This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Adolescence.
After four gripping episodes, Netflix’s hit new drama Adolescence reaches its conclusion with a heartbreaking sequence involving lead actor Stephen Graham.
Adolescence centres around the fall-out after a teenage boy is accused of killing a girl in his class, with episode four focussing specifically on how his family are still affected a year later.
In the show’s final moments, Stephen’s character, Eddie, is seen sobbing on his son’s bed before tucking a teddy bear into it, apologising and declaring: “I should have done better.”
While this finale is certainly one that stays in your mind long after the episode is over, it’s been revealed that the show was actually supposed to conclude in a different way entirely.
According to the official Netflix outlet Tudum, the original script called for Stephen’s character to “get inside Jamie’s bed and pull the covers over his body, like he was an avatar for his imprisoned son”.
However, Stephen came up with the new ending during the show’s lengthy rehearsal period.
“We rehearsed it, and it was great. But I just felt like there’s something about him tucking in Jamie’s teddy,” director Philip Barantini tells Tudum.
“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.”
Another of Adolescence’s unscripted moments came about during the preceding episode, in which Owen Cooper’s character, Jamie, is analysed by a child psychologist, portrayed by The Crown actor Erin Doherty.
But while Stephen’s change of plan came about during rehearsal, Owen and Erin’s unscripted exchange was actually improvised in the moment.
Adolescence is now available to stream in full on Netflix.