Stephen Graham is undoubtedly one of the UK's finest (and hardest working) actors. He repeatedly champions marginalised voices and tells stories that move the dial and challenge the status quo - his latest Netflix series, Adolescence, is no different.
It follows the events of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) after he is arrested for the murder of his classmate. If that doesn't sound fraught enough already, the four-part series is directed by Boiling Point and Malpractice's Philip Barantini and each episode is shot in one continuous take. Jamie's parents are played by Graham, who co-wrote the series with This is England and _Toxic Town'_s Jack Thorne, and Christine Tremarco. Also in the cast are Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty.
The story unfolds in real time as the main characters – from the central family to the detectives investigating the crime – search for answers in the wake of a shocking tragedy. Who is actually responsible? Why did it happen? Could it have been prevented?
Is Adolescence based on a true story?
While Adolescence is not based on a true story, it is inspired by a very real epidemic of knife crime and the growing threat of online radicalisation amongst teenagers around the world.
Graham crafted the story to pose profound and urgent questions about modern masculinity and the influence of the alt right on teenage boys. 'One of our aims was to ask, "What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet, and from social media?"' Graham told Netflix. 'And the pressures that come from all of those things are as difficult for kids here as they are the world over.'
'We could have made a drama about gangs and knife crime, or about a kid whose mother is an alcoholic or whose father is a violent abuser,' said Graham. 'Instead, 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.'
Is Adolescence inspired by Andrew Tate?
Given that its an exploration of teenage radicalisation online, Graham researched the influence of Andrew Tate – a prolific figure in the 'manosphere' who currently faces charges of rape and sex trafficking, which he denies – while writing the series. He says he was first shown Tate's content by his children Alfie and Grace. 'I was like, Oh, wow, really, okay. And then I thought, Well, I'm a semi-put-together 51-year-old man who knows a little bit of who I am and what I'm about,' he told GQ. 'So what if I was a 13-year-old boy who didn't have the greatest relationship with my father, didn't really have that solid connection with a role model, and was finding my feet out there?'
'When I was a kid, when I was in my bedroom, my mum knew I was safe,' he added. 'In today's day and age, these phones are very dangerous. And these so-called influencers, I think there's a huge responsibility there.'
How did they film Adolescence?
'Basically, that means we press record on the camera and we don’t press stop until the very end of the hour,' Barantini told Netflix. 'But it’s much more complicated than it sounds. It takes months of preparation and weeks of rehearsals and an incredible team of people to pull it off at every stage, from the script to the locations to the production design to where exactly the camera is going to be able to shoot and from what angle.'
Watching behind the scenes clips from the show the camera production is a work of art itself. The 'continuous take' approach also meant there was no margin for error for the actors and each scene change had to be executed immaculately to meet a tight time schedule.
Is there a trailer for Adolescence?
When is Adolescence out on Netflix?
Adolescence is available to stream from 13 March on Netflix.
What else has Stephen Graham starred in?
Graham has acted in Boiling Point, the films and series of This is England, Snatch, The Walk-In, Line of Duty and A Thousand Blows.
He told GQ he was drawn to the subject matter of Adolescence because of the alarming rise in teenage girls being stabbed by teenage boys in the country. 'It's a different kind of thing, in many ways, because with the gang-on-gang violence of young boys stabbing young boys in London, Birmingham and Manchester, it's horrific, and there's something in our society that we need to address and look at… But for me, the other thing was, What's really going on here now, when young boys are stabbing young girls to death?'
'I said, "Look_,_ I know about the radicalisation online, but I don't get it, I don't understand it,"' he added. 'And Jack [Thorne] did all his research for that.'
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).