'Adolescence' is breaking viewing records
The four-part Netflix series, which tells the story of Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a female classmate, was confirmed as the first streaming show to top the British audiences weekly television ratings ever.
The series, which tackles the impact of social media and toxic online masculinity influencers on teenagers was co-written by leading actor Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne.
1. Motives
It started with a phone call.
One day, Stephen Graham rang up his old friend and collaborator, Jack Thorne and told him that they should write a story about the rise of knife crime violence across the country.
Graham said he had a growing awareness about shocking fatal knife crime incidents involving teenagers and that they had "really hurt my heart and I kind of wondered what was going on with society.
"I wanted to know, what's really going on here now, when young boys are stabbing young girls to death?"
This got Graham thinking about the males in his life growing up and how society had shaped them, their identities and behaviours.
He has teenage children and he described a day when he was hugging his teenage son, and his son's pal got teary, explaining that his dad had never told him he loved him or hugged him.
The actor was also motivated by the changes he was observing in childhood today, with screens dominating, and he wanted to question the influences on children from this eerie invisible online world, one which society has allowed to creep in to all our lives.
He told Christine Amanpour on CNN that "the internet is parenting our children, and it's educating our children as much as we are".
He explained that he and Thorne wanted to "look in the eye of modern male rage" and examine the influence of public figures such as influencer Andrew Tate on boys and attempt to explain why.
"You throw the stone into a pond and this ripple effect has been huge… But we never meant it to have this impact, we just wanted to tell a truthful and honest story." Co-writer and actor Stephen Graham reflects on his powerful new Netflix series Adolescence, which explores… pic.twitter.com/aO3JKNYH16
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) March 20, 2025
2. Casting
Graham, an acclaimed actor, plays Eddie Miller the "everyman" Dad in the show.
"We wanted you to look at this family and think, 'My God. This could be happening to us!' And what's happening here is an ordinary family's worst nightmare."
Keeping "the ordinary family" as their focus, they cast Christine Termarco as Eddie's wife, Manda Miller. She is known for roles in 'Waterloo Road', 'Casualty' and 'Little Boy Blue'.
The lead detective investigating the murder, is Ashley Walters (DI Luke Bascombe), who has been making waves since he was part of the hip hop group 'So Solid Crew'. Walters also gained wide acclaim for his acting performance as Dusahane in the hit TV series 'Top Boy'.
Erin Doherty was cast as Briony Arison, the court appointed clinical psychologist.
She puts in an extraordinary performance in episode three where she spends 60 minutes of screen time assessing 13-year-old Jamie Miller to prepare a pre-trial report on his mental health.
She was noted for her break out role as a young Princess Anne in 'The Crown'.
Then there is newcomer Owen Cooper who plays Jamie Miller.
The casting director Shaheen Baig had started the production's casting journey looking at over "500 young boys" as potential Jamies, and 14-year-old Owen Cooper landed the part.
Cooper had been taking acting lessons "as a hobby" but had never performed in major theatre or screen role, explaining that "I got into a little agency thing, and then I got a self-tape request for 'Adolescence'. And everything came from that, really."
Famously it was his lack of experience that drew Graham and the team to him.
As the buzz around the series has grown, Netflix has been releasing fascinating behind-the-scenes footage, including Owen Cooper's original audition tape.
The audition feels effortless, more like a casual vox pop with a youngster than a formal performance and this was key to the casting decision.
Graham also recently described the discovery of the young actor as the show's "biggest achievement", explaining that "we always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities".
Remarkably, Cooper's first day on set was when they filmed episode three, which centres on an intense conversation between Jamie and clinical psychologist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty).
The scene took 11 takes and resulted in haunting performance from both actors.
Owen Cooper has only just begun.
He has already been signed up for his next movie, playing the young Heathcliff in the big screen adaptation of the Emily Bronté classic 'Wuthering Heights'.
3. One shot wonder
Each of the four episodes of 'Adolescence' was filmed in a single, uninterrupted take.
The director is Phillip Barantini and he and Graham used this technique in their previous collaboration 'Boiling Point'.
Each episode was treated separately.
Week one was rehearsal week, where the writers and the cast worked on the script. Week two was technical week, where the crew worked out where they were putting equipment and plotting camera movements.
The shooting took place in week three where they performed the drama fully twice a day.
"By this point, it's like doing a play," writer Jack Thorne said on BBC radio, adding "you know exactly where you're supposed to be".
