If there’s one thing I love about the Brits, it’s that their television programs are concise. Unlike so many American miniseries where drama unfolds over the course of too many poorly paced episodes, shows out of the U.K. tend to get straight to the point. Netflix‘s new show, Adolescence, fits that bill to a tee.
The new series from actor and co-creator Stephen Graham follows a British family whose 13-year-old son (Owen Cooper) is arrested for the brutal murder of a classmate. The show begins with the police storming into the family’s home in the early hours of the morning, arresting Jamie in his bed, and terrifying his family members in the process. The investigation unfolds across the four-episode series, with each one-hour installment honing in on a particular portion of the case — i.e. Jamie’s arrest and first interrogation, the questioning of his classmates and school officials, his meeting with a psychologist, and the fallout from all of the above.
Just based on this description alone, it may seem as if Adolescence is nothing out of the ordinary. After all, the world has seen plenty of crime shows, murder dramas, and stories about teenagers who are accused of shocking crimes. What takes this show from ordinary to extraordinary, though, is the mechanics of the project and the unique storytelling techniques it employs. You see, each episode is filmed in a single, continuous, unbroken shot. It’s not a gimmick, though; by avoiding cuts or dissolves, the audience is able to experience the horror and bewilderment of the unfurling criminal investigation in real time, creating a bond between the characters and the viewers that is as unique as it is unsettling.
Episode 1, for example, goes from the inside of a police car to the Miller’s home to the police station, all in one unending shot that feels intimate in a way I’ve never experienced. In doing so, the show creates a one-of-a-kind, fly on the wall experience that can be, at times, uncomfortable. The audience watches as officers bust into the home of an unsuspecting family, pull a 13-year-old boy from his bed and into a police station — but not before having him change his pants as he had peed himself — all while his mother and sister are sobbing from other rooms. This whole scene plays out while keeping the audience in the dark as to what Jamie has been accused of, which is in line with what his own family members are experiencing.
This storytelling technique makes the show feel more like a documentary than a scripted series, albeit a documentary that does not cut to a talking head sharing an overview of what the audience is looking at. But it’s the choice to film each episode without any cuts, allowing the story to unfold as though the viewer is one of the subjects, that makes Adolescence one of the most dynamic TV shows of 2025 thus far. If you are anything like me, you’ll be battling your way through borderline nausea as you wrestle with the case and the slow reveal of information. It’s hard to be upset, though, as the show is so well-written and executed that one cannot help but marvel at each moment.
Adolescence also requires viewers to exercise patience as the story is structured, not to play out as if it were a real court case, but as if we are the family members of this boy or those affected by the murder of another student. We may not get to watch Jamie’s trial play out, but the show doesn’t pitch itself as a normal crime drama for that reason. It isn’t about Jamie’s guilt or innocence, it’s asking us to dig a little deeper into what drives any person to harm another — and how we as a society react to these terrible circumstances. In this particular case, it focuses on the online radicalization of young boys, but also the universal harm that social media and toxic male influencers like Andrew Tate (who is referenced by name in the series) are doing to an entire generation. Adolescence, therefore, becomes less about a murder in the show and more about the real-world dangers that could lead to any family experiencing what the Miller family goes through.
Compelling and disturbing from the very first episode, Adolescence will no doubt go down as one of the best shows you’ll see on Netflix in 2025.
All four episodes of Adolescence are currently streaming on Netflix.
