Netflix has added Adolescence, a hard-hitting new knife-crime drama starring Bodies’ actor Stephen Graham.
The Line of Duty star, who also co-wrote the script with award-winning writer Jack Thorne, plays Eddie, a father whose 13-year-old son Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is accused of murdering a classmate. Shining a light on knife crime in the UK, the four-parter, added globally to the streamer on Thursday, March 13, promises to be a harrowing watch and one possibly to add to our best shows on Netflix guide.
"We've seen an epidemic of knife crime among young lads, and certain instances that really stick out where young boys were killing young girls," says Stephen. "It really hit me hard and I thought: 'Why is this happening?'"
Interestingly, the focus of the drama isn't about gang warfare. Rather Stephen Graham is showing that this can happen to anyone by depicting the family as being every day until this terrible tragedy.
"We could have made a drama about gangs and knife crime, or based it on a kid whose mother is an alcoholic, or whose father is a violent abuser, or maybe he's been molested by someone outside the family,” he explains. "But I wanted the audience to be able to look at Eddie and think: ‘My God, this could be happening to us’. Their situation is any ordinary family's worst nightmare."
The all-star cast also includes Little Boy Blue's Christine Tremarco as Eddie's wife Manda, Missing You's Ashley Walters as investigating officer DI Luke Bascombe, Happy Valley's Mark Stanley as duty solicitor Paul Barlow and The Crown's Erin Doherty as child psychologist Briony Ariston.
There’s a nice crossover here as Stephen recently starred with Erin Doherty in the Disney Plus boxing period drama A Thousand Blows and thought of her for the role of Jamie’s psychologist.
"I knew that Erin would have the perfect instincts to play this woman who's very professional, very good at her job and yet, still, so human. There were lots of elements of her that reminded me of my mother, a social worker who had the same level of passion and care for the job. And the role was kind of a tribute to my mum."
Netflix will be hoping Adolescence can get somewhere near the huge success of Stephen Graham’s drama Bodies that went out in 2023. The sci-fi mystery series was an enormous hit for the streamer.
Why watch Adolescence
Our writer commented that it's "a timely, well crafted and thought-provoking drama". It wouldn't be the best choice if you're looking for something light-hearted but if you’re after a piece of quality television then this could be you. It's especially worth noting it has a very strong cast.
Adolescence is available globally now on Netflix.
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