Creative innovation,global engagement and public outcomes: The significance of Netflix’s Adolescence

Abstract

This article explores the UK significance of Netflix’s Adolescence in three areas. First is why Adolescence was commissioned for Netflix, a multinational subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service, rather than for one of the UK’s PSBs and what this conveys about the current position of UK-produced high-end dramas and Netflix’s involvement in them. Second is the creative genesis of Adolescence and what narrative and aesthetic strategies were important to the story it tells. Third are the public outcomes of Adolescence, its connections with the UK’s PSB drama traditions, and the significance of its near-global release.

Keywords

UK drama commissioning Netflix UK SVoDs and UK TV creative innovation one-shot approach

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Badenoch

(2026) As a parent – and a conservative – I know that banning social media for under-16s is the right thing to do. The Guardian, 21 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/2026/jan/21/britain-parent-conservative-social-media-ban-children-kemi-badenoch

Baker

(2024) Sky News. UK: Sky. 11 January. Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/post-office-scandal-1bn-set-aside-to-fund-compensation-for-victims-as-govt-vows-to-pursue-fujitsu-if-fault-found (accessed 23 January 2026).

Baughan

(2025) Adolescence team talk safeguarding, Netflix input and future one-shot projects: ‘we’re talking about it. Screen Daily, 17 June: https://www.screendaily.com/features/adolescence-team-talk-safeguarding-netflix-input-and-future-one-shot-projects (accessed 28 November 2025).

Boiling Point (2021) Dir. Philip Barantini. Ascendant Films/Burton Fox Films/Bromantics.

Bonner

(2003) Ordinary Television: Analysing Popular TV. London: Sage.

Boys from the Blackstuff (1982) BBC. BBC Birmingham.

Broadcast (2025a) Adolescence Tops Netflix Half-Year Viewing as UK Shows Stand Tall. 18 July. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/adolescence-tops-netflix-half-year-viewing-as-uk/docview/3231446761 (accessed 19 January 2026).

Broadcast (2025b) Philip Barantini: I want to force the audience to pay attentio. 7 March. Available at: https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/people/philip-barantini-i-want-to-force-the-audience-to-pay-attention (accessed 26 November 2025).

Caldwell

(1995) Televisuality: Style, Crisis and Authority in American Television. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

10.

Channel 4 News Release (2024) Channel 4 shares plans to become digital-first public service streamer by 2030, Channel 4. 29 January. Available at: https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-shares-plans-become-digital-first-public-service-streamer-2030 (accessed 7 April 2025).

11.

Cathy Come Home (1966) BBC. The Wednesday Play.

12.

Creamer

(2024) UK produced shows top Netflix charts. The Shoot, Televisual.Com. 18 September. Available at: https://www.televisual.com/news/uk-produced-shows-top-netflix-charts/ (accessed 17 February 2026).

13.

Doyle

Paterson

Barr

(2021) Television Production in Transition: Independence, Scale, Sustainability and the Digital Challenge. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

14.

Dunleavy

(2018) Complex Serial Drama and Multiplatform Television. New York: Routledge.

15.

Dunleavy

(2020) Transnational co-production, multiplatform television and My Brilliant Friend. Critical Studies in Television 15(4): 336–356. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602020953755

16.

Dunleavy

(2023) ‘Black Lives Have Always Mattered’: Cultural specificity and transformative representations in Small Axe. Critical Studies in Television 18(2): 185–205. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020221122184

17.

Dunleavy

(2024) It’s a Sin: Cross-platform coproduction, cultural specificity, and conflicting cultures. In: Dunleavy

Weissmann

(eds). TV Drama in the Multiplatform Era: Transnational Coproduction and Cultural Specificity. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 119–139. Chapter 6.

18.

Gripsrud

(2001) Understanding Media Culture. London: Arnold.

19.

Henley

(2025) France to use UK drama Adolescence to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity. The Guardian, 9 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/09/france-netflix-uk-drama-adolescence-teach-toxic-masculinity-schools (accessed 24 November 2025).

20.

Heritage

(2025) Is this the most terrifying TV show of our times? Adolescence, the drama that will horrify all parents. The Guardian, 28 February. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/28/is-this-the-most-terrifying-tv-show-of-our-times-adolescence-the-drama-that-will-horrify-all-parents (accessed 24 November 2025).

21.

Herusatoto

(2025) Incel, the Manosphere, and toxic masculinity: issues depicted in Netflix’s Adolescence miniseries. Humanis 29(4): 460–479. https://doi.org/10.24843/jh.2025.v29.i04.p05

22.

