Jack Thorne, known for his prolific work in theater and television, faces an entirely new challenge with Netflix’s Adolescence, the streaming giant’s first-ever one-shot TV series. The acclaimed writer, who has contributed to works such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and This is England 88, is venturing into uncharted territory with this intense, real-time drama.
Director Philip Barantini, renowned for his mastery of the one-shot technique in Boiling Point, spoke about the unique difficulty in writing for a format with no cuts or pauses. “Jack had never written anything like this,” Barantini explained. “In theater, you have a curtain call; here, there’s no pause. The camera follows every moment.”
Set in a single day, Adolescence revolves around a 13-year-old boy who is unexpectedly taken into custody for the murder of a teenage classmate. The show’s structure mirrors the relentless pacing of a single unbroken shot, much like Barantini’s earlier work in Boiling Point. The series features a standout cast, including Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, and Erin Doherty, with Graham also co-creating the series alongside Barantini.
Thorne, whose previous work spans across a wide array of genres, noted that writing for this one-shot series was one of the most demanding tasks in his career. “My resting heart rate was really high,” he admitted, describing the complexities of crafting a story with no opportunity to cut between scenes. “It was very complicated to write. I’m not allowed to cut away to go anywhere else.”
The production required meticulous planning and extensive preparation. With 320 extras, Barantini and his team spent four weeks rehearsing and setting up the scenes before finally filming. The pressure was immense, with two takes filmed per day in the final week, leaving the crew with 10 possible shots to choose from. Barantini would often observe the filming from a van disguised as a police vehicle to stay close to the action while minimizing distractions.
Barantini reflected on the differences between this project and Boiling Point, which was written with specific locations in mind. “This time, it was all in Jack’s head,” he said. “Then I’d have to go away and find these locations.”
Particularly challenging were scenes involving multiple location changes. Thorne recalled one of the more “fun” aspects of the production—figuring out how long a car ride would take from a character’s house to a police station, and even walking the route to measure the time.
Thorne’s involvement on set was notably greater than on most projects, as constant rewrites were needed between takes. “Certain scenes needed a completely different approach,” he explained. “The camera can’t cut away during dialogue scenes, and set pieces like car chases needed extra thought.” For one chase sequence, the cinematographers initially thought it would look like a video game, but after a suggestion from Barantini, the team attached cameras to a drone, giving the sequence a thrilling, sweeping feel as it tracked the action through traffic to the murder scene.
For Thorne, the one-shot technique is much more than a mere technical challenge; it’s integral to the emotional weight of the story. “The camera doesn’t blink,” he explained. “By being unblinking, it allows for a certain rawness and honesty. The inability to cut away makes it possible to tell a more complex story.”
The series grapples with the sensitive and timely issue of teenage knife crime, using the unbroken narrative structure to delve deeper into the emotional and societal impact of such violence. “What we wanted to do is spend a lot of time thinking about our relationship with rage and talking about things we struggle with as people,” Thorne said. “The technical aspect unlocks the emotional.”
Barantini, despite his success with one-take filmmaking, joked that he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as “the one-take guy.” However, he hinted at incorporating the technique in smaller doses for his upcoming project, Enola Holmes 3, which Thorne also worked on. “It doesn’t work with everything,” Barantini said, “but it can make people sit up and pay attention.”
As Adolescence makes its debut, Thorne, Barantini, and the rest of the team have proven that technical innovation can serve not just as a stylistic choice but as a means to tell a more compelling, emotional story.
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