understanding, it very slowly started coming to a realisation. I don’t ever remember thinking, 'Oh, wow, that’s what they do.' I just remember over time just gradually gaining more understanding about it.
DB: There's a really brilliant bit in the film, where you go and meet a webcam girl and she turns the camera on you. How do you think you fared?!
TDH: It’s a bit weird! It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I did manage get into it! I'm up for anything. It was fun and it was definitely interesting to see what it was like in a very weird way!
Tyger Takes On Porn is on BBC3 on Thursday 15th May at 9pm.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.