‘Adolescence' Netflix Team On The Show's Global Success And Impact

Forbes

6 days ago

Jack Thorne, Owen Cooper, Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty attend Netflix's FYSEE ... More "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May 27, 2025 in North Hollywood, California.
It is the unnerving television phenomenon that has taken the world by storm - and now, the hit Netflix limited series Adolescence is seeing if their massive success will ultimately translate into Emmy nominations.
Revolving around a community in Northern England, whose lives are turned upside down when their 13-year-old son is accused of murdering a classmate. What follows is a master class in episodic storytelling, acting performances, sound design and innovative camera techniques by filming scenes in one continuous take.
Owen Cooper behind-the-scenes on the set of "Adolescence"
Starring Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty and introducing impressive newcomer Owen Cooper, Adolescence has become far more than just a dramatic tale for entertainment value, becoming the third most-watched Netflix series of all time for the streaming giant with more than 140 million views globally - it has encouraged a rather important conversations between parents and kids within this social media day and age.
This past Tuesday night, a handful of the Adolescence cast and crew came together at the Television Academy building in North Hollywood, California for Netflix's FYSEE screening and a Q&A discussion. Before the festivities began, I spoke with these various creatives about their dedicated work on the series and why they believe that their team's outstanding achievements, both in front of the camera and behind, have impacted audiences in such a unique way this year.
(Left to right) Jenelle Riley, Stephen Graham, Jack Thorne, Owen Cooper, Erin Doherty, Ashley ... More Walters, Shaheen Baig, James Drake, Aaron May and David Ridley are seen onstage during Netflix's "Adolescence" FYSEE event at Saban Theatre on May 27, 2025 in North Hollywood, California.
Graham, who plays 'Eddie Miller' on Adolescence and is also the co-creator, writer and executive producer, said, 'One of the key elements was it was made with truth, with honesty, with integrity and with a lot of love. It's a heavy piece, but we had a lot of fun making it. We never expected this kind of tsunami of success. It was just a little colloquial piece of drama that was made at home and we loved making it. So then, you throw it up into the ether and see what happens."
Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne attend Netflix's FYSEE "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May ... More 27, 2025 in North Hollywood, California.
Jack Thorne, who is also a co-creator, writer and executive producer on the project, said, 'Well, I think I'm the luckiest writer alive. The way this show worked was that everyone involved took authorship of it - took responsibility for telling the story and that meant that everyone brought their A-game in all those different functions. It was just a dream. It was a summer of dreaming with brilliant people.'
Owen Cooper attends Netflix's FYSEE "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May 27, 2025 in North ... More Hollywood, California.
Cooper, who plays 'Jamie Miller' on Adolescence in his first-ever acting job, said, 'I think a lot of families can relate to it. It can hit a lot of homes and it's a relatable piece. It's hard to explain - because it's a Northern show, it helped me act, because it's not where I'm from, but it's true to life.'
Even the music composers of the four-episode series had some thoughts on why they believe Netflix viewers are resonating with this limited series. David Ridley said, 'I think we feel that it opens a wide variety of conversations, with a script that's really elegantly put together and quite simple, and just paints around for people then to sort of jump in and talk about how much kids are on their phone these days - the manosphere, sort of relationship dynamics, what's going on at schools, maybe around the world, but certainly in the UK. There are so many conversations that it has opened and I feel like particularly parents have resonated with this and with the issues around parenting today and how difficult that is.'
Aaron May and David Ridley attend Netflix's FYSEE "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May 27, ... More 2025 in North Hollywood, California.
Fellow Adolescence composer Aaron May added: 'I guess that if we've sort of covered the thematic elements, the part of the reason why those thematic elements have been able to resonate so strongly is because the way it's told with the one-shot format, and the performances make it feel so real. So, I think that the format just really helps to portray those themes and it gives a real-life context to those themes.'
Ashley Walters attends Netflix's FYSEE "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May 27, 2025 in North ... More Hollywood, California.
Walters, who plays 'Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe,' said, 'There's a lot of parents around the world. You can't watch our show as a parent and it not move you, and it not make you think about what are you doing as a parent to ensure your child's safety online. We're all going through it. I've had so many conversations with other parents around the world. I've got an eight-year-old that is obsessed with his iPad. I'm always having conversations with my wife about should we get him on it less, or should we take it away from him. We've always been scared to approach those conversations because it's like a limb to those kids, to that generation. I think Adolescence just blew that all out of the water. It made that conversation okay to have, and I think that's why it resonated so much. It gave permission.'
