''Adolescence'' is a British television
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
crime drama
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
series created by
Jack Thorne
Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer.
A massive fan of hard science fiction, he is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the fil ...
and
Stephen Graham and directed by
Philip Barantini. It centres on a 13-year-old schoolboy named Jamie Miller (
Owen Cooper) who is arrested after the murder of a girl in his school. Each of its episodes was shot in
one continuous take.
''Adolescence'' premiered on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on 13March 2025, to critical acclaim for its directing, writing, and cinematography, with special attention paid to its atmosphere and performances. ''Adolescence'' was the first streaming show to place at the top of the
Barb Audiences weekly television ratings.
On 9 April 2025,
''Deadline'' reported that Netflix and Plan B Entertainment were in talks about a second season of the series.
Premise
In an English town, armed police raid a family home and arrest Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy, on suspicion of the murder of his classmate Katie Leonard. Jamie is processed and held at a police station for questioning and then
remanded in custody at a
secure training centre. Investigations at Jamie's school and interviews by a
forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...
uncover Jamie's views towards women associated with the
manosphere
The manosphere is a varied collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, misogyny, and opposition to feminism. Communities within the manosphere include men's rights activists (MRAs), incels (involuntary celibates), ...
and bullying he has received on social media. At home, Jamie's family deals with the community's backlash against them as they work together to cope with Jamie's arrest and subsequent detention.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller
*
Ashley Walters as
DI Luke Bascombe
*
Faye Marsay
Faye Elaine Marsay (born 30 December 1986) is a British actress. Her notable roles include Anne Neville in ''The White Queen (miniseries), The White Queen'' (2013), the recurring character Candice in ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2013) ...
as
DS Misha Frank
*
Mark Stanley
Mark Robert Speight, known professionally as Mark Stanley, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Game of Thrones'', '' Dickensian'', and as Rob Hepworth in the third series of BBC drama Happy Valley.
Early life and educatio ...
as Paul Barlow
*
Christine Tremarco as Manda Miller
*
Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller
* Amélie Pease as Lisa Miller
*
Hannah Walters as Mrs Bailey
*
Jo Hartley as Mrs Fenumore
* Fatima Bojang as Jade
* Kaine Davis as Ryan Kowalska
* Amari Bacchus as Adam Bascombe
*
Erin Doherty as Briony Ariston
Guest
* Emilia Holliday as Katie Leonard
* Lewis Pemberton as Tommy
*
Austin Haynes as Fredo
* Alfie Ward as Moray
* Elodie Grace Walker as Georgie
* Douglas Russell as Victor
Episodes
Production
Development
''Adolescence'' was originally conceived by
Stephen Graham as a response to cases of
knife crime by teenagers in the United Kingdom, including the murders of
Ava White,
Elianne Andam, and
Brianna Ghey. He decided to create a drama exploring the motivation of extreme acts of
violence against girls by young boys, and collaborated with screenwriter
Jack Thorne
Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer.
A massive fan of hard science fiction, he is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the fil ...
.
Thorne has stated that no part of the drama is based on a specific true story.
Speaking on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's arts programme ''
Front Row'', Thorne stated that the two writers wanted to "look in the eye of modern male rage" and examine the influence of public figures such as
Andrew Tate on boys.
The series was announced in March 2024 with the working title ''Adolescence'' to be written by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. It is a four-part limited crime drama told in a real-time, one-shot style, with Philip Barantini as director. Barantini and Graham previously collaborated on ''
Boiling Point
The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor.
The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding envi ...
'' (2021), which was also shot in one take.
Warp Films
Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield and London, England, UK.
History 2001 – 2012
Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. It was initially ...
, Matriarch Productions and
Plan B Entertainment
Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November 2001 by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Kristin Hahn and Jennifer Aniston. The company first signed with Warner Bros. as a replacement for ...
produced the series for
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
. Jo Johnson is series producer, and Graham, Thorne and Barantini are executive producers alongside Mark Herbert, Emily Feller,
Hannah Walters,
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...
,
Jeremy Kleiner,
Dede Gardner
Dorcas Wright "Dede" Gardner (born October 16, 1967) is an American film producer. She was president since the founding of Plan B Entertainment and currently serving as Co-President with Jeremy Kleiner since 2013. She has won Oscars for produci ...
and Nina Wolarsky.
Casting
Owen Cooper was cast in the role of the teenage murder suspect, Jamie Miller, at the age of 13, with no previous professional acting experience. Casting director Shaheen Baig had considered 500 boys for the part, but Cooper attracted her attention after sending her a
demo tape
A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...
and secured the role.
Baig found Cooper and several of the other young cast members through Drama MOB in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and Articulate Drama School and Agency in
Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
. Staff members of these drama schools, which serve students from underrepresented and deprived communities, resented the narrative that these actors had "done nothing and came from nowhere" prior to this production.
Filming
Graham, Owen Cooper,
Ashley Walters, and
Erin Doherty star. Filming began in the United Kingdom in July 2024 and finished around October 2024.
''Adolescence'' is noted for its extensive use of
one-shot film
A one-shot film (also known as a one-take film, single-take film, or continuous shot feature film) is a full-length movie filmed in one long take by a single camera, or manufactured to give the impression it was.
Use and theory
In a 2019 artic ...
ing, as each episode is shot in one
take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.
