Séamas O'Reilly: The strength and horror of Adolescence is how much we have to learn

Stephen Graham says he was inspired to make the show in response to recent murders of girls committed by young boys, and the horrors of the misogyny being peddled to young men all over the internet

Mark Stanley as Paul Barlow, Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, and Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller in Adolescence.

Writing a weekly column often means having to qualify previous statements, shortly after making them. So, a week after you thought you’d heard the end of my opinions on modern masculinity, Netflix’s  Adolescence arrives to put me back on my soapbox. A show so good that it forces me, for the second time in three weeks, to declare that the best TV show of 2025 has arrived.

With apologies to Severance, whose second season has indeed been a masterwork in gripping speculative fiction, Adolescence is in another weight class entirely. Its plot centres on Jamie, a 13-year-old boy accused of a terrible crime, and the ramifications this has for him, his investigating officers, his school and, most especially, his family.