Why everybody is obsessed with the Netflix show ‘Adolescence’

Less than a week after the British show Adolescence was launched on Netflix, it has inspired an avalanche social media posts and personal messages demanding, “Drop everything and watch it.”

Some of the acclaim has to do with the way the limited series has been filmed. Director Philip Barantini and cinematographer Matthew Lewis have shot each of the four episodes in a single take, giving the narrative a propulsive, immersive feel.

The storytelling is in lockstep with the filmmaking. Adolescence is written by the actor Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne. Graham had previously starred in Barantini’s one-take film Boiling Point (2021), and plays a key role in Adolescence too. The screenplay is a devastating piece of writing – a document of the here and now as well as a commentary on alienation ricocheting through the generations.

Thirteen-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper) is arrested for the murder of his classmate Katie. Although the cherubic-looking boy protests his innocence, the police build a strong case against him. Jamie’s father Eddie (Graham), mother Manda (Christine Tremarco) and sister Lisa (Amelie Pease) go from being a regular working-class family to being outcasts.

Detectives Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and Misha (Faye Marsay) visit Jamie’s school, where they are given lessons in the significance of the colours used in emojis,...

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