Adolescence triumphs at National Television Awards 2025 - but Netflix hit's leads miss ceremony
The hard-hitting series beat out other contenders including Rivals and Ludwig.
Following on from rave reviews and stellar viewing figures for Netflix, smash hit four-part drama series Adolescence has now added another string to its bow - a win in the New Drama category at the National Television Awards.
In the category which is determined entirely by public votes, the series beat out other shortlisted contenders including Rivals, MobLand, Code of Silence and Ludwig.
The show's win was announced during the awards ceremony at the O2 in London, which was hosted by Joel Dommett.
Mrs Fenumore star Jo Hartley and executive producer Mark Herbert accepted the award alongside a host of other key figures who worked on the series, and thanked the fans, cast, writers Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, director Philip Barantini and the crew.
It wasn't just the series itself which took home an award - Jamie star Owen Cooper also won the Drama Performance Award, beating out his co-star Graham to claim the title.
Other contenders shortlisted in the category included Tom Hardy for playing Harry Da Souza in MobLand, Rose Ayling-Ellis for playing Alison Brooks in Code of Silence and Brenda Blethyn for playing DCI Vera Stanhope in Vera.
Neither Cooper nor Graham were in attendance, meaning Cooper, who is filming in America, wasn't there to accept his award. Instead, it was picked up by his co-star Amari Bacchus on his behalf, who showed a video of Cooper thanking his co-stars, collaborators and fans.
The show's win comes just weeks after it won Best Drama at the Edinburgh TV Awards, where Cooper also took home the award for Breakthrough Performance.
While Adolescence was very much one and done, its success has meant there have been plenty of calls for some kind of follow-up - and Thorne has teased that could very much be on the cards.
He told RadioTimes.com: "I think anthology is a big word. I think we would love to work together again and we don't feel we're done with the one-shot.
"So there might be another attempt to do a one-shot show at some point, if we can find the right way of telling that story."
However, if this were to come to pass it would tell a completely different story centred around different characters, with Thorne confirming: "Yeah, we've told the Miller story. I don't think there's any sort of, 'Oh, we could spin off this, or we could spin off that.' I don't think that's what we want to do.
"But we are interested to tell more stories together and we like this system. We've learned a lot as creatives about that system and we want to do more with it if we can."
Adolescence is available to watch on Netflix – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
