The Netflix show Adolescence piqued our interest after widespread interest across the UK (leading to our prime minister Keir Starmer referencing it in parliament).
It’s since garnered interest across the world, getting features in The New York Times and the like. The four-part series is very impressive indeed. The performances are universally world-class, but the technical achievements on display are also incredible.
Although there’s been mass discussion discussion online about the film already, we’re foolish enough to think our opinion on all of this can add something extra. Thus, we’re throwing our hat into the ring.
The Simmering World of Male Rage in Adolescence
One of Alan Rickman’s most insightful quotes was his belief of the power of culture. He said a film could change the world. And this TV series here, in the form of Adolescence, is living up to that.
It’s only been on Netflix a few weeks, yet has sparked debate across the Western world.
Disturbingly, it couldn’t be more timely. Just yesterday (28/03/25) there was a 39 year prison sentence for a young man called Nasen Saadi. He was charged with stabbing a young woman. He was fuelled by social isolation, entitlement, and a rage against women.
Despite its relevancy to modern life in the UK (and elsewhere), the show has triggered off the hard-right crowd here. GB News is upset with it and has claimed the show has an anti-white agenda.
We should note the 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played so brilliantly by Owen Cooper) is as a victim.
He committed the murder, yes, but the justification for it is clear—his young mind warped by the online world, whipped up by hateful individuals such as Andrew Tate and the manosphere. What the show poses to viewers is what as a society are we going to do about this?
As we mentioned, that’s been addressed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in parliament during the week. MP Anneliese Midgley called for the series to be shown in Parliament and schools, which PM Starmer has backed.
The situation is now so far advanced it’s a wonder how to tackle it. Not helped that there was total inaction from the Conservative government during its 2010-2024 reign of incompetence.
Social media platforms have also just lost control of the situation, pushed along by Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and turning X into a far-right platform of propaganda (as you can imagine, there’s been a lot of huffing and puffing about this show over on Twitter from man babies).
Anyway! Back to Adolescence and we doubt anyone would argue when we suggest episode 1 and 3 are the best. Masterpieces of writing and performances, really, with arguably the third episode being the best of the lot.
Episode 1 has this very intense interrogation scene headed by DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and DS Misha Frank (Faye Marsay). Gradually, Jamie’s “I didn’t do it” is whittled away and the harsh reality check is there for the audience.
Then comes episode 3, which involves the forensic psychologist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty) attempting to understand Jamie’s motivations.
As the episode moves forward, it becomes clear Jamie has some incredibly toxic views on women—as fuelled by his online activities, toxic masculinity manosphere culture, and some chronic insecurities. Again, this stuff from Owen Cooper is incredible given he has no prior acting experience. Total natural.
Whilst Briony gets her head around that, there’s this creepy, leering older police officer who keeps flirting with her at every opportunity.
Erin Doherty is brilliant in all this and is an emerging top UK acting talent (she’s acted with Stephen Graham before in a series called A Thousand Blows).
The whole series poses a serious question to the world about male rage. It’s been a discussion point online and the fringes of the mainstream for some time, this has brought it kicking and screaming right into the limelight.
It’s a hell of gut punch show. Amazing performances all round, great writing, and then (as we cover below) the staggering achievement of its production—everything done in one shot.
One error from an actor and they had to start all over again. Genuinely mind-blowing, the whole thing.
The Production of Adolescence
Above you can see how they went about shooting this. When we first watched Adolescence, we presumed the team used CGI to cover over any errors or issues during the shoot.
Nope. After meticulous rehearsals, it was simply get down to it. Make an error, the whole thing needs to start from the beginning again.
Shooting took place from July to October 2024 in Yorkshire, although the police station scenes were as part of a studio set. Each episode took around 10 attempts.
This thing has set massive records in the UK, becoming the most watched streaming show in UK history. Alongside the critical acclaim, it’s sparked huge debate in the west—we’ve seen plenty of Americans wading in on YouTube with analysis of Briony’s scenes (as one example).
Here’s some of the crew talking about their experiences. We should note that Stephen Graham (who plays Jamie’s dad) also created the idea with writer Jack Thorne. He was inspired by similar knife crime murders in the UK.
For Jamie’s role, some 500 boys were considered. Owen Cooper had sent in a tape of himself and that caught the attention of the casting director, despite his total lack of any experience.
Full credit to writer Jack Thorne, who we’ll add is autistic (as we are, too!). He’d been on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs in December 2021, which caused a listener to contact Thorne’s agent and flag up the signs of ASD.
Otherwise, if you haven’t watched it now is the time.
It’s only on Netflix.
