Stephen Graham has disclosed the remarkable act of kindness he extended to the young hopefuls who narrowly missed out on the starring role in the gripping drama Adolescence. Penned by Stephen alongside Jack Thorne, the intense series narrates the tale of a 13-year-old boy named Jamie Miller, who finds himself embroiled in a chilling murder accusation involving a schoolgirl and a knife attack. The show's unique format sees each episode filmed in a single continuous shot, delving into the crime's ripple effects on the surrounding community, as well as on Jamie and his family. In the series, Stephen takes on the role of Jamie's father Eddie, sharing the screen with Christine Tremarco, Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, and Faye Marsay. Since its release on Netflix earlier this month, the miniseries has garnered wide acclaim, particularly for the performance of Owen Cooper as Jamie, marking his first foray into acting, reports the Liverpool Echo . Speaking at a Netflix gathering before the launch of Adolescence, Stephen, together with director Philip Barantini, recounted the casting journey that led them to Owen from a pool of hundreds, ultimately leaving four final candidates. However, the story didn't end there for the other three aspirants. "We narrowed it down to four boys. There was hundreds - hundreds, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. We got it down to these last four, but I think what we did is something that's never really been done before," Stephen revealed. "We were conscious not to go, 'Thank you very much and see you later, ta rah.' We knew that we wanted one kid, but the other four that we'd got down to our final selection, we gave them the opportunity to play all the characters within our piece." The actor shared that the boys who didn't land the lead role were immediately given another chance to shine in the drama without having to audition again. He was mindful of not "breaking their little hearts", stressing: "That's not what you want to do." Stephen also expressed his desire to reassure the unsuccessful boys that their acting skills weren't in question; rather, they simply weren't the right match for the specific role. "But we would like to offer you another role, and each and every one of the kids were absolutely superb, weren't they? All of the kids within our piece are fantastic," he finished. Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix