Topics: Adolescence, Netflix, Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, News, Film and TV
Stephen Graham has answered the question we're all thinking — if Adolescence is based on a true story or not.
The four-part series dropped on Netflix last week and was viewed by almost three million people in its first 48 hours in the UK alone.
Adolescence sees Peaky Blinders star Stephen Graham play Eddie Miller, whose 13-year-old son Jamie is accused of murder (arguably every parent's worst nightmare).
Owen Cooper plays Jamie, and his performance has left people in awe, especially as the young actor has no previous experience.
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Apparently, the teenager was one of 500 boys to audition for the role, Graham said on Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden.
Those behind the hit series, Graham included, didn't want someone with copious amounts of acting experience, either, explaining how the casting director, Shaheen Baig, wanted somebody more fresh,
"She saw over 500 young lads for this, and no disrespect, we didn’t want anyone who had a lot of experience, we wanted someone who is fresh and not used to the whole way that we work, so we saw 500 at least, and we narrowed it down to 5, and he’s one of those lads that was brilliant," he said.
Graham continued to compare Cooper to Killing Eve star Jodie Comer — a Liverpudlian like Graham — in terms of the talent he saw in the young star.
Elsewhere, Graham revealed if Adolescence was inspired by true events, like other popular crime series have been.
While it isn't based on one specific event, Graham shared what inspired him and co-writer Jack Throne.
"There was an incident where a young boy [allegedly] stabbed a girl," the Venom star told Tudum.
"It shocked me. I was thinking, 'What’s going on? What’s happening in society where a boy stabs a girl to death? What’s the inciting incident here?' And then it happened again, and it happened again, and it happened again.
"I really just wanted to shine a light on it, and ask, 'Why is this happening today? What’s going on? How have we come to this?'"
In another part of the Tudum interview, director Philip Barantini shared why the decided to shoot Adolescence in Wakefield, Yorkshire.
"We knew it was going to be set somewhere in the North of England, and we also knew it would be from somewhere around wherever our Jamie was from — in this case near Warrington — because it would have been unfair to make him do an accent," he explained.
Adolescence is now streaming on Netflix.
