Tell Me Everything is a British teen drama television series, created and co-written by Mark O'Sullivan. It premiered on 8 December 2022 on ITVX, as part of the inaugural slate of programming on the new streaming service, and was broadcast linearly on ITV2 from 6 June 2023.

The series was announced on 5 August 2021 when filming had commenced in Welwyn Garden City. The series is ITV2's first original drama in over ten years and has been compared to E4 teen drama Skins (2007–2013). Tell Me Everything initially centres on Jonny (Eden H Davies), whose mental health problems come into greater focus following a family tragedy, but also stars Spike Fearn, Lauryn Ajufo, Callina Liang, Tessa Lucille and Carla Woodcock as part of a greater ensemble; the production team stated that during the casting process, they focused on casting young and rising actors.

A second series was commissioned and filmed over mid-to-late 2023 which premiered on ITVX and ITV2 on 6 June 2024.

On 22 January 2025, ITV announced that the teen drama had been cancelled.

Premise Tell Me Everything centres around 16-year-old Jonny (Eden H Davies), whose ongoing battles with his mental health are exacerbated after his father dies. A new girl at school called Mei (Callina Liang) pretends her dad has died too and gets into a sexual relationship with Jonny, pushing him to extreme behaviour he might not have engaged in on his own. Jonny's best friends Louis (Spike Fearn) and Neve (Lauryn Ajufo) don't realise how depressed he is as they are undergoing their own difficulties in entering college, and meeting students Regan (Tessa Lucille) and Zia (Carla Woodcock).

ITV said Tell Me Everything explores "the stresses of mental health for today’s teens created by the omnipresence of technology and social media, whilst they are still searching for their own identity, exploring sexuality, and experimenting with relationships, drink, drugs and sex".

Cast Main Eden H Davies as Jonny Murphy, a 16-year-old who appears confident and carefree on the surface but is hiding a battle with depression. Spike Fearn as Louis Green, a 17-year-old long-term friend of Jonny and Neve, with underdeveloped social skills and parents who, although wealthy, are distant and not very helpful to him in terms of advice. Lauryn Ajufo as Neve (Nifemi) (series 1), a long-term friend of Louis and Jonny, who hides an attraction to Jonny and her envy at her sister's academic prowess. Callina Liang as Mei (series 1), an angry Chinese-Canadian girl whose family moves to Welwyn Garden City in late summer. Her parents are separated and she has recently found out her dad is not her biological father. Tessa Lucille as Regan Cullen (series 1), a student at the local college who is a lesbian and hiding her role as a carer for her grandmother. Carla Woodcock as Zia (series 1), a student at the local college who is also a social media influencer. Nethra Tilakumara as Naisha Jadu (series 2) George Hawkins as Dylan (series 2) Sophie Ablett as Ella Blake (series 2) Daisy Jacob as Rebecca "Bex" Keaton (series 2) Levi Mattey as Josh Ridley (series 2) Ammar Duffus as Luke (series 2) Dylan Brady as Tommy (series 2)

Recurring and notable

Episodes Series 1 (2022)

Series 2 (2024) The second series will feature the character of Jonny, and his family, moving to a new town of, and college in, Hitchin. None of the ensemble cast return, apart from a brief appearance of Louis (Spike Fearn) on faulty wi-Fi who is out of the country with his mother. A new cast is introduced: Naisha (Nethra Tilakumara) who pretends her "newly single" status doesn't bother her; care-leaver Dylan (George Hawkins) and his boyfriend Tommy (Dylan Brady); Ella (Sophie Ablett) who is "often putting herself in dangerous situations"; and also-recently-moved-to-the-town Bex (Daisy Jacob).

Production Development Plans for Tell Me Everything were finalised in May 2021 and the press release for the series was launched on 5 August 2021. At the time of release, ITV confirmed that filming was in place in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, where the events within the series will also be set; the town is series creator Mark O'Sullivan's hometown. The executive producers for the series are Robert Wulff-Cochrane and Camilla Campbell, who commissioned the E4 teen drama Skins. The series is written by creator O'Sullivan, Yemi Oyefuwa, Kat Sadler and Cameron Loxdale, and is directed by Richard Senior and Marley Morrison. It was confirmed that the series would be produced by Noho Film and Television and ITV Studios, and that it would be co-funded by Young Audiences Content Fund, a UK government funded grant scheme focused on creating programmes for British adolescents.

