‘It’s saving lives’: ‘Adolescence’ stars Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper on the series’ stunning success
“It’s saving lives.”
That’s how Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old star of Netflix’s runaway hit Adolescence describes the stunning impact of the series, which has taken the world by storm since its debut on the platform on March 13.
And while it might sound like hyperbole, he’s not wrong.
The gripping drama, about a teenage boy accused of the murder of a classmate, has brought to the forefront tough yet much-needed conversations about online bullying, toxic masculinity, and incel culture — so much so that lawmakers in the United Kingdom are calling for legislative changes about children’s access to social media.
“That feels quite special,” Cooper tells Gold Derby in a joint interview alongside the show’s co-creator, co-writer and star Stephen Graham. “Adolescence is teaching kids not to do that,” he says, referring to toxic social media behaviors.
Graham, too, is humbled by the show’s critical and commercial success, calling it “unbelievable.”
“You can't quantify the impact that it seems to have had because it's a very kind of colloquial British little story in the heart of it,” he says. “But I think the themes obviously resonate with the consciousness worldwide.”
The limited series, which plays out over four hour-long episodes, follows the murder investigation from the police station where Jamie (Cooper) is arrested and interrogated, to to his school where the officers interview his classmates, to his evaluation by a child psychologist, and finally to his family home over a year later, where his father (Graham), mother and sister comes to terms with the crime.
Graham says the series was inspired by “horrific incidents” he’d seen on the news about the subject matter. After the success of his series Boiling Point, he’d been approached by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, about doing a TV series in the one-shot format, and turned to writer Jack Thorne to craft the narrative.
Despite the dark, foreboding themes, “It was made with love, it was made with truth, honesty, respect, all of those things,” says Graham. “It was made with a lot of care and compassion. But for it to have the impact and for it to resonate the way it has it's overwhelming.”
For his part, Cooper says his life hasn’t changed that much — he just wrapped filming on Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. “And then I’m back in school on Monday,” he says nonchalantly. “So it’s back to normality after that.”
Graham acknowledges his life has changed a bit more outwardly — he can’t go to Tesco, the local market, without being stopped in every aisle to be complimented. “It’s a wonderful thing,” he says. “That’s why we made it. We made it to create conversation, and that’s what it seems to have done.”
More than praise from his peers in the industry (Adolescence is currently rated 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), he says, that’s what matters to him the most. “The biggest thing is parents who are saying thank you,” he says, reporting that many people have told him, “‘As soon as it finished, I went into my son's room and we had a conversation or I watched it with my son and we spoke for hours after it.’”
Adolescence is also earning kudos for its technical prowess, from the taut writing to the technical achievement of the oners, where every episode is filmed as one continuous sequence, with no edits. Cooper, who made his acting debut with Adolescence, says he had no advance warning of the acting high-wire act he was going to be asked to perform — and jokes he would have said no to the role had he known in advance. “But the one shot was perfect,” he acknowledges. “I really enjoyed doing it, and I would definitely do it over and over again.”
In fact, filming on the series started with the third episode — the critically lauded two-hander between Cooper and Erin Doherty who plays Briony, the child psychologist assigned to assess Jamie.
“To watch those two actors just go was beautiful,” says Graham, praising the “game of tennis” as they performed a complex script, as written by Thorne and directed by Jack Barantini. “To watch Cooper grow and flourish in that first thing we ever did was unbelievable. We knew he was talented, but when we finished that, we were just all, wow. He raised the level.”
Cooper credits the adults around him with ensuring his safety — and mental health — as he navigated the emotionally wrenching episode, where Jamie careens wildly from wide-eyed innocence to sudden rage and hostility. “If I didn't have that, I wouldn't have done it,” he says. “They made me feel comfortable because it's an environment that not a lot of people, like kids my age want to be in. It was quite challenging at first, but with the help of everyone around me, I couldn't have done it without them.”
Graham, who cast Cooper through his audition tape, calls him a “generational talent.”
“Owen's talent is second to none,” Graham says. “I don't think I've ever seen a talent like it, to be honest with you, at such a young age.”
Cooper, who’ll be competing as supporting actor at the upcoming Emmy Awards, would be the youngest should he prevail. “If that was to be the case, it’s definitely a massive achievement, and it's the next step in my life. I’ll just take it and move on,” he says. “It’s one of them things that will forever be there and I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.”
And among everything the series has already achieved — and with so much more to come — it’s that that Graham is most proud of. “The fact that we've created this opportunity for that wonderful young man to go and have a proper career within this industry,” he says. “That makes me so proud.”