Adolescence co-creator Stephen Graham once teased that those behind the Netflix show did ‘something that’s never really been done before’ after casting Owen Cooper

Co-creator Stephen Graham has said that the team behind Adolescence did “something that’s never really been done before” whilst working on the Netflix show. He shared that it occurred during the casting of a lead role for the project.

The four-part series has been met with much praise since it launched on the streaming platform last week. It follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by Owen Cooper) and his family in the aftermath of him being accused of murdering a teenage girl from his school. Each episode is said to have been filmed in one “continuous” shot for the production.

Stephen, 51 – who plays Jamie’s father Eddie Miller – wrote and created Adolescence with Jack Thorne. He shared behind-the-scenes insights into the show whilst at a Netflix event earlier this year with director Philip Barantini, 44.

Discussing the casting process for the lead role of Jamie in the show, Philip said: “We scoured the North West. Shaheen Baig, our amazing casting director, is incredible at finding young talent and so we had, y’know, actors who’d done a few bits and bobs but also kids who’d never acted before, and Owen was one of those kids. He just self-taped for us.

“We were like ‘this kid’s got something’. He’s so like spontaneous and he’s listening […] He’s not thinking about acting. He’s not acting, he’s just being, y’know. And so we put him through his paces. […] I think there was a 5 or 6 audition processes and Stephen did some screen tests with him.”

Stephen then went on to suggest that the casting led to a “first” when it came to several other actors who had made it to the final stage for the role. He revealed at the event in January that they were offered other roles in Adolescence after it was decided that Owen would be cast as Jamie.

He expressed gratitude to others behind the scenes for their involvement whilst discussing the situation. Stephen began by saying: “It was that last phase … in that final phase, you know, because normally, and I think this is a first, and I don’t know, I think in my experience, you know, thanks to all of our execs as well that were involved, I think this is a first.”

The cast member added: “Normally you audition for a kid like this and, no disrespect, but you know they get through the rounds and through the rounds and through the rounds and then the last four, we did a workshop with [them]. We got it down … we narrowed it down to four boys, but there was like hundreds [in the casting process].”

Stephen continued by saying: “We got it down to these last four, but I think what we did is something that’s never really been done before.” He explained: “We were conscious not to go ‘thank you very much and see you later, tarra’.”

He said: “We knew that we wanted one kid, but the other four that we got down to our final selection, we gave them the opportunity to play other characters within our piece.” He added about the decision: “We didn’t audition them [again] because you can you can break their little hearts, do you know what I mean? And that’s not what you wanna do.”

The co-creator said: “You want to make these kids go ‘wow, okay’, and what you’re explaining from that very beginning is this is not down to your talent or your ability, it’s just that you don’t fit this particular thing that we’re looking for now, but we would like to offer you another role. And each and every one of the kids were absolutely superb, weren’t they? All of the kids within our piece are fantastic.”

Adolescence launched on Netflix last Thursday. Alongside Stephen and co-star Owen, the four-part limited series also features the likes of Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty among its cast – with them playing detective inspector Luke Bascombe and clinical psychologist Briony Ariston respectively.

The show has been described as “must see TV”. One viewer wrote on X: “A masterclass in cinematography, filmmaking & acting. #Adolescence on Netflix is incredibly devastating. The gripping single-take episodes makes you feel entangled in a spiral along with the characters, are not an easy watch, but leaves a solid gut punch. Highly recommended.” Another said: “Adolescence on Netflix is like a continuous gut punch for four hours, f***ing brutal but it is must see TV.”

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