It’s the show on everyone’s lips, leaving fans gobsmacked with its brutally honest portrayal of modern Britain and a shocking murderous premise.
And Netflix‘s new drama Adolescence, starring Stephen Graham, is on course to smash all streaming records as viewers binge-watch the heart-wrenching mini-series.
The thriller centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of Stephen, who plays the boy’s father.
Top Boy actor Ashley Walters takes on the role of DI Luke Bascombe in the critically acclaimed four-part production, uniquely shot in nearly hour-long continuous single takes.
The opening two episodes of four track Jamie’s arrest and follow the efforts of DI Bascombe and DS Frank (Faye Marsay) in getting to the bottom of the stabbing.
And it seems that Netflix has another hit on its hands, with Adolescence bagging an eye-watering 24.3million views in the four days following its release, launching it to the top of the streamer’s weekly charts.
This leaves a gaping chasm between the drama and its Netflix rivals with second-placed Running Point, a comedy starring Kate Hudson, languishing on just six million despite getting a three-day headstart.
Robert De Niro‘s show Zero Day, drama Beauty In Black and documentary series Formula 1: Drive To Survive make up the top five, all pulling in an audience of less than five million.
The only thing to better Adolescence in its first week was Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown’s adventure film Electric State with 25.2m views, but at two hours long it bagged far fewer viewing hours than its drama series rival.
The knife crime thriller is already well on its way to crushing other titans of the streamer’s illustrious history, including compatriot Baby Reindeer, which attracted 1.7m views in its first week before reaching around 80m in total.
Adolescence even beats supremely popular 2024 Harlan Coben series Fool Me Once, starring Michelle Keegan, which brought in around 20m views in its opening seven days .
Indeed, only internet-breaking period drama Bridgerton has ever bagged more views and that was during series three when it had already established itself as a big brand, driven by a huge marketing campaign.
The remarkable new show has even been making waves on the day-to-day audience charts, recording an audience of one million on a single day last weekend.
According to the Super TV X account, the only other Netflix series to appear in such a report in the past was British spy thriller Black Doves, starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw, but this drew in just 500,000 viewers in a 24-hour period.
On Wednesday, the heart-wrenching moment in Adolescence that never should have made it to screens was revealed.
In the final moments of the fourth instalment, creator and writer Stephen broke down in tears in his son’s room and tucks a teddy bear into his bed.
He then tells the cuddly toy: ‘I should have done better’ – and this wasn’t actually what was supposed to happen.
Director of the crime drama, Philip Barantini told Tudum: ‘We rehearsed it, and it was great…
‘But I just felt like there’s something about him tucking in Jamie’s teddy.
‘This is the only thing that Eddie’s got that he can touch – that’s malleable, that Jamie’s cuddled, and Jamie’s been with.
‘And then Stephen made it his own.’
Netflix’s outlet Tudum also added that Stephen was originally supposed to ‘get inside Jamie’s bed and pull the covers over his body, like he was an avatar for his imprisoned son’.
On Thursday, Adolescence co-star Ashley said he ‘f***ing regretted’ saying yes to his hero Stephen after gruelling hours on the set of the Netflix show.
The actor, 42, said: ‘Regardless of what the job was going to be, I would have said yes anyway.
‘You never say no to Stephen Graham.
‘He has a heart of gold, he’s one of the purest guys in this industry, as far as I’m concerned.
‘I’ve worked with a lot of people, they are not all like him. So to work with people that you love, respect, is so rare in this game.
‘So when you get the opportunity, you do it. And that’s what it was.’
The whole series took three months to film. Each episode took three weeks to complete, with the first week devoted to script runthrough, the second week to technical rehearsals, and the third to filming.
As the show makers needed a perfect hour of television in one continuous take, it required multiple versions to be filmed.
The cast and crew filmed 10 single-take versions over episode one of the series, and ended up using take two. While it wasn’t until take 14 when they got it perfect for episode two.
But Ashley had not anticipated quite how gruelling the unique filmmaking method would be, and humorously confessed: ‘When I got there… I f****** regretted it.’
He continued: ‘It was the hardest thing in the world. No, no it was. I was so insecure. I was so insecure, and it’s a lot. I had to learn the whole script.
‘And I had a lot to say in that first episode. And you’re leading a lot of it, as well. A lot of it is police jargon and whatever.’
Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen, 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was so impressed at the young British actor’s first audition, that he’s since revealed he turned to co-writer Jack Thorne when Owen left the room and said ‘I think that’s him’.
And Owen recently opened up about how Stephen has supported his career amid filming. The seasoned actor recommended his agent to the teen star, who came to watch a bit of episode one.
‘I got Wuthering Heights from that!’ Owen revealed in Variety. ‘But it’s been going really well. I’ve really enjoyed it. Obviously it not one-shot anymore! So I’m getting used to that. But it’s been amazing. Emerald’s lovely.’
Owen also told the outlet how Stephen was ‘always checking in on him’ during emotionally grueling scenes – with a psychologist on set.
Elsewhere, Stephen has branded the discovery of Owen, Adolescence’s ‘biggest achievement’.
‘We always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities,’ he told The Independent.
‘From the very beginning it was a conscious decision [by the team] that we wanted someone who didn’t have much experience. Like we did find little Tommo [This is England star Thomas Thurgoose] all those years ago.
‘We wanted someone who didn’t have a lot of experience, but we knew that what we were doing and what we were trying to ask this young person to do was cosmic in many ways.
‘It’s a huge undertaking, but we cast Owen, who had no experience, he’d done a couple of little theatre workshops, and he was just starting to do little bits in school.’
The Mail’s own Christopher Stevens has been among those raving about the new crime drama, giving Adolescence a perfect five stars out of five.
He said: ‘It’s effectively a live performance without retakes.
‘This sometimes gives the production a theatrical air, as if the action is taking place on a revolving stage. But the effect is always impressive and never distracting.
‘The strong supporting cast includes Mark Stanley as a solicitor well out of his depth, but the most exceptional performances come from the teenagers – especially Owen Cooper as Jamie and Fatima Bojang as the dead girl’s bereaved best friend.
‘Adolescence paints our schools, police and an entire generation in a grimly unforgiving light. Watching it is a gruelling experience.
‘But no drama has ever depicted the nightmare of knife crime better.’
All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix now.
