AKTA INTERVIEWS: ADOLESCENCE STAR AMARI BACCHUS TALKS THE NETFLIX SERIES THAT SHIFTED BRITISH TELEVISION

Writer: Takunda Muzondiwa

Adolescence (2025)

A North London bus sighs at a red light. A barber sweeps yesterday’s hair into a neat crescent on the pavement. A boy at the back stares out the window, quiet, carrying a talent that will one day make the world stand still. Born and raised in Enfield, Amari Bacchus grew up turning living rooms into wrestling rings and Playmobil figures into entire cinematic worlds. Acting was not strategy. It was instinct. It was joy. 

That passion found its defining stage in Adolescence, the groundbreaking Netflix drama that has already etched itself into British television history. Told with daring technical precision and emotional restraint, the series holds an unflinching mirror up to young men, masculinity, and the silence that so often surrounds them. It is not just a hit. It is a cultural marker, the kind that will be referenced long after the charts move on.

As Adam, a boy balancing on the tightrope between vulnerability and pride, Amari delivers a performance built on stillness. On listening. On everything unsaid. In a show that demanded internal truth and absolute presence, he did not overreach. He understood that the camera catches thought. That silence can be seismic.

The result is a performance that has resonated far beyond the screen, especially with young people who recognised themselves in the spaces between his words. And in doing so, he has become part of a story that will outlive the moment, a record of a generation learning, slowly, how to speak. 

We had the pleasure of first meeting Amari in 2024, through our Pay What You Can Headshot initiative. It was great to catch up with him and listen to his candid stories of starring in Adolescence, as his journey perfectly captures what the initiative intends to support.

AKTA: Adolescence doesn’t just tell a story, it holds up a mirror to a generation. When you realised the scale of what this series was saying about young men, masculinity, and emotional isolation, did you feel a sense of responsibility beyond “just doing a role”? 

AMARI: I think it definitely challenged me to dig into things from my own experiences. A lot of what was in the audition script was about the relationship between a father and a son, and the kind of openness you can have with your dad or with another male figure. That bond can feel like walking a tightrope, because there are so many conflicting thoughts that never actually get spoken about.

When I was rehearsing and working through scenes with Ashley, a big part of what my character Adam carries is that feeling of holding back, of not fully committing to what he’s feeling. Working alongside someone as incredible as Ashley Walters, I already had a level of fear and nervousness, and that actually helped me. The emotions of not wanting to mess up and the emotions of trying to be fully present in the scene kind of went hand in hand, and it fed into the character.

If there’s a responsibility this show has given me, it’s just to be open. If you shed a tear, you shed a tear. If I shed a tear, I shed a tear. I just want people to feel like they can be open, because when we start talking about the things that usually go unspoken, that’s when stuff can actually begin to get resolved.

It also reminded me that you have to show mercy to people. We really don’t know what anyone else is going through. Your situation might be great, but someone else could be carrying something really heavy, and you’d never know just by looking at them.

Amari x Akta

AKTA: The show’s single-take format across episodes adds incredible intensity. How did this unique production style affect your preparation and performance?

AMARI: I’m very grateful for the school I went to, Platinum Academy. Every year we made a short film, and that really opened my mind to how a set works and how I need to conduct myself within that environment. It helped me understand the craft, but also the discipline behind it.

Honestly, some of those short films felt even more chaotic behind the camera than Adolescence. On this set, to be real, it was actually very stripped back. We mainly had the cameraman, the grips and the boom operators. Of course there were runners, but you wouldn’t even know because they were in costume, wearing school uniforms so they blended right into the scene. Even my chaperone was dressed as a teacher and had lines in the show.

Everything was designed to feel ordinary and controlled, even if there was a lot happening behind the scenes. The team did an amazing job of disguising any chaos and keeping the environment calm and focused.

We all had our time to prepare separately. The actors would prep away from set, the crew had their time, the director had his time. Then we would come together and just do it. By the time we reached the filming week, it felt like muscle memory. Once we started moving through it, it was smooth. Literally smooth. I don’t remember anyone ever coming on to set with nerves, that’s how much we were all just ready. 

AKTA: Have any responses from audiences particularly stayed with you? What have they shown you about the impact of the work? 

AMARI: Yeah, definitely. I remember checking my Instagram DMs a couple of weeks ago and getting a message from a young girl who said she was experiencing something similar at school. She told me the way I portrayed it really spoke to her, because now she felt like someone understood what she was going through.

Messages like that mean everything to me. Sometimes when you’re struggling, you feel completely alone, like no one else could possibly understand. So to know that someone watched it and felt seen, or felt less isolated, that’s powerful.

Of course it’s nice when the public and the critics say the show’s done well. But what really matters to me is whether someone has resonated with it. If somebody feels it, if somebody sees their own experience reflected back at them and appreciates it, then that’s the work done.

For me, acting is about bringing people’s real stories to the screen. If you embody that truth properly and someone recognises themselves in it, then you’ve done your job. I was really happy because I received quite a few messages like that. People were saying they connected with it, that it felt real. So I know I gave it the best I could.

And yeah, I’m just happy it’s had that kind of impact. 

AKTA: In what ways has being part of Adolescence changed your life, both personally and professionally? 

AMARI: I remember I was at a dance rehearsal when the trailer dropped. I thought, “Let me watch it and see what’s going on.” Then I saw myself on screen for a good few seconds and I was like, “Yeah… we’re there.” Everyone around me was screaming and shouting. It was such a wholesome moment for me.

The week before the show came out, I had a Zoom with the psychologist who worked with us during filming. She told me, “You need to be prepared, because this show is going to take off.” But when someone says that, you don’t really take it in. You think, yeah, okay, it’s a Netflix show, maybe it’ll do well. I didn’t realise how much she really meant it. And she was right, it did take off.

Personally, what changed for me is that people started to really see my work and understand that this is something I’m serious about and passionate about. It’s not just a hobby, it’s something I want to build a future from and something that can uplift me and my family.

Professionally, I’ve been in so many more rooms and so many more doors have opened. I give a lot of credit to my agents and my team, because they handled everything that came in and coordinated it so well. They made sure the opportunities were right for me, so we could really think about how each job helps me grow from what I’ve done before.

One thing that’s really important to me is doing something different every time. I just want to keep pushing myself and keep getting better.