Adolescence: The Netflix drama that will have every parent talking - Join our watch thread plus Q&A with producer and cast

[CeriMumsnet]

Premieres 13th March 2025

Read Hannah and Christine's answers to your questions here.

If you’re after a gripping new series to get stuck into, Adolescence is set to be the show of the year - and it’s one that will chill parents to the core. This tense British crime drama begins with the shocking arrest of 13-year-old Jamie Miller for the murder of a classmate. But as the investigation unfolds, the series delves into the unsettling realities of modern masculinity, online radicalisation, and the pressures facing today’s teenagers.

Filmed in South Kirby with a raw, unflinching realism, Adolescence isn’t just another crime drama - it’s a conversation starter. If you were lucky enough to catch the Mumsnet exclusive preview, you’ll know just how haunting and thought-provoking it is, with themes that resonate long after you finish watching.

Watch the trailer here:

Q&A
Adolescence Executive Producer Hannah Walters and actress Christine Tremarco who plays Jamie’s Mum will be joining us for a Q&A in the next couple of weeks, so make sure to share your questions about the show for them below.

• Hannah Walters is an actress, producer and co-founder of Matriarch Productions, an entertainment production company who aims to provide a much-needed platform for underrepresented voices and stories in the UK. Their credits include BOILING POINT (2021) and most recent TV series for the BBC. Hannah has two children with her husband Stephen Graham.

• Christine Tremarco is a British actress who along with playing Jamie’s Mum in Adolescence can also currently be seen in Channel 4’s drama series, The Gathering and in the BBC’s Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, directed by Al Mackay. Other screen credits include the BBC’s Responder opposite Martin Freeman, a series regular in Sky’s Wolfe, and Shane Meadows’ BAFTA winning series The Virtues opposite Stephen Graham.

So, what do we think? Will you be watching? Does the premise resonate with you? Let’s chat below! 👇

Ta

Incredible & powerful drama - wish it could rolled out to all schools with a workshop to get teenagers talking about their experiences. For those interested, there is a petition for social media use age limit to be 16+ not a magic wand, but maybe a step towards a cultural understanding of the potential harms of the Wild West that is social media! https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700086

Yes, the mum seemed to be putting a lot of effort in to managing the dad's feelings and trying to keep a lid on his explosive anger issues. Jamie mentioned that his dad had once destroyed a shed out of sheer anger. Who does that?

The dad saw himself as a better father than his own father as at least he didn't batter his kids. But he didn't model to Jamie how to regulate strong emotions; instead, he showed him how to project his anger on to others.

Subtle as a sledgehammer, some overwrought acting (the dad), some good acting (main Detective, psychologist).

The father was a violent, confrontational aggressive prick that everyone in the family tiptoed around.

I expect it was deliberate but the female characters were all insubstantial and seemed inconsequential (apart from the psychologist) including the victim.

Some of it was thought provoking but barely skimmed the surface.

Seemed like a first draft idea rather than a fleshed out, intelligent final version.

Yes! All teens should watch it.

Because she rejected him.

Quick question - the psychologist mentioned to creepy prison guy that she was having 5 sessions with Jamie. Was the session we saw session no. 5, or did she cut the course short due to what happened in that session?

I think it was always intended to be the final one.

I've bribed my 15yo DS to watch it with me with a big bag of chocolate buttons. We're on episode 2, haven't got into the whys and wherefores yet. Why does the episode make the teachers look so inept? My kids' school looks nothing like that level of chaos.

Your child is one of the lucky ones. Many schools are like this and I have seen worse. Kids just don't tell their parents what it is actually like

I thought episode 2 was the weakest.

I work in a secondary school in pastoral support and thought that episode 2 captured that every adult is just on their last nerve and heightened alert because their job is just impossible.

I kept thinking of angry lads I’ve worked with whenever Jamie lost it in episode 3. (Thankfully rare) occasions when I’ve had to evacuate a classroom because a student is raging or been the adult in a room when things are being smashed up. Just thinking what if… what if… what if… It was so well acted.

SPOILER ALERT 🚨 I’ve already watched the entire series twice, and what an incredible show. On my second viewing, I picked up on a lot more, especially how toxic masculinity is often passed down through generations. It really highlighted the importance of breaking that cycle, which starts with the father.

