Secret hidden meaning behind heartbreaking ending of Netflix series Adolescence revealed by director

Seriously, if you haven’t watched Adolescence yet then you should put down whatever device you’re reading this on (probably your phone) and watch it.

The series, co-created and co-written by Jack Thorne and acclaimed actor Stephen Graham, has been picking up rave reviews for the Netflix series where each episode is filmed in one continuous take.

Adolescence tells the story of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is arrested for murdering a classmate at school.

Graham plays Eddie Miller, Jamie’s dad, who must grapple with the accusations directed towards his son in a performance that’s got people saying he’s the ‘greatest British actor of all time’.

The Netflix show has a perfect record with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes and this really is your last chance to duck out before spoilers discussing the ending appear on your screen.

It’s a hell of a show with a hell of an ending (Netflix)

Ready to read on? Alright.

Chatting with Netflix’s Tudum, Adolescence director Philip Barantini spoke about that heartbreaking ending where Eddie has to come to terms with the fact that his son really did murder his classmate.

The director said that Eddie was supposed to get into his son’s bed and pull the covers over him, but instead they decided the final scene just needed that little extra oomph where he tucked in his son’s teddy bear and apologised to it.

He said: “We rehearsed it, and it was great. But I just felt like there’s something about him tucking in Jamie’s teddy.

“This is the only thing that Eddie’s got that he can touch – that’s malleable, that Jamie’s cuddled, and Jamie’s been with. And then Stephen made it his own.”

Director Philip Barantini explained how he tugged at Stephen Graham’s heartstrings for the ending scene (Netflix)

As Adolescence ends, the song ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ is heard, and the voice singing it is Emilia Holliday who played Katie, the classmate Jamie killed.

“Katie is a part of the whole series, her presence is always there,” the director said of the decision to end the series with her voice.

Barantini also said that to really crank up the emotions in the final scene, they printed out happy family photos of Stephen Graham, his wife Hannah Walters and their children and stuck them in the wardrobe in Jamie’s bedroom set along with the message: “We love you. We’re so proud of you.”

These photos don’t appear on camera but Graham saw them and said that the pictures ‘got me to the core’.

Barantini added: “If you watch the scene closely, he looks over to the right-hand side, and he spots the pictures and the notes. It broke him open.

“The other takes before that were very different. They were all still incredibly emotional. But that last take, which we used, was real, raw, and unexpected from him as well.”