‘I called my Adolescence co-star a k**b during filming – it wasn’t cut’
The moment was 'never scripted'.
An Adolescence star has revealed to Metro that she hurled an insult at Ashley Walters’ character while in the middle of filming, and it still made it into the final edit.
After being released just two weeks ago, Netflix’s jaw-dropping four-part drama has accumulated an astonishing 66million views, becoming the most-watched UK series ever on Netflix.
Praised by audiences and critics alike, the fictional drama stars Stephen Graham as a father whose family life is shattered after his 13-year-old son Jamie (Owen Cooper) is accused of murdering a teenage girl.
Shot in a mesmerising one-take, the Philip Barantini-directed series also boasts Erin Doherty from A Thousand Blows as Briony Ariston, as well as Brad Pitt as an executive producer.
But for Top Boy star Ashley, who plays DI Luke Bascombe, it appears his filming experience might have been more challenging than first expected.
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Speaking to Metro, The Responder star Faye McKeever, who plays nurse Erica in episode one of Adolescence, has told how the cast were encouraged to improvise during filming.
Faye discussed her process in playing nurse Erica in episode one (Picture: Netflix)Discussing the unique one-take filming process, she said: ‘Because we rehearsed each episode so many times, the opportunity to play around was there as we realised certain scenes needed filling up more.
‘For me personally, it was never scripted for my character to call Ashley Walters a k**b. So that was something I thoroughly enjoyed doing, even though I love Ashley.’
Asked what her preparation was like to play a nurse dealing with a minor such as Jamie, she explained: ‘To prepare, I was introduced to a real nurse who showed me in great detail the process of taking bloods, and I asked her to speak to me as she would to a child.
‘Then everything she said to me I used for my lines in the episode, as very little dialogue was written for that part when Jamie is getting his blood taken.’
Talking about other moments in the show, Faye – who has also starred in Little Boy Blue and A Confession – added: ‘Another scary moment was when Stephen Graham, the pro of ad-libbing, threw you a line you weren’t expecting.
‘In episode one, he said to me he was really hot and I asked if he wanted me to hang up his jumper and that was never meant to be in the script.
Ashley Walters as DI Luke Bascombe in Adolescence (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)‘Stephen just wants everyone to be the best, he’s like a teacher you want to impress.
‘His performance in that last episode, I watched it live and I cried every time. Even though I was only working with him for such a short time you just learn so much from him it’s amazing.
‘It was like when I worked with Martin Freeman, I was just like a sponge trying to learn everything from him.’
Discussing her role in helping some of the young boys to audition for the role of Jamie, Faye explained that she did a couple of workshops with the contenders.
‘We worked with about 15 young lads who were trying out to be Jamie, and the main objective was to find lads who hadn’t had the experience of drama school and all these boys just brought this rawness to every audition they did and the amount of talent in the room was just amazing,’ she recalled.
‘And with Owen’s audition, as an actor I was just wowed by what he could do. I remember after we were done I just looked at Stephen and Phil and we all just had this look, like “What just happened?”’
Asked about Owen’s potential, she added: ‘With Owen, I mean, his next movie is with Margot Robbie. How about having that and Adolescence as your two projects on your IMDb page? He’s making it look easy!’
Episode one shows the process of Jamie (Owen Cooper) being arrested (Picture: Netflix)Faye emphasised how Owen’s talent is ‘so raw and rare to find’, adding that ‘hopefully he can just be nurtured’ as he progresses in his career.
‘It’s a big industry to be in, but because he has the likes of Stephen Graham and Phil Barantini around him he’s going to be just fine,’ she said.
‘He’s also got a great support package around him and such a down to earth, lovely family. He’s got everything, but we just need to be careful.
‘It’s our duty to treat him right because you hear so many stories of young actors being thrust into the limelight, we should protect them more especially now streaming giants like Netflix can turn you into an overnight star just like that.’
Asked whether she thinks there could be a series two of Adolescence, Faye said: ‘This series, it’s such a huge talking point, discussing the impact of social media on kids, toxic masculinity. These are the things we should be showing on TV.
‘You just want to create this programme over and over again. But I don’t think they’re going to create a second series to this. I think maybe they would create another series on another subject. Well, I hope!’
Earlier this week, Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne shut down ‘absurd’ claims that the drama was adapted from real-life crimes.
X user @stillgray claimed the show was ‘based on real life cases such as the Southport murderer’ and claimed the team had ‘swapped the actual killer from a Black man/migrant to a white boy’ as part of ‘anti-white propaganda’.
Faye said it was an ‘honour’ to be part of Adolescence (Picture: Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage)The damaging and inaccurate statement was widely condemned, but Elon Musk amplified the misinformation when he responded: ‘Wow.’
Responding, Jack, who co-wrote Adolescence with Stephen, said: ‘They’re saying that we race swapped it, because we were basically here and then ended up there, and everything else, and nothing is further from the truth.
‘I have told a lot of real-life stories in my time. I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real-life story, and you put it on screen, and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.’
Jack, 46, also pointed out that children from all ethnic backgrounds commit crimes and that it was ‘absurd and not true’ to claim that they are only committed by Black boys.
Adolescence can be streamed on Netflix.
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