Philip Barantini’s Adolescence starts production

Philip Barantini’s latest one-shot project Adolescence has just gone into production and will star Stephen Graham. More on the project below. 

2021’s Boiling Point was a raving success for writer-director Philip Barantini. The film, shot all in one take, followed Stephen Graham’s hard-headed chef Andy on one of the busiest nights at his restaurant, Jones & Sons. The film, which ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, spawned a series which aired on BBC in late 2023. 

Now, Barantini is moving away from Jones & Sons and into a new project, currently known as Adolescence, although that might change. Barantini is directing all four episodes of Adolescence for Netflix while Graham is credited as the creator and writer with Jack Thorne. The series has now gone into production and is filming in the UK. 

The series reunites Barantini with Graham, but the pair are joined by a very starry cast. Owen Cooper will appear in his first major role in TV while Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco, Mark Stanley, Jo Hartley (After Life) and newcomer Amélie Pease round out the cast. 

Read more: Boiling Point, The Bear and drama in the kitchen

Here’s a full synopsis, in italics and all: Adolescence tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested and charged with the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. Stephen Graham will play Jamie’s father and ‘appropriate adult’, Eddie Miller. Ashley Walters stars as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Erin Doherty is Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case.

Like Boiling Point, Adolescence will also unfold in real-time, in one continuous shot. Netflix hasn’t given Adolescence, which is just a working title, a release window yet, but we’ll make sure to let you know when we can expect it to hit Netflix.