Adolescence star Owen Cooper's audition tape for hit Netflix show has been released

With Netflix and the team behind the series confirming that Adolescence was Cooper's first ever acting job and time on a set, many can't quite believe that this is the first role he's ever been in.

In the released audition tape, we see Cooper performing one of the scenes from the first episode where he is questioned in the police interview room.

Another clip shows one of the snippets of dialogue that Cooper eventually shared with Erin Doherty in episode 3.

His explosive outburst in episode 3 is also mirrored in his audition, where he flips a chair and says he doesn't want to be there.

While just an audition, you can tell it's got the makings of something excellent, as shown in the final result in the series – where Cooper delivers quite the performance.

Netflix also handily showed Cooper and Doherty his audition tape in an interview, with the actor squirming at the thought of watching it back.

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While the pair share some laughs over the change in his hairstyle, Doherty revels in watching the scene and says that even from the small clip, she can see how Cooper's characterisation can illicit sympathy.

But it's the scene where Cooper tearfully says that he's innocent and not done anything that actually turned out to be the audition that got him the part. "Apparently, yeah," Cooper tells Doherty.

Since its release, Adolescence has continued to be the drama of the moment, with many lauding the series for its discussion of pressing issues, as well as its feat of technicality in being filmed in one continuous shot per episode.

The series uncovers the impact of Jamie's horrifying murder of a female classmate, asking the question of why he would commit such a crime and also what conditions led him to do so.

The writers of the four-parter, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, have been forthright in the fact that their show doesn't set out to answer questions, simply posing enough of them to get discussions going.

Some fans have criticised the series, asking for more clarity around answers to some burning questions relating to the whereabouts of the knife and the details of the crime.

But Thorne has since said there is "real joy in the incomplete". In an interview with Deadline, Thorne said: "There is a real joy in how partial this show was able to be. It was written in a really partial way, we couldn’t cover all corners.

"For instance, episode 2 has a whole question going through it, of where is the knife? That’s why DI Luke Bascombe [Ashley Walters] is there.

"We cannot answer that. We don’t answer that. I could have tried to fit it into dialogue in episode 3, but that would have felt inauthentic and wrong."

Adolescence is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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