Adolescence episode 1 recap: Jamie is arrested on suspicion of murder

Adolescence is a hard-hitting crime Netflix drama following the arrest of a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of murder.

Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot starting from the boy’s arrest and picks up on different points of his and his family’s lives. In just four episodes, the story unfolds in real time as the main characters of the investigation try to seek the truth behind the horrific crime and the reason behind it. A stellar cast list includes Stephen Graham as Jamie’s father, Ashley Walters as the main investigator, Owen Cooper as Jamie, Erin Doherty as a clinical psychologist and more.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in Adolescence episode 1.

The episode opens on day one. A police officer listens to a voicemail on his phone from his son asking for the day off school sick. Annoyed, he gets into the car with his partner and plays it back to her. He says his partner Tracey would say no, so his son is asking him instead. Over their radios, they coordinate a convoy of police cars to raid a residential home. On arrival, officers leave a van with guns and a battering ram to break into the home. A woman holds her hands up screaming while a man stands on the stairs. They walk past him and look in the rooms inside. Upon finding a young boy in bed, they say the suspect has been found and arrest him. His older sister comes out of the bathroom and drops to the floor. The officer from earlier introduces himself as D.I. Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and comes in with a search warrant.

Bascombe addresses the boy as Jamie Miller and arrests him on suspicion of murder. He reads him his rights. The rest of the family follow the police and their son out of the house. The mother reveals that her son is only 13-years-old while the father argues his innocence. He comes up to the van window and tells Jamie he’ll be okay. He's told to follow along in his car.

From the back of the van, Jamie is clearly upset. As he tries to say he hasn’t done anything wrong, Bascombe stops him and tells him to wait until they’re at the station. He tells him when he’s asked, he should request a solicitor. He introduces him to Derek sitting beside him as his appropriate adult for the purpose of the arrest. Derek introduces himself from Doncaster Social Services. Bascombe then tells Jamie he can pick who he wants as his adult, whether that’s Derek or one of his own parents. The conversation becomes muted as they travel through the streets to the police station.

Upon arrival, Bascombe books Jamie in with the desk sergeant. Jamie gives his details to the officer and asks for a solicitor. He also asks for his dad to be his appropriate adult for the arrest. The officer tells him he is being held in detention for 24 hours so he can be questioned. His family arrives, but they’re behind a locked door. The officer starts to tell him about the process that will follow, but Jamie struggles to concentrate. He’s then placed into a cell.

D.I. Bascombe goes to see Jamie’s parents to ask some questions concerning the arrest. He says they’ll provide a duty solicitor. Jamie’s dad, Eddie (Stephen Graham) isn’t happy with this, but his wife, Manda, agrees. Bascombe tells Eddie that Jamie has chosen him to be his appropriate adult, which he explains means he can stay with him and support him at certain points. Bascombe follows this up by asking Eddie if Jamie has admitted anything to him regarding the case, because if so, he can’t be the appropriate adult as it will jeopardise his case. He insists he knows nothing and that Jamie has done nothing.

Jamie’s sister, Lisa, insists on staying and when she asks her mum what’s going to happen, she says it’s just a mistake. The shot then follows Bascombe’s partner D.S. Frank as she walks through the station. As she sits at her desk with Bascombe, he asks her if she’s worried about Eddie. She says she isn't, but when she asks him why, he begins to explain a case he had before where it took them months to realise what the dad was doing to the boy. She says she doesn’t see it.

Following Bascombe through the station, an officer asks him where they’ll place Jamie once he’s been discharged. He says he’s being accused of murdering someone with a kitchen knife, so they can cross that bridge later. He calls Tracey and asks if Adam, his son, is going into school.

In Jamie’s cell, the nurse is carrying out her assessment. She says he’s a bright boy who isn’t vulnerable. Eddie is there Jamie breaks down crying, repeatedly telling his dad he hasn’t done anything. He asks him if he believes him, to which he says of course. The nurse then hands her assessment over to the desk as Jamie’s solicitor arrives.

First, he goes through to speak to Jamie’s family and introduces himself as Paul Barlow. While the family are unhappy with their treatment so far, he says it’s what can happen with a violent crime. He says there’s not much he can say right now to make the situation any better. Instead, he goes to speak to Bascombe and his partner to find out about the case. Bascombe informs him the incident took place at 10:30pm the previous night. Nothing has been reported to the media yet as they’re still looking for relatives of the victim. They reveal they took bloods as there were scratches on Jamie's arm, as well as blood at the scene.

The booking officer calls for Eddie to come to the medical suite as Jamie gets photos and samples taken. Paul, the solicitor, comes in to introduce himself. After they do a mouth swab and fingerprints, the office asks for the passcode to Jamie's phone, but Paul and Eddie tell him not to. They take bloods, but then, they ask him to take all his clothes off for a strip search. While his dad tries to refuse, they say it’s important for a serious crime to see if he’s concealing anything or has any more injuries. Eddie is clearly angry, but Paul tells him it’s good for Jamie's defence. So, he watches on as the officer conducts his search.

