Curfew – is there a radical fix for violence against women?

Would a curfew for men lead to less violence against women and girls?

That’s the provocative question at the heart of Curfew, the new drama series on Paramount+.

Set in a dystopian future, the show imagines a society where all men live under The Women’s Safety Act and are subjected to a government-imposed curfew from 19:00 to 07:00, with their movements tracked 24/7 by ankle tags.

The goal? To drastically reduce violence against women.

However, as the series unfolds, the discovery of a murdered woman during curfew hours casts doubt on the effectiveness of the policy, raising broader questions about the limits of such measures.

The show, which is based on the novel After Dark by Jayne Cowie, follows Helen, a local teacher who is played by Alexandra Burke.

Known for her musical talents since her X Factor days, Burke takes on a more serious role as a complex character who doesn’t always make the right decisions.

“There’s a lot of fear you feel from just being a woman sometimes,” Burke says.

“I definitely thought it would be a conversation starter – there will be plenty of people who agree and plenty who disagree with it [a curfew on men].

“You really can’t tar every man with the same brush, not every man is going to be a danger to women – so that’s why it’s a fantastic concept [for a TV show].”

Curfew aims to delve into this conflict, questioning whether surface-level solutions can genuinely address the deep-rooted complexities of gender-based violence.

Veteran police officer Pamela Green, played by Sarah Parish, is determined to bring the perpetrator of the murder to justice.

But with societal assumptions placing men at the centre of violent crime, she faces scepticism from colleagues who challenge the notion that only men can be violent.

Executive producer Nathalie Peter-Contesse explains the creators’ vision: “The show is trying to shift the responsibility of the safety of women on to men and the government.

“What would it look like if for once women didn’t have to look over their shoulder? If they didn’t have to make sure they weren’t out late at night?

“[In real life] there is an effective curfew on women because if we go out alone after midnight and something happens to us, people say ‘what was she doing?’

“This is an issue that plagues society that shows no sign of being fixed.”

She adds: “It’s interesting to see how much men would be willing to sacrifice their own freedoms and quality of life to protect their wives and daughters.”