Before Her Emmy Nom, ‘Adolescence’ Star Erin Doherty Delighted in Accolades of a Different Kind: People Simply Saying ‘Thank You’

The first-time Emmy nominee tells IndieWire what she was doing during the nominations announcement (it's pretty sweet), watching the series as a viewer too, and the "courage" it took to put the show out.

First-time Emmy nominee Erin Doherty cooked up a pretty good distraction — literally — when it came to nominations morning. The “Adolescence” star, nominated for Best Limited/Movie Supporting Actress for her work in the smash Netflix hit, was actually making a cake when the nominations rolled in on Tuesday.

“I was made very aware of [the nominations] and have been made very aware of it, from my girlfriend in particular, she was like, ‘Are you going to watch?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m not!,'” Doherty told IndieWire with a laugh. “I am an anxious person, so I was like, I’ll stay away.’ I was actually making a cake! And waiting for my agent to call because she said she would.”

When Doherty’s agent called? Incredible news: not just her nomination, but 13 overall for the limited series, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, plus acting noms for co-creator Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, Ashley Walters, and Christine Tremarco. “I’m so happy for the show, I’m so proud to be a part of it,” a giddy Doherty said over Zoom.

Each episode of the series is designed to look and feel like a single-take, one-hour slice of time. Breakout star Cooper is the driving force of two of those episodes, including the gobsmacking third episode, in which his character Jamie (being held in a youth detention facility before his trial for murdering a classmate) sits down with forensic psychologist Briony Ariston (Doherty) for an unnerving interview.

While the pair rehearsed for two weeks before shooting, much has been made of the improvisational magic Cooper and Doherty made. They shot two takes a day, five days straight. By the end of it, Cooper told IndieWire previously, he was tired. So he yawned, and Doherty ran with it, asking “Am I boring you?” It was the last take, and the one that made it to air. What does Doherty remember of that?

“It was so intense and claustrophobic being in that room together, and the whole thing just required us to be present and to bounce off each other,” she said. “So that by the time it ended — and, if you’ve seen it, [you know] the episode ends in such a climactic release of emotions for me — I left that room and was hugging [series director] Phil [Barantini] and Owen and all our crew, I was just kind of happy to be out of there. I think your body can’t distinguish from what is true and what is false. Genuinely, we created such an authentic, horrible environment that I just remember being so grateful to have come to an end.”

It was only after filming had ended, Doherty said, did she have the time and space to reflect back on what they had made. “I knew that it was important and vital, but it was only afterwards that I was like, I think we might have made something really special there,” she said.

Watching the show as a fan also offered Doherty continued perspective. “I was kind of in my own little bubble within the realm of the show that I was like, ‘I want to be an audience member of this. … There is no way I’m depriving myself of this opportunity,” she said. “The whole thing was obviously harrowing and disturbing, but I’m so grateful that I got to sit and receive it in that way, because now I get to have those conversations in the world [with other audience members].”

Those conversations run the gamut, she said, from longer chats to quick interactions, the latter of which might be her favorite.

“What I’m so kind of taken aback by is that a lot of the conversations are just random people on the street, on the tube, being like, ‘Thank you for that show,'” she said. “That is such a gorgeous communication to have with someone, like that’s all I’d ever wished to say to people when specific stories have been told that have really hit me. … I think people are just grateful that the conversation is now on the table because it’s such a tricky subject matter and one that I think we were all quite afraid of.”

She added, “What this show is so great at is, it doesn’t actually go, ‘And here are the answers,’ because we don’t have those answers. We didn’t need the answers, we just needed someone to broach the conversation. And I think that’s where thank you’s come from.”

The series follows in the footsteps in another major Netflix hit from last year: fellow limited series “Baby Reindeer” pulled in 11 nominations in 2024, walking away with six, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. What is it about Netflix that makes it such a perfect home for these heartbreaking, harrowing, ripped-from-real-life stories?

“It’s gotta be the bravery to just, trust in audiences, in their intelligence, in their want to and desire to to be given these really raw human stories,” the actress said. “I think we’re ready for it. We always have been, but there’s always going to be that dynamic with TV and film of like, ‘It it going to put bums in seats? Is it gonna sell? It’s all about, will people watch this thing and, I think this show proves that we want these really authentic stories. We have a hunger for it.”

That’s, Doherty thinks, why shows like “Adolescence” and “Baby Reindeer” truly succeed.

“That’s why it absolutely hit the stratosphere in a way that no one was anticipating, because there’s such courage behind there,” Doherty said, “I’m so grateful for Netflix for having the ability to just [let] … Jack and Stephen write this story in as true a way as you can, and that’s it. There’s such integrity within storytelling, it clearly has an impact. … Sometimes you just have to have faith, like, in the truth and the purity of something. That, for me, is what good art does.”

Wait, what kind of cake? Doherty laughed. “It’s actually a fridge cake, because it’s really hot at the minute,” she said. “I’ve never made it before, and it’s actually my birthday tomorrow. So I’m making my own birthday cake, which I’m chuffed about, because I really wanted to make it!”

Talk about a great birthday.

All episodes of “Adolescence” are now streaming on Netflix. The 77th Annual Emmy Awards will air September 14 on CBS.