Afterwards, Paul takes Eddie and Jamie into a room to talk. He starts by asking Jamie questions and determines that he's a smart kid. Paul tells Jamie to say no comment to anything related to the crime, but not to everything. Paul says when they go into the interview, both he and Eddie can speak up on Jamie’s behalf. Jamie again pleads his innocence. As Paul steps out, Eddie follows him and explains he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He tells him not to answer for Jamie, but it’s okay to be himself. Eddie is upset because he doesn’t want to get it wrong. Paul then explains he thinks the police have some compelling evidence, which is why they could get bloods and enter their house the way they did.

Eddie goes back in to sit with Jamie. He asks Jamie to look at him and asks him one last time to tell him the truth. Jamie again says he didn't do it and promises his dad that he's telling the truth. Eddie is clearly relieved and they head into the interview room with Bascombe and his partner, DS Frank.

Bascombe starts by asking Jamie what he was doing the night before. He says no comment. He asks about his school reports. Bascombe says he sees Jamie is a good student, but that there’s been problems with his behaviour in the last year or so.

When asked about friends, he says no comment. He asks about romantic and sexual relationships and shows him photos of women Jamie has reposted on social media in their underwear. Underneath the images, Bascombe shows him comments Jamie has made that are aggressive. When asked if he’s attracted to women, he says yes. When asked if he has a girlfriend, he says no. He asks if he’d like his girlfriend to look like the women he posts on social media, he says no because they’re too old.

Bascombe then shows him a picture of Jamie with some friends. He tells him he won’t get them into trouble if he tells him who they are. He tells them they’re Tommy and Ryan. He says he’s known Tommy since Year 1 and Ryan since Year 4. He says they like to go into town and hang out, but when asked if he was with them last night, he returns to no comment.

When asked what he was wearing the night before, he says he’s doesn’t remember. To this, Bascombe brings out a photo of trainers that the officers think are his. He says he can’t tell if they’re his and Bascombe asks if he owns a pair of Nike Air Max’s in white and blue. He says yes. When asked if he wore them then, he says he doesn’t know but maybe.

D.S. Frank then brings out a photo of a girl called Katie Leonard and asks if he knows her. He says yes. She’s not in his age group, but they share English together. When asked if they get on, he says yes. He says he doesn’t know if they’re friends, but Frank says Katie comments on his Instagram posts and when asked if other people would describe them as friends he asks, "Is it her who’s dead then?"

Bascombe says, "Why would you ask that?" He tells Jamie she is dead, but that it’s really clever to ask that if he already knew that to be the case. Frank asks Jamie to describe their friendship and he says no comment. She asks him why he won’t talk about their friendship but he will others and he says he wouldn’t even class it as a friendship. When asked if he was attracted to her, he says no. When asked if it got sexual, he says no. Bascombe asks if he was going to see her last night and Frank says that her parents said Katie left the house at 8:30pm. They reveal they found her body at a car park just past 10:30pm and that she was killed less than an hour before, sometime between 9:30 and 10:30pm.

When asked where he was, Jamie says he doesn’t know. They turn to ask Eddie what time Jamie got home, but he says he was on call so wasn’t at home. Frank then asks Jamie if he was following Katie or meeting her there. He says neither. Bascombe asks if he killed her and he says no. That they’ve got him confused with someone else. Frank then asks Jamie if he knows how many times Katie was stabbed, to which Bascombe reveals it was seven times, all over. Bascombe asks Jamie, "You do know what CCTV is, don’t you?" The solicitor interrupts and calls for a break and private consultation. Eddie refuses and says Jamie has nothing to hide.

Bascombe reveals they’ve been looking through CCTV images of him and Katie and they’ve built a timeline of their movements. The first image shows Jamie with what appears to be Tommy and Ryan, wearing the Nike Air Max. He was with them for an hour and then left them.

Then, he wandered around for quite a long time. At 9:02pm, they saw him outside a shop. At 9:17pm, he was by the library. At 9:43pm, they caught him on CCTV at the end of a road. Then, they see Katie on the CCTV.

Bascombe says they don’t know when Jamie spotted her, but they do see him following her. When asked why he was following her, he asks for his dad, who tells him to answer. At 9:46pm they have her crossing a road and one minute later, Jamie crosses it. Bascombe continues to ask why Jamie was following her, but he won’t answer. Bascombe asks him if he wants to tell them what happened, but he insists he hasn’t done anything wrong.

Now, Bascombe says he’s going to play some footage from the car park of the night before where Jamie and Katie are having a confrontation. He plays the footage and they appear to be arguing. As Katie goes to barge past Jamie to leave, he pushes her. She then pushes him back and he falls to the floor. To this, Jamie gets up and grabs Katie, fights her to the ground, and then appears to stab her repeatedly.

Jamie cries and Bascombe asks him how he got home without being seen. They know he threw away his clothes, but don’t know where. They know he kept his trainers. They know there will be blood on the trainers and, alongside the CCTV footage, he says it’s not looking good. He asks Jamie if he wants to give them a reason why. As Jamie continues to cry, he terminates the interview. The officers and solicitor step out leaving Jamie with his dad. Jamie turns to Eddie, trying to speak to him and goes to touch his shoulder, but Eddie can’t even look at him. Distraught, he finally asks, “What have you done?” As Jamie continues to say it wasn't him, Eddie finally gives him a hug.

All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix now.