Adolescence is a four part series about a thirteen year old boy who is accused of knifing a female classmate, Katie Leonard, to death. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that he did commit the crime, as the viewer is presented with incontrovertible evidence late in the first episode.
Each episode is filmed in a single shot sequence, a remarkable accomplishment in itself. West Wing, famed for its single-shot sequences, never managed more than 17 minutes. By doing it this way, director Philip Barantini throws away most of the usual narrative and plot tropes seen in such shows and replaces it with something far more realistic and compelling.