Ashley Walters 'in tears' after messing up Adolescence take in last five minutes of filming

Netflix's Adolescence has undoubtably become the standout show of 2025 so far, most notably because every episode was filmed in a single continuous shot.

That means there's no cuts, and a lot of restarting if just one element gets messed up.

Owen Cooper, who plays the leading role of Jamie, even admitted that there was one filming mistake in episode two that we all missed, when he accidentally yawned after a last day of filming, and he and Erin Doherty (who plays his psychologist), had to improvise the moment so filming didn't get cut.

For those yet to watch it, the show follows the story of a teenage boy (Cooper), who is accused of killing a girl in his class at school - and the motives behind why he might of done it.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

We quickly learn that Cooper was rejected by the girl, and due to his immersion in the world of the 'Manosphere', took drastic action to get 'justice' for himself.

Each episode is not only gripping, but a moment-by-moment recollection of how such a story would actually play out in real-time, hence the decision to film it all in one shot.

But that one-shot rule also piles a lot of pressure on the actors involved - and it would turn out Ashley Walters was also left gutted when his own slip-up forced a take to be restarted, just five minutes from the end of the episode's filming.

Walters, who was previously best-known for his role in Top Boy, plays DI Luke Bascombe, a police detective at the heart of the investigation.

Netflix

“In episode two, I chase a kid at the end, and I used his name when calling my son, instead of my son’s character’s name right at the end,” he admitted on Capital Xtra Breakfast.

“And Philip Barantini, the director, he came up to me after, because I was in bits, bro. You know when, like, you’ve dropped the ball? It’s like you’re dropping a ball for everyone, do you know what I mean?

“It’s like a football team, bro. You’re playing together. And I was in bits, bro. Nearly in tears. Because it was such a good take, and he tried to make me feel better by like, ‘No, but maybe, you know, the character is so discombobulated…’ I was like, ‘Phil, let’s just go again. Let’s go again’.”

Writer, Jack Thorne, is now calling for radical action in response to the show, which has sparked global conversations around gender-based violence.

Why not read...

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How Netflix's Adolescence covered up one major filming mistake - and you can’t unsee it

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