Adolescence is Owen Cooper's debut acting role

Netflix limited series Adolescence is the TV show the entire world is talking about right now, as Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne's creation has had millions of viewers in its first week and received rave reviews from critics and viewers.

The four-part hard-hitting series, which is filmed in a continuous one-shot style, has been dubbed one of the best TV shows ever made, with huge praise for 15-year-old Owen Cooper, who plays the lead role of Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy who is accused of murdering a girl at his school.

Unbelievably, Adolescence is Owen's first major acting role, and his performance in the show, especially episode three alongside actress Erin Doherty, has received high praise with many saying he deserves to win all of the awards possible.

One viewer wrote: 'The young boy deserves a serious award, his performance was outstanding as Jamie. Stephen Graham is always elite and he should also win an award. All actors in this were fantastic, what an amazing production. 🔥🙌👏'. (sic)

Another added: 'The whole cast were phenomenal, but what an Incredible performance by Owen Cooper. Very talented young man. 👏🏽👏🏽'. (sic)

A third wrote: 'The kid had never acted before & does things really difficult for professionals - he listens like he’s done it for years, & listen to him talk about it 😨', with another writing: 'His acting is unbelievable! 👏👏👏'. (sic)

Upon answering questions about the series, Netflix bosses revealed the third episode was actually shot first, meaning that intense scene was Owen's first ever time on set.

Revealing how they discovered him, bosses said: 'Owen was one of hundreds of potential Jamies seen by casting director Shaheen Baig – he was first spotted after sending in a self-taped improv scene. After a few more callbacks and workshops Owen had a chemistry read with Stephen Graham. Guess that must have gone pretty well!

'As has been well documented, this is somehow Owen’s first ever acting role – with Episode 3 (the first episode shot) being his first time on a set.'

Check out photos from Netflix drama Adolescence below:

During a recent interview with Variety, Owen revealed watching Tom Holland's performance in 2012 blockbuster The Impossible inspired him get into acting, and his next role is in Emerald Fennell's upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights, with Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie.

Speaking about how Stephen Graham has supported him, Owen revealed Stephen recommended his agent, who actually watched one of the episodes being filmed.

He said: "I got Wuthering Heights from that! But it's been going really well. I've really enjoyed it. Obviously it not one-shot anymore! So I'm getting used to that. But it's been amazing. Emerald's lovely."

During an interview with The Independent, actor and show creator Stephen Graham confessed the rise of Owen Cooper has been the show's 'biggest achievement'.

He said: “We always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities.

“From the very beginning it was a conscious decision by the team that we wanted someone who didn't have much experience. Like we did find little Tommo This is England star Thomas Thurgoose all those years ago.

“We wanted someone who didn't have a lot of experience, but we knew that what we were doing and what we were trying to ask this young person to do was cosmic in many ways. It's a huge undertaking, but we cast Owen, who had no experience, he'd done a couple of little theatre workshops, and he was just starting to do little bits in school.”

Adolescence is out on Netflix now.

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