Over two decades, the ambitious, Sheffield-based independent production company Warp has built an enviable reputation for making edgy, compelling content, often featuring marginalised voices, and made for both the big and small screen. Titles include the award-winning feature film thriller Dead Man’s Shoes and, for Channel 4, This is England and The Virtues.

Warp has helped nurture the careers of such key talent as Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, who have returned to work for them again and again.

This spring sees the debut of two new projects for television. Adolescence, a story of teenage knife crime, is Warp’s first commission for Netflix and is co-written by Graham (who also stars) and Thorne. And Reunion, a revenge story for BBC One, is scripted by deaf writer William Mager and made in part with a deaf crew.

Adolescence is co-produced by Matriarch Productions (co-founded by Graham) and US producer Plan B. The series explores what happens when 13-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper) is charged with the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. The four-parter is directed by Philip Barantini, who again deploys the continuous, one-shot style he became renowned for with the 2021 film Boiling Point.  

These two characteristically adventurous projects seem sure to further cement Warp’s envelope-pushing credentials. “The scripts were jaw-droppingly incredible,” enthuses the company’s co-founder and joint CEO, Mark Herbert. “I read Reunion on the train back to Sheffield from St Pancras. By the time I got to Leicester, I said, ‘Let’s do it’. There’s great talent involved with each of these series. We’ve always wanted to work with the best talent around, internationally as well as in the UK.”

What was it like working for Netflix, whose values are very different to the UK’s public service broadcasters. “It was refreshing because, as a producer, ‘maybes’ are really difficult,” says Herbert, who began his career in TV and film as a runner before becoming a location manager. “Netflix were decisive and clear in what they wanted.

“I’m a practical producer, so it was helpful that with both shows we had a clear pathway to production. Given that budgets are being squeezed, that’s very important.” It helped that Warp had worked before with Netflix’s British drama chief, Anne Mensah, in her previous incarnation as Sky’s Head of Drama; at Sky, she had commissioned Jack Thorne-scripted The Last Panthers from Warp.

Filming each episode of Adolescence in one single take sounds challenging. “Everyone was nervous about doing it,” says Herbert. “In the past, I’d done long takes. This is England had a 19-minute scene, but this was totally different.

“We know how to make something for less if we have to, and we've got the battle scars to prove it”

“Not having a time limit for the drama was a blessing in disguise and was liberating because there were no breaks to accommodate commercials.”   

He adds: “As a producer, you’ve often got multiple partners involved because getting TV series made in today’s climate is tricky. In film, there are sometimes as many as seven partners. Putting the finance together can be very time-consuming. On Adolescence, there was only Netflix, which meant that we could get on with it.”

Emily Feller, Warp’s Chief Creative Officer, says: “Netflix made us feel we were their most important show. It was a fantastic working relationship.”

The story is told over 13 months, with each episode picking up the story at a different stage as events unfold in real time. “Jack and Stephen had a huge mountain to climb to make sure the one-shot works,” says Feller. “There’s no edit, and it was a bold approach to storytelling. I hope other people will see it and attempt something similar –although [laughing] no one will be as good as us, obviously.”

Key to Warp’s ethos is to trust the talent and let them get on with their jobs. A teenage murder is a familiar topic for film-makers. Herbert explains that Graham and Thorne’s approach to the script trained a new lens on the subject. “There’s a lot of heart in the story,” he says. “We want our work to be authentic, bold and provocative, but you really care for these characters.”

Feller adds: “Hopefully, people will see it as less about the murder than the story of why it happened. At the end of the first episode, I hope parents who are watching will ask themselves how they would feel if it were their child accused of murder. The boy comes from a very stable background.”

Turning to Reunion, the drama features deaf actors, including Matthew Gurney as Daniel, a former prisoner consumed by isolation and anger, who is determined to get to the bottom of why he was jailed. Strictly winner Rose Ayling-Ellis also appears, alongside Anne-Marie Duff and Lara Peake.

It was made on a bilingual set featuring British Sign Language and spoken English. “This was the first time we’d run a bilingual set,” says Herbert. “We’ve worked on things with multiple languages, but we’d never done anything like this before. The BBC made sure we got the resources and support we needed. We had to make sure the set was as inclusive as possible.”

Much time was spent in pre-production. “It’s a learning curve and you discover things all the time,” says Herbert. “This is mainstream, primetime international drama. It’s important that a deaf audience can identify with it, but Reunion is for everyone. Ultimately, it’s an incredible thriller.”

The company aims to make outstanding British drama possessing global appeal. “Audiences are smart, wherever they are,” says Herbert. “The films that have done well for us [internationally] are the ones that have a true sense of place.”

Reunion is set in Sheffield and the surrounding Peak District. “I live on the edge of the Peak District and it’s the most beautiful countryside,” says Herbert. “For Billy [scriptwriter William Mager], it was important to have almost a Western feel to it. Visually, it’s stunning.”

Having won a reputation for low-budget independent films such as Dead Man’s Shoes and black comedy Four Lions – Chris Morris’s directorial debut – Warp needs no lessons in working on tight budgets. “It’s tough out there,” says Herbert. “Unlike budgets, production costs keeps going up.”

Warp, set up in 2002, was born out of Warp Records, known for championing bleep techno artists and ambient musicians such as Brian Eno. Today, the two are separate entities although Herbert remains close friends with Steve Beckett, who set up the company with the late Rob Mitchell.  “One thing Warp Records taught us is the importance of good business practice,” says Herbert. “If you don’t have that in the music business, you won’t survive.”

The company has known tough times, having ridden out the 2008 financial crash. “We’ve got people working for us who know in their bones how to cut their cloth,” says Herbert. “We know how to make something for less if we have to – and we’ve got the battle scars to prove it.”

Herbert is on record, from several years ago, as saying: “As soon as you’ve got an atrium or a mezzanine level in your office, you’re screwed. We just want to invest in talent.”

Thankfully, that approach seems to be equally true today.