Stephen Graham has revealed the two harrowing real-life incidents that inspired his new Netflix hit Adolescence, recalling that they made his ‘heart hurt’.
The drama centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of Stephen, who plays the boy’s father.
Top Boy actor Ashley Walters takes on the role of DI Luke Bascombe in the critically acclaimed four-part production, uniquely shot in nearly hour-long continuous single takes.
The opening two episodes of four track Jamie’s arrest and follow the efforts of DI Bascombe and DS Frank (Faye Marsay) in getting to the bottom of the stabbing.
As an executive producer on the show, which aired on Thursday, Stephen, 51, said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK.
Joining his wife Hannah Walters in chatting to Chris Moyles on Radio X, the actor said: ‘Okay, let’s get this serious nature of the show out the way, and then we can have some fun, with all due respect.
Stephen Graham has revealed the two harrowing real-life incidents that inspired his new Netflix hit Adolescence, recalling that they made his ‘heart hurt’
The drama centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of Stephen, who plays the boy’s father (pictured)
‘Look, it started when I read an article, and it was an article about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and it just, you know, it made me feel cold.
‘And then a couple of months later, there was a piece on the news, and it was about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart.
‘And these two incidents were opposite ends of the country. And I just thought, “Why? Why is this happening?”
‘Not just because I’m a father, but I think any kind of human being with an ounce of moral compass can look at that kind of situation and think, “What’s happening? What’s going on with society today that we’re in?”‘
Stephen added that the spate of stabbings was a sharp contrast to the world he grew up in.
‘We’re entering this kind of era where there was, like, four, five, six, seven cases of young boys – and I’m going to call them young boys, they’re not men – stabbing girls to death,’ he said.
‘And, you know, that beautiful saying, “It takes a takes a village to raise a child”, I just wanted to create something that kind of looked at it from that perspective, but also looked at it like, look, maybe we are all slightly accountable in some way, be that parents, be that school, be that government, community, society.
‘And now, let’s be completely honest, when I was a kid, when we were kids, we didn’t have these kind of things. But today, the internet is as much of a teacher and a parent to our children as we can be. Do you know what I mean? And that was kind of where it came from.’
As an executive producer on the show, Stephen said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK (pictured: Owen as Jamie)
The critically acclaimed four-part production is uniquely shot in nearly hour-long continuous single takes
On Thursday, Adolescence co-star Ashley said he ‘f***ing regretted’ saying yes to his hero Stephen after gruelling hours on the set of the Netflix show.
The actor, 42, said: ‘Regardless of what the job was going to be, I would have said yes anyway. You never say no to Stephen Graham.
‘He has a heart of gold, he’s one of the purest guys in this industry, as far as I’m concerned.
‘I’ve worked with a lot of people, they are not all like him. So to work with people that you love, respect, is so rare in this game.
‘So when you get the opportunity, you do it. And that’s what it was.’
The whole series took three months to film. Each episode took three weeks to complete, with the first week devoted to script runthrough, the second week to technical rehearsals, and the third to filming.
As the show makers needed a perfect hour of television in one continuous take, it required multiple versions to be filmed.
Stephen added that the current spate of stabbings in the UK was a sharp contrast to the world he grew up in
Top Boy actor Ashley Walters takes on the role of DI Luke Bascombe in the hit four-part production
The cast and crew filmed 10 single-take versions over episode one of the series, and ended up using take two. While it wasn’t until take 14 when they got it perfect for episode two.
But Ashley had not anticipated quite how gruelling the unique filmmaking method would be, and humorously confessed: ‘When I got there… I f****** regretted it.’
He continued: ‘It was the hardest thing in the world. No, no it was. I was so insecure. I was so insecure, and it’s a lot. I had to learn the whole script.
‘And I had a lot to say in that first episode. And you’re leading a lot of it, as well. A lot of it is police jargon and whatever.’
Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen, 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was so impressed at the young British actor’s first audition, that he’s since revealed he turned to co-writer Jack Thorne when Owen left the room and said ‘I think that’s him’.
And Owen recently opened up about how Stephen has supported his career amid filming. The seasoned actor recommended his agent to the teen star, who came to watch a bit of episode one.
‘I got Wuthering Heights from that!’ Owen revealed in Variety. ‘But it’s been going really well. I’ve really enjoyed it. Obviously it not one-shot anymore! So I’m getting used to that. But it’s been amazing. Emerald’s lovely.’
Owen also told the outlet how Stephen was ‘always checking in on him’ during emotionally grueling scenes – with a psychologist on set.
Owen has opened up about how Stephen has supported his career amid filming. The seasoned actor recommended his agent to the teen star, who came to watch a bit of episode one
Elsewhere, Stephen has branded the discovery of Owen, Adolescence’s ‘biggest achievement’.
‘We always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities,’ he told The Independent.
‘From the very beginning it was a conscious decision [by the team] that we wanted someone who didn’t have much experience. Like we did find little Tommo [This is England star Thomas Thurgoose] all those years ago.
‘We wanted someone who didn’t have a lot of experience, but we knew that what we were doing and what we were trying to ask this young person to do was cosmic in many ways.
‘It’s a huge undertaking, but we cast Owen, who had no experience, he’d done a couple of little theatre workshops, and he was just starting to do little bits in school.’
The Mail’s own Christopher Stevens has been among those raving about the new crime drama, giving Adolescence a perfect five stars out of five.
He said: ‘It’s effectively a live performance without retakes.
‘This sometimes gives the production a theatrical air, as if the action is taking place on a revolving stage. But the effect is always impressive and never distracting.
The Mail’s own Christopher Stevens has been among those raving about the new crime drama, giving Adolescence a perfect five stars out of five
Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen (pictured, right, with Stephen), 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was impressed at the young British actor’s first audition
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Adolescence's Ashley Walters admits he 'f***ing regrets' agreeing to star in Stephen Graham thriller
‘The strong supporting cast includes Mark Stanley as a solicitor well out of his depth, but the most exceptional performances come from the teenagers – especially Owen Cooper as Jamie and Fatima Bojang as the dead girl’s bereaved best friend.
‘Adolescence paints our schools, police and an entire generation in a grimly unforgiving light. Watching it is a gruelling experience.
‘But no drama has ever depicted the nightmare of knife crime better.’
All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix now.