Adolescence: I was stunned by Netflix hit show filmed in Yorkshire - it backed up my decision to quit social media

Warning - This article contains spoilers and sensitive subjects that may be triggering to the reader

Wow.

After I finished the last episode of Adolescence on Netflix, the first thought that popped into my head was, I hope these young actors were supported by the television crew because that was some serious acting.

Adolescence was filmed in South Kirkby's Production Park and the surrounding area, each episode was shot in one continuous take and it is about a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, who is arrested on suspicion of murdering his classmate, Katie Leonard.

I was stunned to find out that this was Owen Cooper’s (who portrayed Jamie) first acting experience - I have a strong feeling that it won’t be his last.

Normally I can binge watch any series, especially a miniseries, in a matter of weeks without any problems.

But for this one - even though it was only four episodes long - I had to take long breaks in between. It was too much to digest in one sitting.

Episode three was the most traumatic to watch; Owen and Erin Doherty’s (who portrayed psychologist Briony Ariston) acting felt so real, so raw and it was difficult to swallow.

In between episodes my emotions towards Jamie were very mixed; I felt empathy for him in episode one, seeing the aggressive way police officers were handling him, seeing him cry in the car, the look of guilt, remorse and fear in his eyes. To me, he just looked like a vulnerable little boy.

However, in episode three, I felt anger towards him during his violent outbursts and the way he objectified and dehumanised girls in his school, including Katie. The way he threatened Bryony to such an extent she was shaking with fear. But I also felt pity when he described his relationship with his dad.

What I really respected about the series was that it didn’t just go down one route; there were many factors exposed that had the potential to lead Jamie down this dark path.

There was a stark contrast between the way Jamie revealed his emotions and the way he behaved towards others; he was terrified of being injected by a needle, yet he stabbed his female classmate seven times; he felt violated when police officers told him to take off his clothes during a strip search, yet he objectified and ridiculed a girl’s body; he asked the psychologist “do you like me?” as he was in desperate need of emotional attachment, yet he used profane and hateful language when describing Katie.

These contradictions symbolise his childlike, vulnerable nature in comparison to the way he had been moulded by outside sources.

Our adolescence is the most vulnerable period of our life; it is the moment we transition from child to teenager, we enter into puberty and go through a myriad of changes in our body. We start to perceive other people differently, we become more attune to our emotions and feelings.

One thing that this series revealed to me was that putting young people in oppressive boxes at that stage of their lives is the most dangerous thing we can do. These boxes that come in the form of gender roles and conformity can be ingrained from various sources. Parents have a significant role to play, particularly fathers in their sons’ lives, social media is another factor that can enforce these oppressive boxes and the friends, school peers and teachers are also significant influencers in a young person’s life.

Much more needs to be done; schools must be given the tools to foster safe spaces for young people to be able to explore who they are, express themselves freely and talk to their peers, where they feel safe, protected and they are not judged.

Perhaps more clubs need to be introduced where they can try out different hobbies and pastimes. Reading books from various genres could be very beneficial to help them expand their minds and creativity. But these initiatives cannot be implemented if schools are underfunded and unsupported.

I’m embarrassed to say that whilst Stephen Graham (who portrayed Eddie) has starred in a very wide selection of prestigious films and TV shows, including This Is England, Peaky Blinders and Line of Duty, I’ve never actually seen him in anything. But I’ve always heard rave reviews about his acting skills. Now I have seen what I’ve been missing. And it’s a lot.

Here’s another character who has been raised to lead with his fists, yet we do see a very vulnerable side to Eddie. Initially he didn’t want to confront his issues, he was in denial and angry that his son was arrested. But towards the end, he realised, with the help of his wife, that it’s ok to admit that he could have done more as a father, that it’s not weak but strong to own your mistakes, learn from them and shed that shame.

It also showed that just because he wasn’t physically violent towards his son, it doesn’t mean that his behaviour didn’t ingrain violent thoughts in his son’s head. Sometimes subliminal body language can have a bigger impact than physical interactions; when Jamie emotionally described his dad’s dismissive reaction to him at the football game in episode three, you could see this affected him more than his violent behaviour.

Other actors who stood out to me were: Ashley Walters (DI Luke Bascombe), Faye Marsay (DS Misha Frank), Christine Tremarco (Manda Miller, Jamie’s mum), Amélie Pease (Lisa Miller, Jamie’s sister), and Fatima Bojang (Jade, Katie’s best friend). Each character offered a unique insight that delved deeper into the root of the subject matter.

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In episode two, I felt frustrated with the way DI Bascombe tried to migrate towards the motive of the crime; the motive points in the direction of victim blaming.This is unfortunately often the way female victims are treated. They are portrayed as instigators of crimes against them instead of pure victims.

His investigation led him to the conclusion that “Katie was bullying Jamie”. It wasn’t just me who felt angry by this as his partner DS Frank confronted him over the direction he was taking that perpetuated this notion that girls and women should do more to protect themselves from violent boys and men.

You could see that he was willing to listen to her point of view, which convinced him to charge Jamie for murder.

During the second episode, the show also delved deeper into Jamie’s surroundings at school, the way the pupils behaved; it was like Lord of the Flies.

What also struck me was the difference in the way male teachers disciplined the pupils compared with female teachers; the former would shout aggressively, even swear at the children, whilst the latter were still firm but not aggressive, rather timid, reserved and anxious.

Social media was a recurring theme of the series; we learn in episode four that Jamie would get back from school, run up the stairs, slam the door and lock himself away for hours. Eddie and Manda both had suspicions that he was often on his computer but they didn’t think anything of it.

From my experience, I understand the serious issues of social media when used habitually. I went through a revelation recently that I was on the precipice of social media addiction and if I didn’t nip it in the bud, I could lose myself completely. There and then I decided, on February 7, 2025, to be exact, to deactivate my X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts. I have since felt a dramatic change in my mood; whilst I know that the way we interact with people on social media is not the same as in real life, I do feel like my personality was drastically different to how it is now.

I know myself very well, I’m not a short-tempered person, but that’s how I was behaving when I was all-consumed by the virtual world. I asked myself, why did I want to use social media? The reason was that I wanted to find my community; a group of like-minded people who inspire me and make me believe in impossible things. Well since abandoning the virtual world, I have forged incredible friendships and joined many real-life communities that are achieving what I wanted in a much healthier way. I feel a thousand times lighter, I have tonnes more energy, I am going after things I never thought possible because leaving the virtual world has made room for the real one.

We don’t realise how much social media is affecting our lives until we take a clean break from it and observe the difference in our behaviours and moods. When you add the layer of vulnerability of youth and dangerous “influencers” such as Andrew Tate, it gets so much worse.

With the rapid growth of technology in a short space of time and the quick development of social media in just 20 years, there must be stricter strategies in place to manage them in order to protect our most vulnerable. Currently, nothing like this exists.

Recently, more than 150,000 people all over the world signed a petition led by Renee & the Collective Shout - a grassroots movement - demanding Spotify to take down Andrew Tate’s harmful podcast. It worked and it has now been removed. Instead of the burden of responsibility always resting on the people, the owners and managers of these prominent platforms need to do more.

Social media platforms enable our worst personality traits and even create new ones. If we do not enforce stricter regulations and rules, we are at risk of damaging the psyche of the younger generation and this has disastrous consequences.

I think what Netflix has done in shedding light on this contentious subject on a prominent stage must be encouraged further.