Netflix's 'Adolescence' Trailer Has Real-Time Teen Troubles

As someone who went through the hell years of teenage angst in the early 1990s, before the internet as we know it today or social media even existed, the idea of being a teenager in the 2020s seems pretty horrifying. Entire new forms of bullying and harassment, unseen by adult eyes, have risen up, as have new ways for teenagers to act out in ways that can be irrevocable. While the gun crisis is still mainly an American phenomenon because other countries actually make laws to control weaponry, the emotional forces that drive short-sighted kids to do permanent things are still present and heightened in ways they once weren't. That reality is the driving force behind Netflix's newest U.K. series, Adolescence.

The four-part series comes from Stephen Graham, who reunites with the same team he worked with for the 2023 BBC hit he wrote and starred in, Boiling Point (also on Netflix). Boiling Point took the "real-time" format usually reserved for shows about terrorism (24, Hijack) and used it to heighten the drama happening in one of the tensest places on earth: the kitchen of a high-end restaurant during dinner service. For Adolescence, Graham has taken this same one-shot format and applied it to every parent's worst nightmare, waking up one day to discover their underaged teen has been accused of murdering a classmate.

As usual, Graham both wrote and stars in the series as father (and "appropriate adult") Eddie Miller, whose 13-year-old son, Jamie, played by newcomer Owen Cooper, is accused of killing a young woman who attends the same school. This is Graham's second leading role to come to an American streaming service in less than a month, and just as ambitious as his boxing role on Hulu's A Thousand Blows.

Here's the series synopsis:

Adolescence tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. The four-part series is notable for each episode being shot in one continuous take as the action unfolds in real-time.

Graham and Cooper are joined by Ashley Walters (Missing You) as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Erin Doherty (The Crown) as clinical psychologist Briony Ariston. The supporting cast includes Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones), Christine Tremarco (The Responder), Mark Stanley (Happy Valley), Jo Hartley (Passenger), and newcomer Amélie Pease.

The series was created and written by Graham with Jack Thorne (Joy) and reunites the star with Boiling Point director Philip Barantini with Jo Johnson producing. Barantini executive produces for It’s All Made Up Productions, Thorne for One Shoe Films, Graham with Hannah Walters for Matriarch Productions, Mark Herbert & Emily Feller with Peter Balm & Niall Shamma as Co-Executive Producers for Warp Films, and Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Nina Wolarsky & Carina Sposato as co-executive producer for Plan B Entertainment.

Adolescence will premiere with all four episodes on Netflix starting Thursday, March 13, 2025.