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You might have missed these small, vital details in Netflix’s Adolescence, but they add to its brilliance

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Adolescence is a male-dominated drama – both in its themes, and the way it’s chosen to execute them. From where the camera points, to some of the more subtle exchanges between the characters, it’s woven into every aspect of the show – and this only adds to its brilliance.

From the moment of his arrest at the start of episode one, the camera stays fixed on Jamie Miller, the accused teen at the centre of a murder investigation. This is the character at the centre of the story, and the rest of the faces we see are simply in his orbit.

I’ve been following this heart-wrenching case closely, and all I have to go on are Katie’s name, a poignant arrangement of flowers left at the tragic site where she lost her life, and grainy security camera footage that vividly captures her last agonizing moments.

We don’t really get to see the girl whose life was taken in one swift act of male rage. We don’t feel her family’s grief. We don’t get to know who she was, what she could have offered to the world. And while this might, on the surface, seem like a misstep, it actually only adds to the point that the drama is making.

Adolescence is commendable in the way in which it keeps the focus on the perpetrator. That’s because it’s not about whether or not he did it, it’s an exploration of the why. The things that potentially fed that moment; and not in a way to excuse anything, but in a way to force us all to ask some difficult questions about the world in which we live.

Stephen Graham – who both starred in and co-wrote the drama (with long-time collaborator and award-winning writer Jack Thorne) – has spoken about this being an intentional move. He told Digital Spy that he wanted to flip the script and explore a “different perspective” than a standard police procedural, which would typically follow multiple angles.

With each standalone instalment filmed in one single take, the viewer’s gaze is kept in that singular direction. But whenever the camera does cross paths with a female character, their treatment or experience of Jamie’s case acts as a tiny piece that helps build the overarching (and yes, patriarchal) puzzle.

When Jamie chooses his appropriate adult, the one that will be by his side during questioning, he instantly selects his father Eddie (Stephen Graham). As a result, we don’t get much context of the biggest female figure in his life (his mother, played by Christine Tremarco). Instead the focus is on the dynamic between himself and his father; his example of what it means to be “a man” navigating the world.

Lead detective DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) is also worrying about his connection to his own son, and at one point expresses concern about the way he’s showing up as a father.

Bascombe’s subordinate DS Frank is a woman, and it absolutely feels intentional that it’s this way around. It shouldn’t be lost on audiences that when the teacher, Mrs Fenumore (Jo Hartley), introduces them to a classroom, she momentarily forgets to address Frank altogether – an experience that will feel all-too familiar for many women in the workplace.

Even though there was an oversight, her voice remains crucial. It allows Bascombe (as well as us, the audience) to grasp some genuine insights into the fact that women frequently find themselves relegated to being mere footnotes in their own narratives.

As can be the case in the way real-world instances of male violence against women are talked about, the accused’s name dominates the conversation. The act that destroyed that woman’s life. In this way, Adolescence is making a point to do the same – and in doing so, it’s holding a mirror up to it.

Then we come to Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty), the psychologist who has been assigned to assess Jamie. She is a professional in a field that requires a certain skillset – we’re no experts, but there’s presumably a degree, or at the very least a wealth of training, that would put you across from someone facing a murder trial in this capacity.

When she requests a male prison guard to allow her to observe the cameras in the interrogation room, he was eager to share with her his knowledge on “body language” that he’s been learning from a book. He admitted later that he didn’t actually need to tell her about it. No, you truly didn’t have to mention it.

Adolescence lives in the complexity of its subject matter, and that’s what makes it such an exceptional piece of drama.

While elements of it were frustrating to watch as a woman, this was entirely the point – and after all, we need to centre men in this conversation. Because that’s where the understanding, reflection and change needs to happen.

Adolescence is available on Netflix now.

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2025-03-18 19:43

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