Cold open: a sick-day text in the police van
Bascombe and Frank kill time before a dawn raid, trading apple-and-cigarette banter and a teenager's early-morning plea to skip school.
DI Luke Bascombe
Every Adolescence moment featuring DI Luke Bascombe, in story order. Played by Ashley Walters.
20 moments · 34 min
Armed police storm the Millers' house and arrest Jamie
Officers burst in at 6:15 a.m., pin Eddie to the wall and arrest thirteen-year-old Jamie for murder while his family screams that they have the wrong house.
Jamie taken away as Eddie rages at the search
A frightened Jamie needs new trousers, officers rifle through the laundry and Eddie demands why guns were needed for a thirteen-year-old as the van pulls away.
Frank asks Bascombe if he is worried about the dad
Over a craving for a cigarette, Frank recalls an old case where the father was the real danger; Bascombe does not see it here and they run through forensics.
Bascombe phones home about his own son
Between tasks the detective checks whether his boy went to school, admitting he is the soft touch in his own house, a quiet echo of the family he just raided.
Interview begins: no comment, school reports and Instagram
Bascombe opens with last night and gets no comment, moves to Jamie's grades and behaviour, then confronts him with his comments under models' pictures.
Katie Leonard: Jamie asks if she is the one who died
Shown a photo of a classmate, Jamie slips and asks whether she is the dead girl before he has been told. Bascombe notes how clever the question is.
Seven times: the timeline of Katie's death
Bascombe lays out when Katie left home, where her body was found and how many times she was stabbed, while Jamie insists he was never her friend.
Jade tears into the detectives: Katie was her best friend
Pulled off lunch, Katie's best friend refuses to play along, mocks Bascombe's card, insists Katie never went near Jamie, and storms out calling them useless.
The detectives address Jamie's class, 8G
Bascombe tries to ask a rowdy classroom for help finding the murder weapon while the kids heckle, and the form tutor Mr. Malik strolls in late.
Frank on the smell of schools; Bascombe on the missing knife
Walking the corridors, Frank sums up what every school smells like, then Bascombe admits that without the knife or a motive the case has a hole.
Bascombe wins Ryan over with the bus-shelter black-eye story
In the nurse's room Bascombe tells Ryan how he once gave himself a black eye to look like a cowboy, then steers to popularity and what matters at thirteen.
Adam decodes the emojis: red pill, 80/20 and the incel label
Bascombe's son explains what the dynamite and pill emojis under Katie's comments mean, from the manosphere's red pill to calling a 13-year-old an incel.
Heart colours and fifteen messages: Katie was bullying Jamie
Adam runs through what each heart colour means, offers fifteen more messages sent to Jamie, and tells his dad it was embarrassing watching him blunder about.
You never call me son: Bascombe and Adam
Bascombe admits he has been blundering and asks if the Instagram stuff touches Adam, who points out his dad calls everyone son except him.
A holding pen, Mrs. Benton, and not being the right fit as a dad
On the stairs Frank calls the school a holding pen, Bascombe credits one art teacher with getting him through, then confesses he may not be the dad Adam needs.
Frank: everyone will remember Jamie, no one will remember Katie
Frank says the perpetrator always gets the front line and the case has followed Jamie's brain, not the girl; Bascombe insists their job is to understand why.
Ryan runs: the chase out of school and across the road
The moment the detectives come back for him, Ryan leaps up and sprints out of class; Bascombe and Frank chase him through the streets until he is cornered.
It was my knife: Ryan confesses and is arrested
Pinned on the pavement, Ryan admits the knife was his and he thought Jamie would only scare Katie. Bascombe arrests him and tells Frank to charge Jamie.
Chips and a Coke: Bascombe tells Adam he loves him
Outside the school gates Bascombe asks Adam to come for chips because he loves him, then suffers his son's French and a pitch for salt and pepper chips.