Is Adolescence on Netflix based on a true story?
The hard-hitting new drama comes from Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne.
It's a good time to be a fan of Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, the creators of new Netflix drama Adolescence.
While Graham, who also stars in the series, can currently be seen in Disney Plus show A Thousand Blows, Thorne has also written the Netflix drama series Toxic Town, which will soon arrive on the streamer.
In Adolescence, a four-part drama which sees every episode filmed entirely in one shot, Graham plays the father of a young boy accused of murdering a female schoolmate.
It's a shocking, emotional and hard-hitting series, but is it entirely fictional, or is it based on a true story?
Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration behind Adolescence.
Is Adolescence based on a true story?
Adolescence is not based on any one specific true story, with the exact events and characters depicted in the series being entirely fictional.
However, that isn't to say that the show wasn't inspired by tragic and shocking real-life events - in fact, Graham has confirmed that he came up with the idea for the series based on news stories in the UK over the past decade.
Speaking at a Next on Netflix event earlier this year, Graham explained: "The idea came as – over the past 10 years or so – we’ve seen an epidemic of knife crime amongst young lads, up and down the country.
"And for me, there were certain instances that really stuck out where young boys – and they are young boys, you know, they're not men – were killing young girls.
"When I mentioned it to Phil [Barantini, director], it just really hit me hard. I just thought, 'Why? What's going on? What's happening? Why is this the case?'"
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Graham continued: "What's going on with our society as a whole, as a collective, and without being disrespectful, when these things are on the news – and we’re a couple of kids from council estates – but when these things are on the news, your judgement instantly goes to blaming the family, you blame the mum and dad.
"We’re all guilty of it, because that's the easy common denominator. I just thought, 'What if that's not the case at all?'"
So, while the series is not based on a specific true story, or even inspired by a particular incident, it seems the idea did come from a tragic series of events over recent years, which Graham and the team behind the show wanted to explore.
The official synopsis for the series says: "Adolescence tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school.
"Stephen Graham will play Jamie’s father and 'appropriate adult', Eddie Miller. Ashley Walters stars as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Erin Doherty is Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case."
Adolescence will stream on Netflix from Thursday 13th March 2025. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
