Netflix’s Adolescence has struck a chord with viewers, racking up almost 25 million views in its first four days*. The incredibly intense crime drama focuses on the impact of a horrific crime on the family of the perpetrator while simultaneously exploring the pressures placed on teenagers, in large part, by social media.
No parent expects a SWAT team to bust down their door and take their teenager into custody for murder. That scenario and its aftermath play out in Adolescence in a stunning manner, with each of the four episodes filmed in one take. What’s almost as impressive is accomplishing that extraordinary feat without making it the sole reason to watch the series.
The one-take concept works because of the brilliant performances by series co-creator Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, Christine Tremarco, Amélie Pease, and Ashley Walters. Erin Doherty and Faye Marsay also star in the riveting drama that’s earned a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Graham and co-creator Jack Thorne wrote the limited series, with Philip Barantini directing. Barantini’s 2021 film Boiling Point starring Graham was also a one-shot project, so making a one-shot television series is almost a natural progression.
Netflix hosted a press conference prior to Adolescence’s March 13, 2025 premiere in which Graham spoke at length about the process of filming one-shot episodes. Graham also discussed the limited series’ subject matter and why he wanted to explore this very touchy, timely subject.
Adolescence Press Conference Highlights
On how Adolescence came to be and why he wanted to investigate these issues:
Stephen Graham: “We did a film called Boiling Point, which was all done in one shot, which was really well-received, and we were asked to do a TV series. And immediately I kind of come up with an idea of making something like this because a while before I’d read an incident in a newspaper where a young boy had stabbed a young girl to death. And then a couple of months later, on the news, on the BBC, there was an incident, and there was a story, again, of a young boy stabbing a young girl to death. They were both at opposite ends of the country.
And if I’m really honest with you, it really hurt my heart. I just thought, what’s happening in today’s society where a young boy does something like this and it’s not a one-off incident? You know what I mean? It’s not like a long attack or anything like that. There seemed to be a few of these cases up and down the country. I just thought that that would be a really interesting story to tell.
[…] Because, as well, within the concept of when we were coming up with the idea, I had this idea of the four different episodes. And it was kind of a case of we know that he’s done it, so it’s not a who-done-it kind of thriller, but it’s a why. It’s a ‘why’ has he done it? And I’ve said this before, but in the context of kind of like it takes a village to raise a child, so kind of that aspect of looking at who is accountable and why would a young boy go to these lengths and commit this horrific crime. I think that’s kind of where it came from.”
Regarding the technical aspects of filming episodes in one shot:
Stephen Graham: “It’s a wonderful experience, really, for any actor, because we spend the week rehearsing, and we spend a week really analyzing the script. We had Jack, who’s the wonderful one and only Mr. Thorne, with us on set for that first week’s process—each and every one of us when we were doing our individual episodes, and with myself and with Phil. So, what we kind of did was we really analyzed the script so we make it our own. […] We really get to understand the relationships and the dynamics of the conversations that are happening. And we look at all of those kinds of things, of your wants, your means, your reasons to why and what. We analyze every single word to the extent where, if Owen thinks that you wouldn’t say things in a particular way, then it’s like, ‘Okay, so how would you say it?’ Because we’re not teenage boys, so he has an understanding of the language that would be used.
And then the next week we rehearse the whole process with the camera. Phil and Matt (Lewis), our DP, have already meticulously kind of worked out the map and the road map that they have for what the camera is going to do. Then we just spend that whole week in a choreography kind of week, basically. We work the process with the camera, and it’s very organic. It’s a real kind of natural process.
And then that takes you into the final week, where you know what happens then is you kind of marry both mediums, so we have that kind of spontaneity and that energy that is there, and that visceral energy when you’re on stage and you’re performing on stage. But also, we have the medium, and you know the kind of naturalism and the realism and the social realism element of working with film and television.
So, we bring both of those disciplines together. And it’s just… I’m not just saying it, but it’s an absolutely unique experience, you know what I mean? And every single person… I’ve said this before, but we’re like a footy team. We’re all in this together from the get-go. And like, basically, our director is our manager. And his one-to-one management is fantastic, and his overall view and vision is absolutely beautiful as well. And it’s a collaboration process with everyone. Every single piece is integral to what we do. Every single person has a job to do. And we get up there, and we just, you know, it’s one of the most wonderful, freeing experiences as an actor I’ve ever had in my life.”
On how Adolescence affected him as a father:
Stephen Graham: “What we wanted to do, what we wanted to achieve from the very beginning, was the way you always look at these things, and you go, ‘Oh, well, that could never happen to us. That would never happen to us.’ You know what I mean? ‘That happens to them; that doesn’t happen to us.’ But it’s like, no, this could happen to you. This could be your household. And that’s what we really wanted to do was we wanted to make the Millers a family who were a normal family, a hard-working, decent, loving family. We wanted to make them the people that could live next door to you, or, more importantly, your home itself.
And I think one of the main aspects of it is about that [is] it’s about that communication. And our main aim, our obligation, was to try and create that conversation within the household, with teenagers, with young boys and young girls, both fathers and mothers, to have [those] conversations with their children. Because no matter how much we try and teach our kids and parent our kids, at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, this world that we’re in, it’s a completely different world than when we were kids, you know. These devices are teaching and educating and parenting our kids just as much as we are today, if not more in certain ways.”
His thoughts on addressing the unhappiness caused by our obsession with social media:
Stephen Graham: “Look, we’re not pointing a finger at anyone. We’re not saying, ‘This is the solution. This is what it is’. We don’t know. We don’t know. We don’t have the answers, but we can at least begin the debate, do you know what I mean, and the conversation about how we go about solving this. Because, let’s face it, look, and I’ve said this before, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful in any way, shape, or form, but it’s not as if we’ve created some alien drama on Mars about something that will never happen. That’s not what we’ve done. We’re not about having this alternative society up in space and finding these new aliens. No, no, no, no. It’s about reality and truth.
People can question what it is, but ultimately, these incidents have happened. Young boys have stabbed and have killed young girls. So, it’s not as if we’ve made this thing up. This thing is happening, and it’s happening outside. It’s happening within our society. So, I think it’s something that, as a culture, as a society, we need to have a look at it.”
* Netflix reports that as of March 25th, the series has 66.3 million views and is the most-watched limited series and most-watched UK title ever through its first two weeks.
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