‘Adolescence’ Makes History in the U.K., Becoming First Streaming Show to Top TV Ratings

Netflix‘s one-shot show Adolescence has made history by becoming the first streaming program to top Britain’s weekly TV ratings.

Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham‘s drama beat out long-standing broadcaster favorites like the BBC’s The Apprentice and Death in Paradise after its first episode was watched by 6.45 million people in the first week of release, according to ratings body Barb.

It’s the biggest audience for any streaming TV show in the U.K. in a single week, leapfrogging Fool Me Once, also on Netflix, which accrued 6.3 million in its first week.

The four episodes of the miniseries are each filmed in one, continuous shot, leaving audience members flummoxed at the stellar acting and trying to make sense of how director Philip Barantini filmed the oners.

The show tells the story of Jamie (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old boy who is accused of stabbing a girl from school to death. Viewers are taken through the grisly process from start to finish: his shocking arrest and first police interview, the detectives attempting to put the pieces of the case together, a child psychologist sent to assess Jamie and the family forced to re-evaluate every parental decision that led to this life-altering event. Peaky Blinders star Graham as well as Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, newcomer Cooper, Faye Marsay and Christine Tremarco star.

Doherty recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the show’s themes: how young men, sometimes children, are being radicalized online by misogynists who encourage toxic attitudes toward women.

“It’s there, we can’t deny it, and no matter how awful and disturbing it is, we would be doing ourselves a disservice as a human race to continue to ignore it and avoid it,” Doherty said about the subject matter Thorne and Graham decided to tackle. “But I don’t actually think the show poses any answers and I don’t think it can, because I don’t think we have them yet.”

“For me, I don’t even have kids and what I’ve taken away from it, literally, for the last couple of days with my friends, girlfriend, my family, all I’ve been talking about is the show but also the reality of bringing up kids. I feel like that is what people are talking about. Like, what the hell do we do? It’s already infiltrating my conversations about how to navigate it,” she continued.

“So I can’t even imagine what parents are saying, and parents of young children particularly. But the biggest insight is that even my generation, who are yet to begin that chapter of their lives,” she said, “it’s already getting the ball rolling there. So I feel like it’s done its job, because we’re already like, “What the hell do we do?”