NETFLIX'S ADOLESCENCE POSED 'MAJOR CHALLENGE' AS FILMING LOCATION UNVEILED

Stephen Graham's first writing gig, Adolescence, is now available to stream on Netflix. The four-part series sees him take on the role of Eddie Miller, a father in turmoil after his son Jamie (played by Owen Cooper) is arrested on suspicion of murder.

Despite being set in Liverpool, the show was actually filmed elsewhere in the country. Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty also star in the series, which was shot at Yorkshire's Production Park.

This Wakefield-based production base, a purpose-built studio facility, celebrated its first major TV commission with this project. Directed by Philip Barantini, each episode was filmed in an unbroken, continuous shot - a technique he previously used in Boiling Point, which also starred Stephen Graham.

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A stage at Production Park, typically used by big music acts to rehearse for upcoming tours, served as the set for the new show, which was filmed over a six-month period. Mark Herbert, joint CEO of Warp, told The Yorkshire Post: "The series posed a major challenge for us with the one-shot element so we needed a studio space that could match our technical needs but also provide a home for the crew and actors during the whole process."

He added: "We loved working at Production Park and it was a great space to build our sets, and the day to day working atmosphere was fantastic, I will certainly film there again."

He also noted the irony of filming in an old mining community not far from where he grew up and close to Warp Films HQ in Sheffield.

Philip delved into the intricacies of the one-shot, explaining: "It takes months of preparation and weeks of rehearsals and an incredible team of people to pull it off at every stage from the script, to the locations, to the production design, to where exactly the camera is going to be able to shoot and from what angle.

"Matt Lewis - the brilliant cinematographer who I've worked with on everything before - and I would meticulously plan out the moves in advance.

"Our production designer, Adam Tomlinson even built models for us where we could place little mini actors and move them around and the pair of us also spent many evenings walking around the set minutely planning our camera moves so that when we finally pressed record nothing had been left to chance.

"Every tiny thing has been taken into account and every single person was ready."

When it came time to film, the actors were well-prepared after weeks of rehearsals, ensuring the final take was flawless. Spread over 13 months, each of the four episodes presents different scenes and timelines, ranging from Jamie's distressing arrest to his looming court date.

Adolescence is streaming on Netflix

2025-03-14T13:10:49Z