Is There Any Truth To Netflix’s Adolescence?

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Arriving on the platform tomorrow, Stephen Graham is a father with an arrested teenage son in Adolescence

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Is There Any Truth To Netflix’s Adolescence?

There’s a new high-octane, binge-worthy drama coming to Netflix tomorrow, starring Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller – a father grappling to support his 13-year-old son (Owen Cooper) when he is arrested and investigated for a disturbing crime. Described as ‘an ordinary family’s worst nightmare’, is Adolescence based on a true story? Here’s what you need to know.

(L to R) Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller, Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, in Adolescence

Is Netflix’s Adolescence Based On A True Story?

No, Netflix’s new drama Adolescence isn’t based on a true story, thankfully. In the opening moments of episode one – filmed in one shot, like the subsequent three episodes – we see police smash into the home of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper) and arrest him on suspicion of murdering a female classmate. The son of Eddie (Graham) and Manda (Christine Tremarco), Jamie is accused of stabbing a classmate. His parents immediately protest his innocence, but he’s taken in for questioning; since Jamie is 13, his father Eddie is enlisted as his chaperone. And thus begins what Graham calls ‘an ordinary family’s worst nightmare’.

While Adolescence isn’t based on a true story, it draws on the state of the British nation, according to Graham and series creator Philip Barantini. ‘We could have made a drama about gangs and knife crime, or about a kid whose mother is an alcoholic or whose father is a violent abuser,’ Graham tells Netflix. ‘Instead, we wanted you to look at this family and think, “My God. This could be happening to us!”

‘One of our aims was to ask, “What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet, and from social media?”,’ Graham adds. ‘And the pressures that come from all of those things are as difficult for kids here as they are the world over.’

These are themes that unfold as the series progresses, as we delve into Jamie’s life at school and his relationships with his peers. It holds a mirror up to a society wreaked by knife crime, which Graham described as an ‘epidemic’ at Next on Netflix in January 2025. ‘We’ve seen an epidemic of knife crime amongst young lads, up and down the country,’ Graham said. ‘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], it just really hit me hard. I just thought, “Why? What’s going on? What’s happening? Why is this the case?”

‘Without being disrespectful, when these things are on the news, your judgement instantly goes to blaming the family,’ Graham says. ‘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?”.’ Thus the shock of Eddie and Manda – an ordinary couple, a pair of good parents – when their 13-year-old son is accused of murder. What other societal forces are at play? And could the girl’s death have been prevented?