A Netflix series has gripped the UK since its release last week. The drama series ‘Adolescence’ explores the heightened emotions after the murder of a teenage girl.
Not only has intense narrative captured audiences but also the show’s innovative filming approach. The entire series is shot in one continuous take. Director Philip Barantini has used this method before on Boiling Point, a show also starring Stephen Graham.
Stephen Graham praised the director’s one-take filming method, he said: “You have that kind of energy and immediacy that you get from doing a play or a live performance.”
As the show is so fast paced and there are no cuts between scenes, a single mistake can lead to a whole re-run of long scenes. Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old schoolboy accused of murdering a female classmate, has opened up on what it is like to star alongside Stephen Graham and how the team improvised when filming.
In episode three, Jamie sits down with child psychologist Emma, played by The Crown star Erin Doherty, who is tasked with profiling him ahead of his trial. It is one of the most powerful one-take scenes across the four episodes and Owen has revealed the secret way the two covered up a mistake.
Owen, who is 15 but was 14 when filming said: “Me and Erin just bounced off each other, She helped me so much. Stephen, Ashley and all of the cast were amazing.” The One Show presenter Clara Amfo, replied “I understand there is a little tip you can give me a little yawn moment”, which prompted the young actor to share a behind-the-scenes insight.
He said: “In episode three it was the second take of the day and I was tired, so a yawn came to me and then Erin did an amazing line, she said ‘Am I boring you?’. That took me back and it made me smile because it wasn’t in the script, I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
On TikTok viewers have picked up on the moment and speculated it was improvised. A video uploaded to IndigoReports account shows the moment in the prison. One comment said: “I actually appreciated the occasional stutter or stumble on words, think it made it more authentic.”
A second response was: “I saw that!!! I guess there’s a few scenes they made up instantly like they are real pro”, a third comment read: “I really do love when shows are creative with the way they film as well it adds so much.”
Other fans of the show replied: “I did wonder when he was coughing and said his throat was killing was improvised as to why he kept coughing.”
Clara Amfo went on to ask how Owen handled such a high-pressure filming approach, given that each take had to be near-perfect. He said: “The people around me. Stephen [Graham, who plays Jamie’s father], Erin – she’s amazing in episode three. It was just the people around me that I could bounce off.”
Adolescence is Owen’s first acting role. He has already up his next role, with the actor set to play play young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Height alongside Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.