Netflix drama Adolescence’s trick isn’t a gimmick – it’s vital

Every once in a while, a TV drama comes around that completely knocks you for six.

Adolescence might not be out yet on Netflix, but we can guarantee that this harrowing show – which follows a 13-year-old boy and his family after he’s accused of murdering a girl from his school – will leave you shaken.

Starring Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters, Christine Tremarco and 15-year-old newcomer Owen Cooper, the four-part series is filmed in a unique and immersive way, with each episode consisting of a single continuous shot that doesn’t cut away once.

Ahead of its launch, Metro spoke to the lead cast members, director Philip Barantini and writer Jack Thorne to discuss the importance of the conversations being sparked by this drama and why the one-shot style of filming was vital to the story.

While watching Adolescence, it’s incredible to think how the crew achieved such complex shots, from 13-year-old Jamie (Owen) being arrested at his home to being transported to the police station and then undergoing intense interrogations… all without cutting away.

Philip, who also directed the 2019 film Boiling Point in one shot, explained why this filming technique isn’t a ‘gimmick’, but a tool to draw the audience in to an even greater degree and ‘force them to pay attention’.

‘When we talked about this project, and the one shot thing, we really talked about it quite seriously because I’ve done Boiling Point, and I didn’t want to be known as the guy who just does the one takes. But this particular story, what it does is it forces you to pay attention,’ he stated.

‘It’s relentless, and it puts a perspective on things that you wouldn’t necessarily have. You can’t jump forward in time, you can’t cut to another person, you can’t go to a close up.’

The director shared that one of his and Stephen’s favourite TV shows is Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody, which they discussed at length when they were conducting their research for Adolescence.

‘It’s just that relentlessness of a ticking clock. We wanted to just dip the audience in for an hour in this particular moment in time, dip them back out again, and then put them in a few months later and let them work it out themselves. I think what it does is it creates an extra layer of tension and a subconscious anxiety that you wouldn’t necessarily get from a conventional drama.’

In doing this, the creators behind the Netflix series wanted to make it feel more ‘organic’, rather than ‘forcing the audience to look at something that they didn’t necessarily want to look at at times’.

‘I think there is a fine line between becoming a gimmick and it becoming useful for the story,’ he stressed. ‘You can’t necessarily do it for everything. It’s a huge challenge for everybody.’

Jack, whose previous work includes Toxic Town, The Cursed Child and His Dark Materials, had never worked on a one-shot drama before Adolescence.

‘It’s all about empowering the actors. This whole setup is about empowering the actors, and it’s about their faces and that’s what Phil captures so mercilessly throughout the whole thing,’ the writer highlighted.

He explained how on different shows, actors might have to flit between different scenes that are out of order, while ‘trying to keep the story in their head’.

‘This time, they’re experiencing as you’re experiencing as a viewer, and it just leads to such power from them. They are the storytellers, and it’s awesome to see.’

One might assume that while filming a one-shot drama, if any mistakes are made, the crew would have to halt production and start all over again.

However, with Adolescence, that wasn’t the case at all. Philip confirmed that they would never stop rolling unless it was absolutely necessary, and they filmed each of the one-hour episodes 10 times before deciding which would be their final take.

‘If something’s a bit off, we’d never stop, unless it was dangerous and someone maybe fell over. We would never stop, and then we’d get to the end and then we’d re-watch it and be like, “Does this work? Is it still serving the story?” And if it was, we could bank it and be like, we’ve got one in the bank,’ Philip recalled.

‘I wanted to give the actors and all the supporting artists and all the crew the ability to just be a bit free with it as well and play a little bit. The way Jack writes is just phenomenal, and his dialogue is impeccable. But if you were to write in a script all the “erms” and “ahs” and the pauses, the script would be 200 pages long.

‘Nobody talks super eloquently every day, there’s little nuances in everybody. So I wanted them to have that.’

While this wasn’t Stephen’s first rodeo with a one-shot drama, having starred in Boiling Point before, for other members of the cast, this style of filming was a unique experience for them.

‘You have that spontaneity of theatre and that live performance. It’s that energy inside, that visceral energy on set, because we’re a part of a team. It’s a major collective. It’s like footy players. You’re all integral, and you’re passing the ball around,’ Stephen recollected.

‘It’s the energy, and it’s making sure you know that you’re in that flow. I’ve never been so zen in the performances and never been so immersed within it. So you’ve got that aspect of theatre, but then you have the naturalism and the minimalism of film and television. So you combine both of those things together. It’s an amazing experience.’

His co-star and on-screen wife Christine agreed, saying: ‘It’s such an honour to shoot this way, I think because you’re allowed such freedom. But then also the collaboration. It’s like a synchronicity that happens. Each take can be different, because the littlest thing can send a scene somewhere else.’

Praising the ‘amazing’ crew, the actress added that it was ‘not just about the performance’ as ‘everything has to be in sync’. ‘So it’s total synchronicity and teamwork across the board.’

Delving into the preparations that went on before filming took place, Stephen explained that they would spend a whole week rehearsing with the director, which gave them time to really analyse their scripts.

‘We were in a very blessed position. We had Jack on set with us for a lot of the time, and myself as one of the creators and writers. So we were constantly changing the dialogue and adapting the dialogue and making it as real and as truthful and as authentic as possible,’ he said.

The actor revealed how Owen would point out if certain pieces of dialogue didn’t sound realistic to what a teenager would say, and that would be taken into account to make changes to the script.

‘Owen would be like, “I wouldn’t really say that. I don’t think a teenager would say that.” There’s no egos involved. Jack was like, “Perfect. Okay, then what would you say?” Because he’s gonna know what language gets used,’ he said.

Erin, who plays psychologist Briony in the drama, outlined the two-week rehearsal period she spent for her ‘intense’ episode with Owen, which took a week to film.

Detailing how fluid the filming process was, allowing for changes with different takes, she shared: ‘Even through that process, we were continuously surprising each other, and Phil the director was constantly giving us these little tweaks or things to think about, and then just letting it fly. So Owen would do things that would take me aback.

‘There were genuine moments where I had no idea what he was going to do. I think it’s a real marker of his emotional intelligence and his ability to do this job. He was able to dive in and let this quite terrifying personality take over. It’s a really intense situation, and it was quite frightening at moments. But he really is spectacular in this and so it was just an honour to be in the room.’

Adolescence premieres on Thursday March 13 on Netflix.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.