Erin Doherty attends Netflix's FYSEE "Adolescence" event at Saban Theatre on May 27, 2025 in North ... More Hollywood, California.
Doherty, who plays 'Briony Ariston' on Adolescence, said of the show's popularity, 'It's like catching lightning in a bottle - and sometimes, for whatever reason, it all comes together. I think everyone just wanted to be there and to put their all into this story, and they knew the importance of what it meant to tell it correctly. I think that's what kind of fueled and charged the whole project for everyone. They were just so proud to be a part of it and we all just wanted to do it to the best of our ability.'
For those that have already watched all four episodes of this Netflix limited series, I wondered what this Adolescence team hopes the audiences has or will take away from seeing this on-screen narrative play out, from start to finish.
Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper in "Adolescence"
Graham said, 'Just that communication with each other, do you know what I mean? Fathers talking to sons, mothers talking to daughters, mothers talking to sons, fathers talking to daughters. Just having that kind of awareness as a family of what's happening in your own home, and create and continue that line of communication.'
Thorne said, 'Talk to your children, and I mean that to teachers, to parents. It's hard - I'm a parent. I find it impossible to talk to my kid, at times, but we need to open up these conversations because they're having conversations with people that we don't know about and we need to be able to make sure that the lines of communication are clear, so that they're able to be honest and be open. If you do all those things, then you might save them - not from being like Jamie - Jamie is one-in-a-million, but from their own unhappiness, their own isolation, their own hurt.'
Mark Stanley, Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in "Adolescence"
Cooper said, 'Especially in Adolescence, there's a massive lack of communication due to work and business, but that's what every father has to go through. They have to do the work to pay the bills and stuff, but that should never come before your family. Your family comes first, so it's always communication with your sons and your daughters. It's very important in a family - and what Adolescence does, it shows the lack of communication can cause a child to - not all the time, but it can cause them to be lonely and stuff like that.'
Ashley Walters in "Adolescence"
Walters said, 'It's important to talk. I feel connection maybe has been lost slightly over the years, when it comes to the Internet, devices - we talk less. So, the days of like sitting around the table on a Sunday, having a Sunday lunch with your kids and your parents or whatever - those are the times where you would find out what's going on in your child's life. How was school? Are you being bullied? Are you not? We're not doing those things as regular anymore. So, I feel like hopefully people will take that away. Hopefully, people will take away that there are beautiful pros that come with how technology has grown so rapidly, but there are also cons. Maybe we should go back to some of the basics - just some. I'm not saying take away computers for life. I'm just saying like one day out of the week is good to talk, right?'
Erin Doherty and Owen Cooper in "Adolescence"
Doherty said, 'I hope that it ignites a conversation about how we support our younger generation. I'm not a parent, so I don't know the intensity of what it means to watch the show from that lens, but I know they're chatting about it, obviously. From people of my generation, I know that what it has done is open up that avenue to preempt how we can navigate that world. So hopefully, it does that, which is all you can really hope for with any piece of art, is that it starts a conversation.'
Concluding my FYSEE Netflix conversations with this cast, I wondered what they would say to each of their Adolescence characters, if only they could, after embodying them on-screen and seeing how their actions & experiences ultimately played out. What do they need to hear?
Owen Cooper in "Adolescence"
Cooper said with 'Jamie' in mind, 'I've never had that question before. Well, you know, Jamie's where he is now and he can speak to his family once a week, so just keep his head down - don't get into trouble in the place where he is. If he keeps his head down, he'll be fine and be sweet, and then he'll get out and be with his family again.'
Amari Jayden Bacchus and Ashely Walters in "Adolescence"
Walters said with 'Bascombe' in mind, 'Quality time with your son is important. It's a lesson I had to learn, as well. As an actor, I'm always traveling. I'm always working, and sometimes, you don't realize you're neglecting some of your loved ones. So yeah, that's what I would say.'
Erin Doherty in "Adolescence"
Doherty said with 'Briony' in mind, 'Oh, she needs a hug. Oh my gosh, that's my one thing - I've walked away and I kind of always had this little pipe dream of like - maybe one day, I'll be a therapist. Honestly, I just don't. It's gone. It's disappeared. I just don't think I could do it. It's so intense. I don't think she needs to hear any words. She just needs a hug.'
Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in "Adolescence"
Graham concluded with 'Eddie' in mind, 'It's a great question. I'd tell Eddie, if we could have the conversation before the incident happened, I'd tell Eddie to show his lad a lot more love, do you know what I mean? Put his arms around the boy, tell him he loves him. That'd be my thing I'd say to Eddie.'