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The Netflix crime drama miniseries Adolescence has attracted wide critical acclaim for the writing and performances. The show follows the story of a 13-year-old boy named Jamie Miller who is arrested as a suspect for the murder of a girl from his class. A netizen theorized on the internet that it is based on a real story, and that the main characters are race-swapped.
During an appearance on The News Agents podcast on March 25, 2025, Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne slammed the theory.
"They’ve claimed that Stephen and I based it on a story, and another story, so we race-swapped because we were basing it on here and it ended up there, and everything else. Nothing is further from the truth," he said.
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He further said:
"I have told a lot of real life stories in my time, and I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real life story and put it on screen and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that's based on a true story, not one single part."
Host Jon Sopel also asked Jack Thorne about his reaction to the criticism that he and his co-creators had deliberately based this story on the Southport murder case, and also gender-swapped the character who committed the crime.
"That it should have been a Black boy? It's absurd to say that [knife crime] is only committed by Black boys. It’s absurd. It's not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes," Thorne stated.
The original X post in question reached a larger audience, thanks to Elon Musk, who commented on it, saying:
"Wow."
Also read: Netflix’s Adolescence is already breaking records, proving it’s more than just another drama
A netizen theorized that the show is based on a real-life story
An X user @stillgray posted a theory about the show on the platform, claiming that it is based on the Southport murderer. The user wrote:
"They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement."
The theory refers to the murder of three young girls in Southport, UK, in July, 2024. According to a report by The Independent, dated January 23, 2025, a 17-year-old boy named Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to life with a minimum of 52 years for killing three young girls at a children’s dance class in Southport.
Also read: Adolescence: Adolescence (2025): How Jaime Miller faces the truth about his reality?
Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne said the show is not about race
Jack Thorne is best known as the scribe of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play. He is also known for penning the script of the 2017 movie Wonder, the mystery film Enola Holmes, and its sequel. He created Adolescence with Stephen Graham, who also stars in the series as Eddie Miller.
In the aforementioned interview with The News Agency, Thorne clarified that the show is not about race.
"We're not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another, we’re saying that this is about boys," he said.
The show stars Owen Cooper as the lead character Jamie Miller, while Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco appear as his parents, Eddie and Manda Miller. It has only four episodes and all of them were shot in one continuous take each.
Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix.
