Police break down the door of the Millers' family home. Teenage Jamie is arrested and taken in for questioning but insists he's done nothing wrong.
The police look for answers - and the weapon - at Jamie's school. They can't get any leads from his friends, until DI Bascombe's son offers to help.
Jamie meets with a psychologist. He's reluctant to speak at first, but eventually he opens up about his complex feelings towards Katie.
On Eddie's birthday, the Millers try to celebrate like everything is normal. But a series of upsetting events threatens to send the family over the edge.
Go in-depth with the cast & crew of Adolescence as they explain and uncover the inspiration behind the story and see how they pulled off the incredible four continuous takes that make this series a must-watch.
Episode 1 of Adolescence abruptly introduces us to Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), his dad Eddie (played by series co-creator Stephen Graham), and his mom Manda (Christine Tremarco), when the police storm their home and arrest Jamie on suspicion of murder. We’re also introduced to the one-shot filming style of the four-part limited series — each episode is filmed in one continuous take. “It took a few weeks to really understand that it was only one camera moving through space, that there was no cuts, and whatever was shot is the episode,” says director of photography Matthew Lewis.
Set in the aftermath of the crime, Adolescence Episode 2 takes us inside Jamie’s (Owen Cooper) chaotic comprehensive school where pupils and teachers, who knew both Jamie and the girl he murdered, are in shock. “Episode 2 is piecing it together within the school and seeing how social media can affect our children today,” says co-creator and star Stephen Graham. Each episode of the limited series was shot in one continuous take, meaning rehearsal was essential. There were 300 kids, plus teachers and chaperones in the school scenes, so shooting had to “be really meticulously planned out,” says director and executive producer Philip Barantini. The cast and crew would spend three weeks on each episode, walking through the script scene by scene, and doing tech rehearsal, then filming it. “The last week we get 10 chances, two a day, at shooting one take,” says Ashley Walters who plays Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe. Episode 2 was captured on the last take.
In Adolescence Episode 3, we get a glimpse into Jamie’s (Owen Cooper) mind as he and clinical psychologist Briony Ariston (The Crown’s Erin Doherty) sit down for a revealing conversation at Standing Secure Training Centre, where the 13-year-old boy is being held after murdering a classmate. The limited series is not a “whodunnit?” but more of a “why dunnit?” Adolescence looks at how Jamie ended up where he is and more widely at male rage. In Episode 3, “We get to really see inside of this young boy’s head,” says co-creator and star Stephen Graham. “Is it nature? It it nurture? What is it? What has led him to commit this horrific act?”
In Adolescence Episode 4, we get an up-close view of the devastation that Jamie’s crime has caused his family.
Adolescence's Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty take us through what it was really like to shoot episode 3 of Adolescence all in one shot.
