After ‘Adolescence’ & ‘Missing You’, Netflix Gloats About UK Performance
In the first three months of the year, three British originals – Adolescence, the knife crime drama starring Stephen Graham, Toxic Town, the toxic waste drama starring Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood, and Harlan Coben’s Missing You – attracted nearly 200M views on Netflix.
Anne Mensah, the company’s UK content chief, is a humble woman and not known for crowing about her own success.
But Netflix, in a letter to shareholders following its first quarter financial results, is blowing their own trumpet about its performance in the nation of shopkeepers, as well as the fact that it is now producing in over 50 countries.
It noted that Adolescence got 124M views since launch, Missing You scored 53M and Toxic Town, which was also written by Jack Thorne, one of the men behind Adolescence, got 14M views, numbers that have helped grow its share of TV time in the UK.
It grew from 8% in the first quarter of last year to 9% in the same period in 2025. This was compared to 20% for the BBC and 13% for ITV. It’s also well above Disney+, which recorded a 2.9% share and Prime Video, which got 2.8%, as well as most interesting above YouTube, which received a 7% share, according to ratings agency Barb.
This is in comparison with the U.S. For instance, in January, Netflix had an 8.6% share of viewing compared to YouTube’s 10.8% share, according to Nielsen.
“We have offices around the world with local executives who have deep relationships with the creative and business communities. And we have invested in production infrastructure to create high quality series and films. The UK is emblematic of our approach,” Netflix noted in its letter.
The streamer added that it has invested over $6B in the UK over the last five years, including a dedicated production hub, featuring 20 sound stages at Shepperton Studios, five additional stages at Longcross Studios and three at Uxbridge.
It expects to be in production with more than 100 titles across TV and film this year. This includes Hostage, a political thriller starring Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy and House of Guiness from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
This is more than double its output since Mensah joined in 2019, when the company had around 40 UK projects each year. It’s no surprise that the former Sky drama chief has been linked to the BBC’s vacant chief content role.
As she said last year, “British television has such a long history of producing truly brilliant entertainment and we are forever proud to be part of this tradition.”
