ADOLESCENCE (Netflix)
And it's not that hard to figure out what it is.
The right actors get the right script about the right story from the right screenwriter with the right director who brings it to life with the right amount of money and the right crew.
It's that simple but finding that alchemy is not that simple.
Nevertheless that's what happens on Netflix's four part English miniseries 'Adolescence' - a show that is so human and so perfect, it will simply make your heart crack and then shatter into a million tiny pieces.
Written by the wonderful Jack Thorne who is best known for 'This Is England,' 'The Virtues,' 'National Treasure' and 'Help,' the show reunites him with actor Stephen Graham.
It also brings Graham back to director Philip Barantini who he so memorably collaborated with on the indie cinema tour de force that was 'Boiling Point'.
Never afraid to wade into important social issues, Thorne, Barantini and Graham turn their attention in 'Aolescence' to the toxic mix of teenagers, social media, influencers who fuel misogyny, easy access to porn and the earth shattering consequences of male violence.
All of these subjects are meaty enough to warrant their own tale but Barantini garnishes Thorne's stew with the same one shot technique he deployed so dazzlingly in 'Boiling Point'.
Graham plays Eddie Miller, a Scouse plumber living in Yorkshire who within two minutes of the opening episode finds himself plunged into a parent's worst nightmare.
Armed police storm his family home to arrest his 13 year old son, Owen Cooper's Jamie on suspicion of stabbing a female classmate the night before.
Jamie wets himself as the police arrive in the dawn raid and pleads his innocence to Ashley Walters' DI Luke Bascombe and Faye Marsay's DS Misha Frank as they cart him off to the police station.
Eddie, his wife Christine Tremarco's Manda and his sister Amelie Pease's Lisa follow behind and then hover anxiously outside the holding cells as police officers explain to the teenager his rights.
Over the course of the opening episode, we watch the justice system kick into gear as Jamie is arrested, interrogated and consults Mark Stanley's hastily arranged solicitor Paul Barlow.
The remaining three episodes provide snapshots of the case as the police try to piece together what happened at Jamie's school, a clinical psychologist attempts to understand what motivates him and his family 13 months on try to pick up the pieces.
Episode two sees DI Bascombe and DS Frank try to build the case by questioning Jamie's fellow pupils in his comprehensive school where they encounter a tinderbox of teenage insecurity and rage.
Eventually, they begin to grasp how online bullying, toxic social media commentary and emojis have become lighter fuel for teenagers and especially Jamie.
The next episode finds a more hardened Jamie facing Erin Doherty's clinical psychologist Briony Ariston as she assesses him in a juvenile facility following a a violent episode involving him prior to his case going to trial.
The final episode focuses on the impact that the upcoming trial has on his family as they bear the brunt of local hostility on their housing estate 13 months after the murder.
Each episode is sublime in every aspect, as Barantini's cinematographer Matthew Lewis' camera glides around a cast who are at the top of their game.
At this stage in his career, Graham has nothing to prove but he still leads the charge with a devastating turn as a trusting father who swallows his son's protestations of innocence and is struggling to cope with the enormity of what has happened.
Tremarco and Pease are equally moving as a mother and sister desperately trying to keep the family intact.
Walters and Marsay brilliantly portray cops struggling to make sense of the online world that teenagers inhabit and its catastrophic impact in this case.
Doherty, Stanley and Faye McKeever are outstanding as professionals in the justice system just trying to do their jobs.
Jo Hartley, Faraz Ayub, Jonathan Ojinnaka and Hannah Walters are excellent too as teachers struggling to keep a lid on unruly teenagers in the aftermath of the murder.
Barantini, Thorne and the cast deliver gripping, haunting and plausible television, with Owen Cooper turning in a performance as Jamie that is every bit as complex, mature and forceful as Graham's as well as being disturbing.
Had it aired on the BBC, 'Adolescence' would have been worth the cost of a licence fee.
Here it justifies the price of a Netflix subscription.
More importantly, though, Thorne's drama shines a light on a Jamie generation that is being warped by its addiction to smartphones and smartpads.
Teenagers need to be protected from all the crap that flows through the online world that can twist their minds.
Parents, educators and politicians need to be alive to it all and willing to combat it in the home, in school and in society.
That means tackling all the toxic masculinity, misogyny, mainstreaming of pornography and online bullying that young people are exposed to.
In a world where social media moguls who profit from this content and toxic male role models are allowed to strut through the corridors of power by the leader of one major Western power and are platformed as role models, are people willing to take up that fight?
'Adolescence' says we must.
In fact, it'a a bugle call for people to stand up and say enough is enough.
('Adolescence' was made available for streaming on Netflix on March 13, 2025)
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