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Adolescence director surprised to be handed reins to Netflix's family-friendly franchise
The new film reunites Philip Barantini with Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne.
Netflix / Stephen Graham
- David Craig
Published: Sunday, 5 July 2026 at 11:04 am
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Adolescence director Philip Barantini has expressed his shock over which project Netflix offered as his follow-up gig: Enola Holmes 3.
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The filmmaker had previously garnered buzz with his culinary drama Boiling Point, and its BBC Two spin-off, but his career trajectory skyrocketed with the launch of Adolescence last year.
The hard-hitting miniseries, filmed in technically-astounding long takes, powerfully brought attention to the radicalisation of young men and boys by malevolent online actors.
It certainly did not resemble the adventures of Millie Bobby Brown's fledgling sleuth Enola Holmes, yet Barantini found compatible elements in the sequel script – by his Adolescence collaborator, Jack Thorne.
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Speaking to The Independent, the director revealed that he "assumed" his next offer would be "for something dark, like Dune 3" following the rapturous reception to his Stephen Graham drama.
"But then they said 'Enola Holmes 3', and I thought, 'OK, well that’s interesting'," he continued.
"I read the script and realised that what Jack had done was made it a whole lot darker, a lot more grown up. Millie is a grown woman now."
Barantini added: "And so I thought, well, if I can bring a bit of my own flavour to the franchise, I'd love to give it a shot."
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Back in February, Thorne himself had teased the more mature elements of his Enola Holmes 3 script in an interview with Radio Times.
He told the Radio Times Writers' Room: "I always thought of Enola Holmes as a sort of cheat, as a way of understanding 19th century British society.
"The first film was about land reform and vote reform, the second film was about the birth of the unions, and the third film looks at our colonial history."
The third entry also stars Dune and Sex Education alum Sharon Duncan-Brewster as legendary Holmes villain Moriarty, in addition to Henry Cavill (The Witcher) as Sherlock and Himesh Patel (Bait) as Watson.
Enola Holmes 3 is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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Authors
David CraigSenior Drama Writer
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
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