Netflix’s most-watched show hits jaw-dropping 66,000,000 views in two weeks

Pierra Willix and Asyia Iftikhar

Published March 25, 2025 9:31am Updated March 27, 2025 7:47am

Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller and Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, in Adolescence, both looking stressed in a police interview room. — Owen Cooper’s performance as Jamie Miller has been praised (Picture: Netflix)

Adolescence has accumulated an astonishing number of views within just 11 days, becoming the most-watched UK series ever on Netflix.

Within that time period, the critically-acclaimed crime drama – which has sparked hugely important conversations about young people in today’s society that have reached the ears of the government – scored 66,300,000 views.

Released on March 13, the four-part series stars Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller, a father whose family is shattered after his 13-year-old son Jamie (Owen Cooper) is accused of murder.

Shot in one take, the show also features Ashley Walters as DI Luke Bascombe, Christine Tremarco as Manda Miller and Erin Doherty as Briony Ariston in the cast.

Within its first four days, it garnered 24,300,000 views and currently holds a sensational 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Its viewing figures resulted in Adolescence making UK TV history, as 6.45 million people watched the first episode in seven days in the UK, according to figures released by ratings body Barb.

Adolescence. Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix ?? 2024 — Netflix viewers have rushed to watch the new ‘phenomenal’ crime drama (Picture: Netflix)

This made it the first ever programme on a streaming platform to top the weekly audience chart in the UK.

Adolescence became the biggest streaming show in the UK in a single week, beating Netflix’s Fool Me Once in 2024, which sat at a pretty 6.3 million viewers.

What’s more, episode two closely followed at its heels with 5.98 million viewers – with both episodes beating two major TV shows, The Apprentice and Death in Paradise, which secured 5.79 million and 5.75 million viewers respectively.

Finally, episodes three and four secured 5.1 and 4.7 million viewers, also landing in the top 10.

Numerous reviews sang Adolescence’s praises while emphasising how harrowing it is to watch.

This image released by Netflix shows Christine Tremarco, left, and Stephen Graham in a scene from "Adolescence." (Netflix via AP) — Adolescence stars Christine Tremarco and Stephen Graham as parents whose son is accused of murder (Picture: AP)

‘This is not an easy watch… But in what Adolescence has to say, and in how eloquently and audaciously it says it, it’s also among the very best things — and an early contender for the best thing — you will see on the small screen this year,’ Rolling Stone wrote in its review.

‘Adolescence isn’t just an entertaining series (though it is, in some warped way); it’s one of the most important series I’ve seen in a long time,’ Collider shared.

‘It is a drama so quietly devastating that I won’t forget it for a very long time,’ The Daily Telegraph added.

Meanwhile, viewers said it was ‘phenomenal’ and left them ‘bawling’.

Previously speaking to Metro, Stephen explained the idea for Adolescence – which he co-wrote with Jack Thorne – came after he heard about ‘another incident of a young boy stabbing a young girl’.

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‘I’m going to call them young boys, because they were young boys, and they are young boys. And it just hurt my heart, basically,’ he said.

‘I just wondered, what kind of a society and what kind of a world are we living in where this kind of thing has happened, not once, not twice, three, four, five times? It just really made me curious.’

He recalling feeling that ‘this was something that we could look at as a society’, adding that his objective ‘was never to point the finger in any way, shape or form, but just to raise the question of why is this happening, and who is to blame? What is to blame? Family, school, society, influences… maybe we’re all kind of accountable.’

He continued: ‘What’s that beautiful saying it takes a village to raise a child? I think maybe that’s something we should look at as a collective. So, it’s not necessarily pointing a finger at one specific individual. It’s the whole thing itself. What would drive a young boy to do something like this?’

This article was first published on March 18, 2025.

Adolescence is streaming on Netflix.

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