The show took over a complex in South Kirkby in West Yorkshire called 'The Production Park' where they built sets including the police station and the room for episode three.
Due to the demands of the one shot process, the school building and the Miller home had to be within ten minutes of 'the production park'.
The one shot style ending part of episode two in the school, has drawn particular attention as the camera seems to take off from the school grounds and fly away.
Matthew Lewis, the Director of Photography, explained how they managed the shot.
Lewis says he carried the camera across the school yard, meeting the camera assistants who skillfully attached it to a drone, and then the camera took off, shooting across the area.
4. New language
Do you know the 80/20 rule?
'Adolescence' has been praised for its brutally honest and unflinching insight into the darker corners of the online world.
One conversation in particular that has captured attention takes place in episode two, where the secret codes of the online toxic language are explained.
In the drama, there is a moving scene when DI Bascombe's son Adam, takes him into a quiet classroom during an official school visit, to explain a few life lessons to his dad.
The police had been working on the theory that Jamie Miller's social media messages could unlock his online secrets, but Adam explains to his dad that the adults have got it all wrong. He explains that they do not understand the messages and illustrations they are seeing.
He asks his father if he understands the 80/20 rule?
When his dad says no, Adam outlines how it is a belief that 80% of women are attracted to just the "top" 20% of men, leaving the other men abandoned.
This theory is at the heart of the 'incel culture' - which comes from the phrase "involuntarily celibate".
Online influencers who believe that they will never attract a romantic partner, call themselves incels and according to the Anti-Defamation League, incels are a group of "heterosexual men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic success".
Emojis too are untangled by Adam.
Older viewers have a fairly harmless view of the red hearts and side eye looks available to illustrate text messages, but again under Adam's tuition, the Miller case takes a turn as he decodes the messages that Jamie, Katie and others have been exchanging.
"The red pill is like, 'I see the truth'. It's a call to action by the manosphere," Adam explains to his dad as they go through the messages.
(The manosphere refers to a varied collection of websites, blogs and online forums promoting masculinity, misogyny, and opposition to feminism.)
Adam goes onto explain that one of Katie's comments to Jamie includes a dynamite emoji which refers to an "exploding red pill" which in turn means that someone is an incel.
Bascombe questions how Jamie could be involuntary celibate when he's only 13-years-old, to which Adam responds: "She's saying he always will be," with her use of the '100' emoji.
And so on.
Through Adam's eyes, there is a twist in the drama and so 'Adolescence' continues to confound and challenge its viewers.
5. Reaction
Record breaking.
Yesterday, came confirmation that the four-part series has made UK television history by breaking viewership records and becoming the first streaming show to top British TV ratings.
Released on 13 March, it was the number one show for Netflix in more than 70 countries, and these figures show that the series pulled in 6.45 million viewers across the UK for its first episode, in week one.
The figures are published by ratings provider Barb, which stands for the 'Broadcaster Audience Research Board' - the industry's standard for measuring viewer ship figures.
The Netflix series out performed heavy hitters including BBC's 'The Apprentice' and 'Death In Paradise'.
The critical reaction has been consistent in its praise.
"It has ignited a global conversation with its unflinching portrayal of a 13 year old accused of murder," Variety stated.
For the Guardian, it gave a 5 star review noting that "The arrival of searing new series 'Adolescence' could hardly be more timely.
"The drama dropped on Netflix just as it emerged that crossbow killer Kyle Clifford had searched online for misogynistic podcasts and watched Andrew Tate videos hours before murdering three female members of the Hunt family."
The political sphere has been tuning in to it too.
Tánaiste Simon Harris has backed the show, saying that it should be compulsory viewing in schools, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer weighed in too.
He said in the Houses of Parliament that he was watching it with his teenage children saying and that the issues raised were "a matter of culture" which he said "it's important across the whole house that we tackle this emerging and growing problem".
With growing calls for under 16s to be banned from social media now similar to the new Australian policy, and parents here and abroad becoming more active in campaigning for a ban on smart phones for teenagers, the show has struck a chord that has reverberated loudly.
But what happens next?
Co-creators Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham had a mission with 'Adolescence' and while it is wake up call for adults, will the angst and soul searching translate into a tangible impact on the social media regulation?
Thorne said: "I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in parliament. It's crucial because this is only going to get worse.
"It's something that people need to be talking about, hopefully that's what drama can do," he added.
So, finally the last talking point.
Can four hours of television drama change anything in the real world?
Stay tuned.
