Adolescence cuts to the heart of teen male rage

The four-part show, which has been called a technical masterpiece, enters the world of online bullying and misogyny.

- By Kate Cantrell and Susan Hopkins

Filmed in a one-take style, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham's new crime drama Adolescence is being hailed by critics as a technical masterpiece.

Out now on Netflix, the four-part series follows the fallout surrounding 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) after he is arrested and later charged with the murder of his classmate, Katie. Co-creator Graham stars as Jamie's father, Eddie.

Adolescence draws inspiration from the UK's knife crime epidemic, the rise of incel culture and the brutality of online bullying. These malignant forces combine to create every parent's worst nightmare.

However, unlike true crime, where there is often a resolution, there is no escape from the horror.

The show's continuous filming style offers no reprieve, and the story itself provides no easy outs refusing to provide a simple explanation for why an intelligent boy from an "ordinary" loving family would borrow a knife from a friend and, on a casual Sunday evening, stab another child to death.

While Jamie's motives remain murky, the show makes one thing clear: today's teens inhabit an online world that adults, however well-intentioned, are incapable of understanding if they do not listen.

Anxieties distorted by algorithms

At the centre of the show's broken heart is a terrible truth: the most dangerous place in the world for a teen is in their bedroom.