Film
In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...
by cinematographer Matthew Lewis.
Shooting was planned through multiple rehearsals building up to full technical run-throughs, during which the
director of photography
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
would plan camera movements. Each one-hour episode was shot around 10 times, with two takes per day. Episodes were shown as completed in one take, with no
cut
Cut or CUT may refer to:
Common uses
* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force
** A type of wound
** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past
** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment
** ...
s or
blending of shots together with
CGI.
Graham said that each episode took three weeks in total.
The takes used were as follows: first episode, 2nd take; second episode, 13th take; third episode, 12th take; fourth episode, 16th take.
The episodes were not shot in chronological order: Cooper's first day on set was shooting episode 3.
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, instead of or in addition to using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wi ...
s for ''Adolescence'' included
South Kirkby
South Kirkby is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe. The parish has a populatio ...
,
South Elmsall
South Elmsall ( ) is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. South Elmsall lies to the east of Hemsworth. The town had a population in 2001 of 6,107, increasing to 6,519 at the 2011 Census.
History
The tow ...
and
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
.
Minsthorpe Community College in South Elmsall was used as a location for the school scenes in "Episode2". The interior scenes at the police station were shot at a specially constructed
film set
A set is artificially constructed scenery used in film and television. In the last two cases there are many reasons to build or use a set instead of travelling to a real location, such as budget, time, the need to control the environment, or the ...
at the Production Park studio facility in South Kirkby in order to accommodate the complexities of single-shot filming.
Release
The series was released on Netflix on 13 March 2025.
It became the most watched streaming television show in the United Kingdom in a single week, beating the record set by the Netflix series ''
Fool Me Once'' in January 2024.
''Adolescence'' has seen significant viewership success on Netflix following its release. In its first three weeks, the series garnered 96.7 million views on the platform. For the week ending 30 March 2025, it recorded 30.4 million views and ranked in the top 10 most-watched lists across all 93 countries tracked by Netflix's top 10 metrics. This performance has placed ''Adolescence'' ninth on Netflix's all-time viewership list, which is based on viewership data collected over the first 91 days of a title's availability.
Reception
Critical response
''Adolescence'' has been widely praised by critics.
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which uses a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
, calculated a score of 91 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'',
Lucy Mangan
Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian'' and an opinion writer for '' i'' news.
Early life and education
Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, ...
stated that ''Adolescence'' was "the closest thing to TV perfection in decades", singling out the acting by Cooper and Doherty for particular praise.
Nandini Balial of
RogerEbert.com also praised Cooper's acting for capturing "the quicksilver nature of those fraught years between childhood and adulthood". Anita Singh of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' found the series to be "quietly devastating" and the acting to be "phenomenal", although she said that the single-take filming technique could feel "like a
gimmick
A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...
".
Sophie Butcher of ''
Empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' praised the continuous shooting, stating that it was "the most dizzying TV feat of the year" which served to enhance the on-screen emotion.
''Adolescence'' was the first streaming show to place at the top of the
Barb Audiences weekly television ratings.
Political impact
According to ''The Guardian'', the show highlights the ways in which the
manosphere
The manosphere is a varied collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, misogyny, and opposition to feminism. Communities within the manosphere include men's rights activists (MRAs), incels (involuntary celibates), ...
has affected adolescent boys, with characters directly naming
Andrew Tate and the "
red pill" community as key influences on Jamie and other boys his age.
Anneliese Midgley
Anneliese Midgley is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Knowsley since 2024.
Early life
Midgeley was born in Stockbridge Village. She attended Brookside Community School.
Career
Her first job was ...
, a
Member of Parliament, called for the series to be screened to Parliament and in schools, claiming it could help counter
misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...
and
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
and girls. Prime Minister
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
backed the call, writing on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, "As a father, watching ''Adolescence'' with my teenage son and daughter hit home hard." The show was made free for viewing in UK secondary schools after Starmer's backing.
In March 2025, businessman and
Trump administration advisor
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
promoted a
conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
* ...
on Twitter that the show was "
anti-white propaganda" owing to the casting of a white actor to portray Jamie. The theory alleged that the show was based on the
2024 Southport stabbings, and that depicting the perpetrator as white was an intentional choice to demonise white people. Co-writer Jack Thorne called the claim "ridiculous" and stated that the television series was not based on any real-life events.
Accolades
See also
*
Age of criminal responsibility
The age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a child is deemed incapable of having committed a criminal offence. In legal terms, it is referred to as a defence/defense of infancy, which is a form of defense known as an excuse so t ...
*
Sex differences in crime
Sex differences in crime are differences between men and women as the perpetrators or victims of crime. Such studies may belong to fields such as criminology (the scientific study of criminal behavior), sociobiology (which attempts to demonstrat ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Netflix original ended series (2019–present)
2020s British crime drama television series
2020s British television miniseries
2025 British television series debuts
2025 British television series endings
British English-language television shows
British television series about teenagers
Casting controversies in television
Conspiracy theories involving race and ethnicity
Netflix television dramas
Psychological television series
Race-related controversies in television
Race-related controversies in the United States
Television series about school bullying
Television shows set in West Yorkshire
Television shows about murder
Television shows shot in Yorkshire
Works about cyberbullying
Works about incel subculture
Works about violence against women