As Adolescence becomes a record-breaking British TV series, viewers everywhere continue to analyse the show frame by frame looking for meaning.
while doing this for most shows can be seen as reading too much into it, every interview with the creators of Adolescence seems to prove ‘no, they really did mean that’.
Whether it be why Jamie’s psychologist only left him half a sandwich or the meaning behind the incel emojis featured in the show, the series is full of hidden meanings.
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One that viewers have picked up on is Jamie stating that his favourite subject is history.
This is brought up in the first episode when the duty solicitor speaks to Jamie prior to his police interview, trying to find out details about him.
Jamie references the ‘stories’, talking about his enjoyment of learning about the industrial revolution.
One keen viewer on TikTok noticed however that, in the second episode, there may be more to why Jamie has picked it out as his favourite.
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They posted on TikTok: “It’s NOT an accident that the chaotic HIStory classroom was made up of ALL boys… and it was Jamie’s favourite subjects.”
Others added to this theory, pointing out that the history classroom was the one being run by the fairly incompetent substitute teacher, Mr Malik, who wanted to put on a movie and couldn’t control the class.
Another commented: “History was his favourite lesson, but the history teacher didn't have a clue who he was.”
A second commenter pointed out that Mr Malik also ‘almost forgot’ to introduce the female detective, DS Misha Frank.
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A third commenter pointed out that in Mr Malik, the teacher of his favourite subject, barely knowing who he was it was ‘another example’ of a man in his life letting him down.
This led the poster to respond: “I’m sure that was another nuance. There’s SO much complexity, so much to unpack in this 4 part miniseries…. Wow.”
The series being a four-part miniseries hasn’t prevented it from setting ratings history however, as announced today by the UK’s ratings body BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board).
This week marks the first time in UK TV rating history that a streaming show has topped the UK’s weekly ratings.
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Adolescence’s presence in the top spot was not a matter of lack of competition, as it overtook The Apprentice and Death in Paradise.
The show managed this despite being released in the back end of the week, meaning it was the most watched series of the week with only three days of records.
It drew 6.45 million viewers in the first week after its release, a record number for UK streaming, surpassing Fool Me Once.
Topics: Adolescence, Netflix, TV, TV and Film, TikTok, History, Social Media, Entertainment
Michael Slavin