'Adolescence' co-writer hails Stephen Graham's 'extraordinary' vision for Netflix series

Jack Thorne, co-writer of the Netflix crime drama Adolescence has expressed his praise for actor and fellow writer Stephen Graham.

Speaking with BBC Radio 2 with Stephen and host Jo Whiley, Jack credited his fellow writer for the powerful concept of the Netflix series.

Adolescence follows the story of a 13 year-old boy, Jamie, who is arrested for murdering his classmate. Stephen plays the role of Eddie Miller, the father of Jamie, and also co-wrote the show with Jack.

Jack said, "I thought it was an extraordinary thing to look at, and I thought it was a very important thing to look at."

"The first thing I said is, what if we wrote it together? And would you be prepared to put on a different hat with me for the first time?" Jack added. "Working with Stephen as a writer was so exciting. It was so interesting to have a totally different conversation with him before words were on the page and we had to look into ourselves."

He also went on to share, "We had to, in order to understand this problem, in order to look at male anger, male rage, we sort of had to understand our own anger and our own rage, and our own problems and our own cruelty, and the ways that we have been less than perfect."

"And Stephen and I were able to have some very honest discussions, and we went to some very dark places, and I think that honesty hopefully shows on the screen," Jack Thorne added.

Moreover, Graham recalled how the news stories about young boys involved in fatal stabbings led him to develop the show. "I read an article in the paper about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl, and then a few months later on the news, there was a piece, and it was, again, it was a young boy who had stabbed a young girl, and they were opposite ends of the country," Stephen Graham said.

Adolescence started premiering on Netflix on March 13.