Stephen Graham teams up with Happy Valley and The Crown favourites on gripping new drama

Stephen Graham has a new project in the works! Following his recent portrayal of Elias Mannix in Bodies , the actor has signed onto another Netflix series. Set to star in the upcoming crime drama, Adolescence , Stephen has penned and co-created the four-parter with renowned writer and producer, Jack Thorne.

© Netflix/Ben Blackall

Filming has already begun on the series, which is being set and shot around Sheffield. "Adolescence tells the story of how a family's world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested and charged with the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school," explains the logline.

"Stephen Graham will play Jamie's father and 'appropriate adult', Eddie Miller. Ashley Walters stars as Detective Inspector Bascombe, and Erin Doherty is Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie's case."

© Karwai Tang

Boasting an impressive cast, Ashley Walters is known and loved for his portrayal of Dushane in Top Boy while Erin Doherty is internationally recognised for playing Princess Anne in The Crown .

For Owen Cooper, who takes on the role of Stephen's on-screen son Jamie, Adolescence will mark his first major role for television. Game of Thrones' Faye Marsay, The Responder's Christine Tremarco and Happy Valley's Mark Stanley will also appear in the show.

A unique project, each episode of Adolescence will be filmed in an ambitious real-time, one-shot, with Boiling Point director Philip Barantini at the helm.

Like many of his other projects, Stephen is producing the series alongside his wife of 16 years, Hannah Walters, via their entertainment company, Matriarch Productions.

© Dave Benett

The couple – who first crossed paths at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London – have collaborated on over 14 projects together, including Boiling Point . After growing close on the set of This is England (2006), they eventually married in 2008, and have since welcomed two children together called Grace and Alfie.

While Stephen and Hannah rarely speak about their personal lives, they have gushed about one another in interviews. "I feel exceptionally blessed. And I'm not talking about materialistic things," Stephen told The Independent in 2022.

© Karwai Tang

"I'm not talking about my career. I'm talking about how blessed I feel to have the family I have, to have Hannah, who is my rock, to stand by me through thick and thin, who has always believed in me and is my soulmate. To have found that person in this lifetime is, for me, unbelievable...I really appreciate life, and all the close relationships I have."