Netflix has another hit show on its hands.

“Adolescence,” which is the No. 1 series on the streamer right now, tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for the stabbing murder of his female classmate.

The miniseries starring Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Ashley Walters has four episodes that are all shot in a single take each.

Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

Since the show’s March 13 release, viewers have been wondering if the series is entirely made up or if it’s based on a true story.

Here’s what to know about the influence behind “Adolescence.”

The plot of “Adolescence” was inspired by the real-life epidemic of knife crime among young people that’s occurring in the United Kingdom.

“We’d been asked to create a one-shot piece which was going to be a series, so we were coming up with the possibilities of what we’d make it about, and I’d read an article in the paper about a young boy stabbing a young girl,” Graham, who also created and wrote the series with Jack Thorne, said in a recent interview.

Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller, Amelié Pease as Lisa Miller, Christine Tremarco as Manda Miller, in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

Faye Marsay as Detective Sargeant Frank, Ashley Walters as Detective Inspector Bascombe, in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

“It made me feel a bit cold,” the British actor shared. “Then about three or four months later, there was a piece on the news about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl. They are young boys, they’re not men. And it was completely the opposite end of the country.”

Graham was in the car with director Philip Barantini when he came up with the concept of the show.

Barantini, 44, told The Wrap, “In the UK, there’s a real problem with knife crime, certainly in the younger generation. There have been a series of of young boys who were killing young girls with knives, and it was really upsetting. That was the seed that we wanted to explore, and send a bit of a message and maybe spark a bit of a conversation.”

Knife crimes are on the rise in England currently. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were around 50,500 offenses of knife attacks in the year ending March 2024, compared to the 27,000 offenses between 2012 and 2013.

Data from the Ministry of Justice showed of the almost 18,500 knife crime offenders in the year ending March 2023, 17.3% of them were juveniles (aged 10 to 17).

Ashley Walters, Owen Cooper, Philip Barantini, Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, Jack Thorne and Christine Tremarco. Courtesy of David Dettmann/StillMoving for Netflix © 2025

Last year, a 17-year-old fatally stabbed three little girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Liverpool. He was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison in January.

That same month, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that “loners,” “misfits” and “young men in their bedrooms” who are “accessing all manner of material online” are now considered terror threats.

In an interview with Rolling Stone UK, Graham said of the real-life attacks, “They’d happened up and down the country, and my objective was merely to ask: ‘What’s going on? Why is this happening? Can we just have a look at it because this kind of thing didn’t happen when I was a young lad.’”

Graham told The Hollywood Reporter that the title of the series is meant to show how young some of the attackers in knife crimes are.

Owen Cooper in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

Christine Tremarco as Manda Miller in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

“There were certain incidents that really stuck out where young boys — and they are young boys, they’re not men, their brains aren’t fully formed yet, hence the title — were killing young girls,” the actor said.

“Adolescence” is about the Miller family, which includes dad Eddie (Graham), mom Manda (Christine Tremarco), son Jamie (Cooper) and daughter Lisa (Amélie Pease).

In the first episode, Jamie is arrested by two officers (Walters and Faye Marsay) for the murder of a female classmate. Eddie serves as Jamie’s “appropriate adult” during the questioning in the investigation.

Ashley Walters and Faye Marsay in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

Thorne, 46, told The Wrap that he and Graham had a rule to not blame the parents in the show.

“I don’t want to make this easy and blame the parents. I want to create a complicated portrait,” said Thorne.

All four episodes of “Adolescence” are directed by Barantini and shot in a single take each.

“I wanted the audience to go on an immersive journey that unfolds in real time just as it’s unfolding for the actors in real time. [The single-take] creates a tension and forces a perspective on the audience to where they can’t look away, even if they feel anxious or awkward,” the director said in an interview. “[The one-shot] doesn’t lend itself to all genres, but for this show, we wanted to dip the audience in for an hour, and we pull them out. The next time, it’s a few days later or 13 months later, and it’s up to the audience to figure things out for themselves. ‘Hold on, where are we now?’ So that’s the why.”

Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco in “Adolescence.” Courtesy of Netflix

Graham told THR about the one-shot process, “We spent a whole week [for each episode] rehearsing as actors with Phil, and we went through every beat, through every moment, piece by piece by piece by piece. We dissected the script, which is beautifully written by Jack Thorne. And you just immerse yourself in that character.”

All four episodes of “Adolescence” are streaming on Netflix. Each episode is between 50 and 65 minutes long.