Original caricature by Jeff York of Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty in ADOLESCENCE (copyright 2025).
I’m not overstating matters by telling you that the new, four-part Netflix miniseries ADOLESCENCE not only advances the art of filmed storytelling, but it shrewdly indicts bro culture, unchecked social media, and the ineffective rules crumbling around us in our modern society. It is a morality play writ large but played as subtly and realistically as any drama I’ve seen in years on either the big or small screen. The series is a devastating piece of work, yet so skillful that you will be in awe of all its accomplishments from the very first minute to its very last one.
The story concerns a boy named Jamie Miller (an astoundingly intuitive Owen Cooper, a newcomer to the screen), a small and softspoken English 13-year-old from a working-class family, who is arrested on suspicion of murder in the opening minutes. The camera bursts into his Yorkshire home as police charge through the house, manhandling him and searching high and low for a potential murder weapon. It’s all shot in one fluid movement, allowing us to travel with the action as if we were directly involved in the raid. Even more startling is the fact that the entire episode never has a single edit. It’s all shot in one continuous take from Jamie’s capture to being thrown into the police car to his booking down at the local police station. It’s mindboggling technically and serves to make the material all the more immediate and enthralling.
That one-shot technique is utilized in each of the four episodes, ensuring that we aren’t allowed a second to look away, catch our breath, or ever feel distant enough from the tragedies being thrown our way. It’s a landmark TV series, created with equal gusto and sensitivity by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, with each episode directed by Philip Barantini. The acting, writing, production design, and sound design are all exemplary, and they help ADOLESCENCE stand as one of the most provocative and involving entertainments ever.
Graham also plays Eddie Miller, the gruff but loving dad, who must accompany Jamie to the station and serve as his chaperone while the distraught youth is fingerprinted, processed, and interrogated thoroughly by two smart, no-nonsense coppers. The detectives are played by Ashley Walters and Faye Marshay, and watching them corner the boy with their evidence and intimidating personalities makes for as taut an episode of television as you’re likely to see this year. Jamie keeps denying he did anything wrong, and his dad and even the public defender are inclined to agree with him. But then the cops produce the CCTV tapes and the revelations are jaw-dropping.
From there, the rest of the series examines the details of what happened and what led up to such a horrible crime. In episode two, technically the most adept, the two detectives visit Jamie’s school to try and get a bead on who he is, who his friends are, and the environment that would produce such a Jekyll & Hyde-esque child. The choreography of all the teachers, students, etc. down one hallway and up another, in and out of classrooms, is a marvel to watch. The episode even ends with a crane shot, all shot in one fluid camera move like the other episodes.
Episode three finds Jamie being interviewed by a court-appointed child psychologist (Erin Doherty) and what starts as a quiet and tentative Q&A eventually devolves into a frightening game of cat and mouse. Watching a young boy play power games with a seasoned adult is chilling and both actors do Emmy-worthy work here. The revelations of Jamie’s true feelings about himself and girls are heartbreaking, but they are just as horrifying too.
The final episode concerns how all of this has affected the Miller family including forlorn mom Manda (Christine Tremarco) and Jamie’s sensitive older sister Lisa (Amélie Pease). They’re all spectacular with Graham standing out especially as a proud man coming to terms with the fact that any chance at genuine family happiness is now a pipedream. All the roles are so superbly rendered by a cast filled with many youthful unknowns. It all feels so real at times that it has the feeling of a documentary. Every second is a searing critique of our world’s increasing lack of morality and the show serves as a terrifying wake-up call too.
More and more, male adolescents are falling through the cracks in our culture, turning the LORD OF THE FLIES into a daily reality. Sure, Jamie is a victim, but he’s also learned to become a predator and misogynist before he’s even hit puberty. ADOLESCENCE will likely be the most disturbing show you’ll see all year, but see it, you must.