Even in my own life, I’ve noticed this, my brother, for example, didn’t grow up with a male role model and has been influenced by figures like Andrew Tate, shaping his views on women through the lens of online misogyny. Having a positive male figure to look up to is crucial for a child’s development and ultimately impacts how they perceive women. With domestic abuse cases hitting record highs in the UK this year, the show does a great job of illustrating how easily boys can develop misdirected anger towards girls, which can become incredibly dangerous. Two moments that really stood out: 1) During the session with the counselor, he showed no remorse, admitted his actions were premeditated, and clearly understood the concept of death. 2) The homeware store assistant mentioning an online community that would support the father’s son after seeing “photos of the victim.”

The show also shed light on the dark reality of online bullying, which was deeply unsettling. With social media shaping how kids interact, it was shocking that neither the police, teachers, nor parents realized Jamie was being bullied. They didn’t understand the emojis, acronyms, or coded language, until a young person explained it to them. It’s frightening to think there’s an entire digital world where children are being targeted and abused, completely invisible to adults.

My question to all the actors in the Q&A is: How did you find the experience of working on and portraying such a sensitive topic? In your opinion, what is the biggest threat facing young children in today’s social landscape, and how can parents help protect them?

Are you sure about that? If it’s a state comprehensive, it probably is fairly similar I hate to tell you…

Yes, state academy in one of the most deprived catchments in the country. I'm there a lot. The corridors are quiet, classes are quiet (except music!) and SLT patrol the corridors with walkie-talkies to pick up students out of class/respond immediately to any disruption. Staff in the safeguarding, behaviour and pastoral team work with our local police force to support students at risk of gang involvement and county lines. There's no way on this earth that they'd have a flustered random member of staff allowing police to stroll around the corridors accosting students, having students interviewed without a parent present or running off.

I really thought he was innocent and was shocked when they played the CCTV. The first episode was the best, a hard watch with a child, boy, around that age, same build, etc.

I still came away feeling sorry for Jamie. I don't know if that's just the mother in me or because we only saw his side of the story.

I would love to know which children's (?) choir sang Fragile (Sting, Aaron May and David Ridley) and the solo but at the end. Very moving. Does anyone know? It was at the end of E1 and is on Spotify.

Loved it!! Really eye-opening. I went and researched about Incels and it was really scary. It makes me worried for my daughter in the future. But also the acting was outstanding and loved the way it was continuously shot.

We've held off watching this because we're currently watching another series and wanted to finish that before watching this with our 14yo ds. Lots of people irl saying it should be on the school curriculum. It'll be a hard watch, given that our ds is the same age, but I've heard so many great reviews and feel it's important to have these difficult conversations with our teenagers.

I think that schools vary a lot. A friend of ds is currently at uni in a northern city. He went to a state school in a deprived area himself and thought he had seen everything but he currently has a part time job teaching a musical instrument in various schools in Sheffield & Leeds. There was a recent incident in the city where he works so he was worried about safety. Most schools reassured him but there was one school which I won't go into the specifics but there has already been an incident, the child is still in school and nothing has been done to protect staff or other students. The description of the school would make many of us recoil.

I know a lot of young men who could easily become Jamie's. The area I live young boys are being radicalised. They feel there is nothing for them, they are vilified for simply existing (or so they feel) and the likes of Tate offer them something they feel they can aspire to. It's frightening.

And yes, in this area it is normal for kids to be out 10pm ish at night.

It is a hard watch - I feel traumatized/depressed by it - because I have DS around that age and very close in size/build etc

The reflections people are sharing about how they perceive it as, to varying degrees, realistic or unrealistic re: school settings, remind me so much of Axel Rudakubana and his background. How he took a weapon into school and was subdued at the time, but until that point seemingly had a totally unblemished record (singing, acting). That surely seemed to his school like a shocking, bizarre eruption of violence in a previously sweet and normal boy, and fortunately one that, on that occasion, ended without significant harm.

I wonder if Jamie would have killed more girls or women if he had managed to delay his offending until closer to adulthood / past 18. Greater “sophistication” in planning might have postponed capture and permitted him to take further vengeance against anyone he felt had wronged him (which is what murderous, incel influenced men often do).

The actress who played Katie, interestingly

That is interesting. And what about the choral part? Were these the other youth actors in the programme?

I am unsure if I missed the point of this series. I understand the influence of social media and creating ideas about people - but would anyone then go and stab someone to death? I personally don’t think so