Oh, how Netflix has been crying out for a series like Adolescence. Over the past few years, the company that kicked off last decade’s great “streaming revolution” has entered a qualitative nosedive. The content has kept coming, thick, fast and predictable; despite huge budgets and a ream of big-name stars, however, critical successes have been few and far between. The very word “Netflix” has become, for many, an unfortunate prefix for the word “slop”. Which makes a series like Adolescence all the more impressive.
Created by Jack Thorne (This is England ’86, ’88 and ’90) and Stephen Graham, who also stars, the four-part drama focuses on Jamie (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing a female classmate. It’s an intelligent, stylistically adroit and timely piece of work, tugging at important issues surrounding teenage masculinity, online radicalisation and incel culture. Each episode is shot in a single take – a feat of invention and endurance for both the crew and the actors involved. Responses have been candent, from both critics and viewers: Adolescence is a triumph. But while its success represents a rare win for Netflix, British broadcasters – particularly the BBC – might well be ruing it.
The thing is, Adolescence doesn’t just make the bulk of Netflix’s original slate pale in comparison, but the vast majority of British TV. It is exactly the sort of programming that the BBC has sought to build its brand upon – classy but accessible; topical and socially conscious; appointment viewing; in modern parlance. But, in truth, the BBC can’t claim to have put out anything on this level lately. Go back to 2020, and the broadcaster was putting out shows such as I May Destroy You, Normal People, and Small Axe. In the half-decade since, it’s hard to think of anything that really holds a candle to them. Likewise, Channel 4 was once a force to be reckoned with in the world of meaty, button-pushing British drama. Lately though? Zilch.
The UK’s traditional broadcasters are facing, in corporations such as Netflix, an existential threat. It’s not just that streaming has lured viewers away from traditional television through technological convenience; the globalised distribution method has opened up a whole world of new competition for Britain’s national broadcasters. Now, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 aren’t just competing with each other, but with American media titans – and the attendant money, stars and production values that come with them. It’s understandable that the BBC isn’t churning out series like Stranger Things, glossy TV blockbusters with budgets as high as $30m per episode). That’s not a battle it’s equipped to fight. But Adolescence? That’s Netflix beating the BBC at its own game.
What’s more, Adolescence is not the first instance of this. Just last year it was Baby Reindeer that took Netflix by storm – a chewy and universally acclaimed British miniseries from comedian Richard Gadd, based on Gadd’s own experiences with a stalker. And while that series has been subsequently tangled up in lawsuits and controversies surrounding its real-life inspirations, there’s no denying Baby Reindeer’s considerable artistic worth, as a fascinating and thoughtful study of trauma’s complexities. Again, this series ought to scream BBC, or perhaps the more irreverent Channel 4, back when Channel 4 was more reliable in its creative commissioning. That it went to Netflix instead is both a sign of the times and a missed opportunity – the fact that the BBC has snared Gadd for his next series, the forthcoming Half Man, suggests it knows it, too.
And yet, while bosses of the BBC et al might not be thrilled by the attention Netflix is getting, there is a more positive way of looking at things. It is good that Adolescence was made, and that it was brought to the screen with clarity and integrity intact. It is a welcome reminder that the best British TV can stand toe-to-toe with its international competition, that creators need to “go Hollywood” to achieve real and meaningful success. It’s easy to bash Netflix a lot of the time – and a lot of the time it’s deserved. But Adolescence is a powerful piece of television, and there’s only one place to watch it. Make of that what you will.
‘Adolescence’ is streaming now on Netflix
