Stephen Graham was talking about his latest TV series Adolescence, which is on Netflix now, and is filmed in one continuous shot
Stephen Graham ‘dropped co-star Ashley Walters in it’ as he promoted their new show
Stephen Graham has revealed how his co-star Ashley Walters almost messed up the one shot filming for their new Netflix series Adolescence.
The four part miniseries follows fictional character Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a classmate. Veteran actor Stephen plays his heartbroken father Eddie who is left to pick up the pieces, while also trying do right by his child after the tragedy. Ashley takes on the role of police officer DI Luke Bascombe, who is investigating the case.
Much like Stephen’s starring role in 2021 film Boiling Point about a restaurant chef – which was shot in one take – Adolescence is also filmed continuously in one shot per episode. But the ambitious technique can be very easy to mess up if someone makes a mistake such as fluffing their lines.
Appearing on Radio X to promote the new series, 51-year-old Stephen – who came up with the idea for the Netflix series and co-wrote it alongside Jack Thorne, marking his first foray into TV writing – was asked by host Chris Moyles: “Is it actually one shot?” “Yeah, honest to God. One shot,” Stephen replied.
Ashley as Detective Inspector Bascombe in Adolescence(Image: Courtesy of Netflix)
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Chris continued: “Really? Why would you do that? Because what if you’re 53 minutes in and someone goes, ‘John… Bob… Oh, God damn it?!'” Stephen replied: “That happened!” And it was poor Ashley’s fault.
Stephen’s wife, actress and producer Hannah Walters, revealed: “It happened in Ashley’s [Walters] episode” as her husband exclaimed: “Oh you’ve grassed him up!” Radio host Chris then joked: “Ashley screwed up. Well, unbelievable. What an amateur!” Hannah jokingly added: “He won’t mind me saying!”
Explaining how they film the trick one shot scenes, Stephen – who is also known for starring in the This Is England TV series and film, Peaky Blinders and Line of Duty – said: “So, the second week the whole crew comes in, all of the crew are in there, our sound department, every single person is in there, and we work it out together.
“We work out the logistics, and we kind of choreograph it to within the finest of details. So, all the props people are in there, everyone’s in there. Most of the crew are in there and helping us understand where we’re going to be, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. And then that third week we shoot.
“So, you do two takes a day. We turn over around about 10:30 in the morning, and then we’ll come back again in the afternoon, because everything has to be reset. And especially with respects to that first episode, you’re coming in through the door, you know, there’s a beautiful shot as you come in with the police officers. You go up through the estate, through a normal council estate. Do you know what I mean?
“You come in, and you go up that estate, and it’s like something out of La Haine. I think it’s so beautiful, the way the camera moves. And then you come in through the front door, and then you have that kind of voyeuristic element through it.
