One of the actors from Netflix’s new smash hit, Adolescence, is a Greater Manchester-born and bred talent and has now taken time to reflect on the “overwhelming” response the show has seen thus far.
You’ll recognise her from countless roles in British films and TV over the years, including multiple Shane Meadows projects, but Jo Hartley is one of several stars to have impressed audiences across the globe with her performance in the incredible new drama.
Topping the streaming giant’s charts after just four days, Adolescence is one of the biggest shows of the year and most streamed UK exports in some time, receiving rave reviews across the board, as well as serious plaudits for how it tackles some seriously tough subject matter.
With most having now made it through all four extremely heavy episodes, the local actor from Oldham hopped on social media not only to express her gratitude for having been part of the project, but also the incredible reaction it received and why so many feel it’s an important watch.
Overwhelmed by so many kind and generous messages about #Adolescence we are so grateful to you all! Thanks.
Sharing a lengthier response spotlighting episode two, when we first meet her character, on Instagram, Hartley wrote: “Overwhelmed by all the generous messages we are getting so far. Being part of such a groundbreaking project has given me deep joy.
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“Seeing people respond so abundantly is very moving and feels quite wonderful. These kids are epic! They smashed it. Cast and crew too. I loved our downtime, we’d all hang out and play games, chat and laugh, we became a family. What a team of talented artists and creators.”
Speaking more broadly in an earlier post, she said of the early reviews: “I’ve been so overwhelmed by such powerful messages over the last few days. THANK YOU. Thank YOU!!! It’s been wonderful to see this show make such an impact on the world.
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“Adolescence asks questions… It presents us with a fatal situation caused by one unconscious act of violence – actions have consequences. Over the four ‘one shot’ episodes we see how it devastates not only a family but a whole community. If Adolescence saves one life, it will have worked.”
Before the limited drama had even dropped, she described it as a “life-changing experience” as an actor and, from a viewer’s perspective, nothing short of a “heart-wrenching and powerful one-shot drama that’ll blow your mind and take your breath away.” We can only echo her words.
As well as Oldham‘s finest being celebrated for her extremely believable, accurate and nuanced performance as teacher Mrs Fenumore, audiences are hailing not only the impressive talent of Owen Cooper, who plays the lead role of Jamie Miller but also the sublime Stephen Graham as his father.
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Co-creator Graham, who also shared the screen with Hartley in This Is England, has been praised for numerous roles in recent years – including director Philip Barantini’s equally talked about Boiling Point (2023) – but many viewers are saying he has officially cemented himself as “one of Britain’s greatest-ever actors.”
If you’ve still not seen anything about it, we won’t dare spoil a morsel more but we will sincerely recommend that you join the millions of others in watching it – though we’ll warn you, Adolescence is by no means easy-going.
You can see the trailer down below:
The Greater Manchester actor is one of numerous show-stealers in Adolescence.
Molly-Mae Hague revisits first Manchester flat, now on the market for £185k
Daisy Jackson
Molly-Mae Hague’s first Manchester flat is now on the market for £185k – and the star herself has paid a visit to her old digs.
Those who have been following Molly-Mae since before she shot to serious fame on Love Island will have recognised the backdrop of her recent TikTok video.
The 27-year-old reality TV star and businesswoman posed around the one-bedroom flat, dancing to Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘House Tour’.
The apartment is where she lived just before entering Love Island, and where she and now-fiance Tommy Fury lived briefly when they left the show.
And now that exact flat where she really launched her social media career has been listed for sale, at £185,000.
The corner apartment stands on the 17th floor of Islington Wharf, overlooking New Islington tram stop and right on the doorstep of Ancoats.
Her former landlord, who arranged for Molly-Mae to have one look around her old flat before it’s sold, said that she was a ‘lovely, polite and down-to-earth young woman, and an excellent tenant who looked after the apartment extremely well.’
The one bedroom apartment has double-aspect floor-to-ceiling windows which look across Manchester on one side, and out towards the Pennines on the other.
It’s listed for sale with no chain and the option to include existing furnishings (which seems to include the same couch Molly-Mae had at the time).
The flat also has a kitchen/living space, a communal garden, superfast broadband, and is within walking distance of Manchester Piccadilly.
Hans Zimmer at Co-op Live, Manchester – movie magic brought to life
Lonnie Bowes
What do Batman, Kung Fu Panda, and Captain Jack Sparrow all have in common? Music by Hans Zimmer, of course.
I must admit it’s an odd sight seeing 20,000 people seated in the Co-op Live. Manchester is no stranger to a big night out, but this is a different beast entirely. No mosh pits, no flying pints, no one on anyone’s shoulders. Just a full orchestra, a choir, and a wall of screens.
At the centre of it all is conductor Matt Dunkley, steering the Odessa Orchestra & Friends through some of the most recognisable music ever put to film. Zimmer appears on the big screens between pieces to introduce the music and the stories behind it. I was disappointed that Hans didn’t make an appearance but let me tell you this performance was no less impressive.
And in no time at all the gloves came off. Batman is, quite simply, incredible. All menace and muscle, strings sawing away like something is about to go very wrong, brass and percussion hitting so hard you feel it in your ribcage before you hear it.
Gladiator pulls things the other way. Where Batman pins you to your seat, this one lifts you out of it in a big way. Lets face it, if you are some what of a self respecting movie head, you’ll have seen Gladiator and know first hand how ‘Now we are free’ can command your mood. Well imagine that in person.
If the orchestra is the engine, the Nairobi Chamber Chorus is the heart. When their voices rise for The Lion King, it stops being a concert and becomes something closer to gospel.
Hans Zimmer at Co-op Live. Credit: The Manc Group
Because beneath the scale and the spectacle, there’s something more intentional at play. These pieces of music are part of people’s lives. We are talking first trips to the cinema, films watched with parents, soundtracks that got someone through a rough year.
And then there’s Interstellar. ‘No Time for Caution’ creates it own suspense. The organ churns, the tempo tightens like a ticking clock, you genuinely find yourself gripping the armrest as if you’re the one trying to dock a spinning spacecraft.
Time, from Inception, is the other side of that coin when it comes to what it emotes during the performance. It’s slow, it’s patient and it’s moving. It builds from almost nothing, layer on layer.
After all that, there’s only one way to send people home. Pirates of the Caribbean closes the night at full tilt. You think everything is drawing to end, Matt Dunkley has already guided you to the apex of nights performance, but no. Hans Zimmer flashes on to the screen one more time and alluded that’s we aren’t at the finish line just yet. Strings galloping, the whole orchestra going hell for leather. Heads nodding, feet stamping, grins everywhere.
Epic, emotional and beautifully played. This wasn’t just a concert it was a reminder: that a piece of music can take you somewhere else entirely, and that you don’t need a single lyric to make thousands of strangers feel the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Hats off to every musician on that stage. You absolutely smashed it.
Danny Jones -
19th March 2025 