Hogan

(2025) From the police to the prime minister: how Adolescence is making Britain face up to toxic masculinity. The Guardian, 22 March. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/22/netflix-from-the-police-to-the-prime-minister-how-adolescence-is-making-britain-face-up-to-toxic-masculinity (accessed 24 November 2025).

23.

It's a Sin (2021) Channel 4/HBO Max. Red Production Company.

24.

Lee

(2025) Adolescence becomes Netflix’s second biggest English-Language TV series. The Guardian, 3 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/03/adolescence-tv-series-netflix#img-1 (accessed 19 January 2026).

25.

Lotz

(2021) In between the global and the local: mapping the geographies of Netflix as a multinational service. International Journal of Cultural Studies 24(2): 195–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877920953166

26.

Maglio

(2026) Netflix surpassed 325 million subscribers at the end of 2025. The Hollywood Reporter. 20 January. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/netflix-q4-2025-earnings-results-passes-325-million-subs (accessed 2 February 2026).

27.

Martinson

(2025) Yes, we should celebrate Adolescence – but it comes at a cost to the UK TV industry. The Guardian, 3 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/2025/apr/03/adolescence-netflix-uk-tv-industry-british-actors-netflix (accessed 23 January 2026).

28.

McHugh

(2025) Netflix brings Adolescence to secondary schools. Broadcast. 1 April. Available at: https://www.screendaily.com/news/netflix-brings-adolescence-to-secondary-schools (accessed 27 January 2026).

29.

Millington

(1993) Boys from the Blackstuff (Alan Bleasdale). In: Brandt

(ed) British Television Drama in the 1980s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 119–133. Chapter 7.

30.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024) ITV. ITV Studios/Little Gem.

31.

Netflix (2025) The Making of Adolescence .

32.

Ofcom (2025) Media Nations: UK 2025. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk (accessed 20 January 2026).

33.

Orlando

(2025) The UK wants to screen Netflix’s Adolescence in schools. Should you watch it with your child? The Conversation, 3 April. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-uk-wants-to-screen-netflixs-adolescence-in-schools-should-you-watch-it-with-your-child (accessed 26 January 2026).

34.

PA Media (2025) Mark Rylance took significant pay cut to get Wolf Hall made, director tells MPs. The Guardian, 25 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jan/25/mark-rylance-took-significant-pay-cut-to-get-wolf-hall-made-director-tells-mps (accessed 21 January 2026).

35.

Pearson

(2021) ‘The biggest drama in British television history’: Netflix, The Crown, and the UK television ecosystem. In: Barra

Scaglioni

(eds) A European Television Fiction Renaissance: Premium Production Models and Transnational Circulation. New York: Routledge, pp. 86–100. Chapter 6.

36.

Royal Television Society (2025) Adolescence’s Philip Barantini and Jack Thorne Talk Audacious one-shots and Painful Research. 31 March. Available at: https://youtu.be/cweY0uxgFdU (accessed 21 November 2025).

37.

Royal Television Society (2025) Are US streaming giants good for UK public service broadcasting? Cambridge Convention, 17-18 September. Available at: https://rts.org.uk/article/are-us-streaming-giants-good-uk-public-service-broadcasting (accessed 9 February 2026).

38.

SAG/AFRA Foundation (2025) Stephen Graham for Adolescence interview, Conversations at the SAG/AFTRA Foundation, 27 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B5DXCR-344 (accessed 22 January 2026).

39.

Savage

(2025) ‘It was a binding experience’: TV producers mourn decline of hot 9pm slot. The Guardian, 11 October. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/11/uk-tv-producers-mourn-decline-hot-9pm-slot (accessed 26 January 2026).

40.

Small Axe (2020) BBC. Turbine Studios/EMU Films/Amazon Studios.

41.

Stranger Things

(2016-25) Netflix. 21 Laps Entertainment/Monkey Massacre Productions/Upside Down Pictures.

42.

The Crown

(2016-23) Netflix. Sony Pictures Television/Left Bank Pictures.

43.

This Morning (2025) The Disturbing Truth Behind Hit Netflix Series Adolescence: Interview with Jack Thorne, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/gl_OxVP_fCw (accessed 27 November 2025).

44.

Tracey

(1998) The Decline and Fall of Public Service Broadcasting. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

45.

Warrington

(2025) Netflix’s Adolescence wouldn’t have happened without us, says Channel 4 executive. The Telegraph, 21 August. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/21/netflix-adolescence-channel-4-boss/ (accessed 2 February 2026).

46.

Wolf Hall:

The Mirror and the Light (2024) BBC. Company Pictures/Playground Entertainment.