Writer O'Sullivan worked with Noho while developing the show so as "to ensure that it comes from a perspective that speaks to the teens of the 2020s", such as by interviewing sixth form students at his former school in Welwyn Garden City so "the show felt authentic and representative"; he also received inspiration from his children and their friends, and that "some of [his] favourite lines have come from them". Executive producer Wulff-Cochrane said that "[a] lot of the series is informed by the issues they raised and, in some cases, some of the specificities they shared with us". Heather Fallon of Broadcast commented that the "subject of mental health is at the very heart of Tell Me Everything, which weaves O'Sullivan's own experience of adolescent grief and depression with the frequent references that were made in the teen discussion groups". As well as such contribution, Noho "opened up the writers' room to create an ensemble of young voices, to further add to the authenticity of the series and give budding writers an opportunity." Executive producer Campbell added that Noho "also sought out insights from the mental health charity Mind, as well as working closely with the BFI, which supported the drama via the Young Audiences Content Fund".

The depiction of mental health, combined with the implementation of comedy, was something Campbell commented was their "biggest creative challenge", on the difficulty of balancing it right; O'Sullivan said including humour was a key part of the series, as he had "always needed to search out the shards of light among the darkness, for my own sanity as much as anything else. My humour always tends towards the darker, edgier places." He explained that writing the show for a young audience meant a focus on how to write for them without "stray[ing] into patronising and condescension", as "[m]ore so than any other audience, teens can sniff out inauthenticity." Campbell commented that the setting of the show was also of significance, such as in their attempts to distinguish Tell Me Everything from other similar content from abroad, in that "[t]hat suburbia is very recognisable for UK teens", and "the whole series has a very British sensibility. It's dark but comic, it has a real sense of place and will speak to a British audience far more than it will a US one." O'Sullivan commented that he was "pleased we decided to set it [in Welwyn Garden City] because I think we all have slightly tricky kind of relationships with the places we grew up, especially if they're the smaller places because they can feel suffocating." Wulff-Cochrane said "part of the joy" of the show is its Welwyn Garden City setting, describing it as an "'everyplace' that represents the quirky oddness of this nation", and that "[w]ith its slightly suburban landscape it felt like a truthful representation of what it feels like to be a teenager in this country. Where fun is just over the horizon, so instead you've got to make your own."

O'Sullivan commented that the character of Jonny was "loosely based" on himself, and that his own story, "which is some of the stuff that Jonny goes through, was the starting point. Some of it is very autobiographical. And some of it isn't. My teenage years were often pretty horrible, for lots of reasons, not least of which was my dad's sudden death." He spoke of how Jonny is "quite typical of a lot of young men. He struggles with his mental health hugely. And I think it's the bottling up and the anger that he feels and it's not really anger, it's just emotion. He doesn't know where to place it. Hopefully people will relate." Emma Saunders, who interviewed O'Sullivan, Davies and Ajufo for BBC News said the drama was "refreshing" in how it "refuses to gloss over the tedium of depression and anxiety, zoning in on the panic attacks, insomnia and self-doubt that are often part of these conditions"; Davies expanded on this, saying "[s]ometimes, when we talk about mental health as a theme, it's in danger of being glamorised... in a way that's appeasing to people" and "[w]hat we did was create something that's ugly and jagged. And that's how it is. Jonny is not always the nicest person and if audiences can see that, maybe it can help them see it in other people and their friends." He said further that "it was hard at times to film stuff of that nature because you have to access a place that's difficult"; on-set therapists were available on set throughout production, and the executive producers reported that they "gave the actors the chance to talk to people afterwards if they felt concerned about anything" and that "[o]n occasion the actors have queried certain things and we have changed the scripts to make sure they feel comfortable with whatever they are doing." The show also utilised an intimacy co-ordinator for certain scenes. The cast met with mental health charity Mind in order to more accurately portray mental health issues in their characters.

Both executive producers spoke of the significance of the diverse cast and writing team for the show, Campbell saying that "[they] were very determined that this show should have a mix of voices that could only enrich and lend more veracity to the characters and the stories we are telling. We were really excited to have Yemi Oyefuwa, Kat Sadler, Cameron Loxdale and Rob Fraser on board who all bring something very different. That was a nonnegotiable part of this process for us", with Wulff-Cochrane expanding on this; "if you are going to look at British teenage life now, these teens are growing up in a much more diverse world than the generation before them. We wanted to be sure that it felt reflective of a broader British society. Again the BFI and ITV were very keen that we made sure it had sexual, gender and racial diversity in its bones."

Filming and casting Tell Me Everything employed the strategy of an open casting call advertised over social media, by "seeking a crop of young actors from diverse backgrounds outside of the traditional agent-led casting process during lockdown, with actors invited to submit a self-tape", with over "300 tapes ... pored over for the three lead roles". Those who auditioned "rang[ed] from those from established backgrounds with multiple credits, to beginners with no prior professional experience". Davies, who was 17 when he auditioned and during parts of filming, was using social media as a means to find opportunities for roles, and "secured the role of Jonny with a recording of himself performing a monologue".