Adolescence (TV Program)

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    Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper Talk About the Netflix Hit ‘Adolescence’

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    In an interview, the actors Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham explore the social and personal impact of the Netflix hit about a teenager accused of murder.In the three weeks since “Adolescence” arrived on Netflix, the drama about a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a schoolgirl after seeing misogynistic content online has soared in popularity. It has also made a star out of Owen Cooper for his portrayal of the teenager, Jamie Miller.Even so, Cooper, 15, had to return to high school in northern England on Monday.In a video interview this week, Cooper said that his first day back was “a bit mad,” with lots of attention from younger children. Tuesday was better, he said, with only “a bit of bother.”As Cooper discussed the complexity of his newfound fame, Stephen Graham, the actor who plays Owen’s father and was also taking part in the interview, sat up, alert. “What kind of ‘bother’?” Graham said, sounding like a concerned parent.Cooper explained that it wasn’t anything serious, just children coming up to him, shouting his name, then rushing off. To which Graham replied with relief and a smile, “Ah, just some silly bollocks.”“The reason I wanted to be an actor,” said Graham, who co-created the show, was “to make dramas that made me think.”Suzie Howell for The New York TimesCritics have highlighted that sort of bond between the two actors’ characters as one of the reasons for the show’s success, although it has also drawn praise for stirring debate about whether children’s access to social media should be restricted or smartphones banned from schools.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Has Parents Talking About Phones

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      The Netflix hit has touched off debates about smartphone use by children and, in Britain, fed into calls for a social media ban.The British screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne has written several TV dramas that he hoped would stir political debate. Until last week, they never quite took off.Then, his new show, “Adolescence,” appeared on Netflix.In the days since its March 13 release, the four-part drama about a 13-year-old boy who murders a girl from his school after potentially being exposed to misogynist ideas online has become Netflix’s latest hit. According to the streamer, it was the most watched show on the platform in dozens of countries after it debuted, including the United States.In Britain, the show has been more than a topic of workplace chatter. It has reignited discussion about whether the government should restrict children’s access to smartphones to stop them from accessing harmful content.Newspapers here have published dozens of articles about “Adolescence,” which Thorne wrote with the actor Stephen Graham. A Times of London headline called it “The TV Drama That Every Parent Should Watch,” and campaigners for a phone ban in schools have reported a surge in support.In Britain’s parliament, too, lawmakers have used the show to make political points. Last week Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the House of Commons that he was watching “Adolescence” with his two children, and said that action was needed to address the “fatal consequences” of young men and boys viewing harmful content online.In the show, Ashley Walters, center left, plays a police officer whose son has to instruct him on the meaning of emojis online.Netflix, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Adolescence’ Is a Cacophonous, Gripping Mini-Series

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      The emotionally complex new Netflix series, about a teenager accused of killing a classmate, doubles as a rich work of social critique.“Adolescence,” arriving Thursday, on Netflix, is a four-part mini-series about a 13-year-old accused of killing a classmate. So far, so Netflix. Its distinguishing features are its depressing realism and the fact that each episode is a continuous scene, which adds to the sense of panic and hurriedness.The show begins with the police storming the Miller family home to arrest the young son, Jamie (Owen Cooper), while his parents (Stephen Graham, Christine Tremarco) and sister (Amelie Pease) look on in horror and bafflement, crying and pleading. There is no break in the chaos. We stay with Jamie as he arrives at the police station, as he is fingerprinted and questioned, as the police take photos of his body while his father stands by in helpless horror.The show’s best episode, and one of the more fascinating hours of TV I’ve seen in a long time, is its third, a two-hander set seven months after the arrest. Jamie is in a juvenile detention facility, and a psychologist (Erin Doherty) is completing her independent evaluation to provide to the judge in his case. I watched this episode a few times, and it can land in different ways. Through one lens, she plays him like a piano, provoking a variety of emotional responses. Through another, she is a ship on his ocean, a witness to his tempestuousness but not its cause. The rhythm of the episode is the rhythm of Jamie’s audible breathing, and the toppled foosball table in the back corner is as upended as Jamie’s life.For better or worse, “Adolescence” evokes in the viewer the feelings of its characters: overstimulation, confusion, an increasingly powerful desire to tell everyone to sit down and be quiet for five dang seconds. Also sorrow, disbelief, a rending of the world and a surrender to never truly understanding — to not knowing, but … knowing.The performances here are superb, with varsity weeping and real sense of heft and verisimilitude. Is it a weird time to engage in recreational misery? When there’s so much free, ambient despair to go around? Yeah, probably, but “Adolescence” is not agony for agony’s sake. It uses its pain and shock as a side door into interesting questions and social critiques. It’s about a teen, but its ideas are adult.SIDE QUESTGraham, one of the creators of this series, and Doherty also star in “A Thousand Blows,” which is on Hulu. More