Adolescence smashes UK TV record beating Michelle Keegan’s Netflix hit Fool Me Once
NETFLIX series Adolescence has smashed the UK TV record – beating Michelle Keegan’s hit show Fool Me Once.
Co-created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, the show launched on March 13.
Figures by ratings body Barb show Adolescence has made history by becoming the first ever streaming show to top weekly ratings in the UK.
Latest stats reveal Adolescence has been watched by 6.45 million people in its first seven days.
By comparison, Fool Me Once was watched by 6.3 million people in its first week upon being released in January.
5.94 million people tuned in for episode two, while 4.65 million watched the third instalment.
As well as Fool Me Once, Adolescence also beat the likes of Death in Paradise and The Apprentice.
Each of the programme’s four episodes were shot in one continuous take.
The gripping crime drama follows Jamie (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old accused of murdering Katie, a girl at his school.
Viewers watch as the crime‘s aftermath unfolds, as well as the wider effect it has on Jamie, his family and the community.
In addition to writing and executive producing, Stephen, 51, plays Jamie’s dad Eddie.
Speaking previously, he revealed the chilling moment that made him decide to write Adolescence.
Stephen said: “We’d been asked to create a one-shot piece which was going to be a series, so we were coming up with the possibilities of what we’d make it about, and I’d read an article in the paper about a young boy stabbing a young girl.
“It made me feel a bit cold.
“Then about three or four months later, there was a piece on the news about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl.
“They are young boys, they’re not men.
“And it was completely the opposite end of the country.”
He further explained the show’s title references how young both the perpetrators and victims of knife crime are.
The star-studded cast also includes Top Boy‘s Ashley Walters and The Crown’s Erin Doherty.
Elsewhere, Owen Cooper has landed a major movie role following rave reviews for his performance as Jamie.
He will star in Emerald Fennel’s remake of Wuthering Heights, which is based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë.
Owen joins an impressive line-up including Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi and the film is scheduled to be theatrically released on February 13, 2026.
He will be playing young Heathcliff, with the older version of Heathcliff played by Jacob Elordi.