Adolescence star Ashley Walters says harrowing script had him crying most nights

"So I came, didn't realise how intense it was going to be, but it was so intense. The challenge was great. I was crying into my script most nights in the apartment, so scared I'm not going to remember the material. But actually, coming out of it, I grew. There was a newfound love for the craft and what I do.

"So it was intense, but really challenging and beautiful at the end of it for me.

Walters, who is best known for Top Boy, and was recently see on screen in Harlan Coben's Missing You, plays the lead detective in the murder investigation. But while a crime has been committed, Adolescence was written to interrogate why young men and boys are committing extreme acts of violence against women and girls.

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"I think why this show is so great is because it's not about the crime, really," he said. "The crime is bad, obviously, but what we're talking about is the psychology, the reasons why someone would do what they do.

"And I don't think it’s big in the press about why people are in these positions. We're always talking about hoodies, people stabbing each other, and more sentences and more years in prison. But actually, no one's actually breaking down why people are getting to this stage.

"And I think this is perfect for us, because we have [the suspect] Jamie Miller [played by Owen Cooper], who comes from such a perfect home. His dad's there for him, his mum's there for him. They work, they're not in poverty. They're not struggling too much.

"It's like all the things that we talk about that we feel are probably factors of why anyone would commit that sort of crime doesn't exist in this, in this show. So it just shows you anyone can slip into this, from any walk of life. And it's important that we have to have the conversation."

Erin Doherty (The Crown, A Thousand Blows, Chloe), who plays the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie's case, went on to say that Graham and Thorne didn't make Adolescence to "answer any questions".

"All we're doing is asking and hopefully promoting conversation," she added. "I think that's at the eye of the storm of this thing, the conversations that weren't being had. And it's the what ifs. What if I had this chat? What if I offered this piece of advice? Or even just sat in a room; sometimes just being with people is all they need.

"And that's the beautiful thing about this show, I think it's just going, 'Let's just have the chat, we don't know how to fix this problem, we're going to acknowledge it.' That's all it's doing. It’s going, 'Something's happening here, so let's talk about it.' And I think, actually, hopefully, that's all we need to address it."

As a father to four boys, did working on this series make Walters think more deeply about his own parenting?

"I've always been aware of kind of this stuff happening, and also always understood how difficult it is for young men to talk about what they're going through before it gets to this stage," he said.

"So I've always made a point of talking to my sons, just like about how they feel and what's happening, and trying to stay their hero for as long as possible so they feel that they can come and tell me what's going on at times. It hasn't always worked out that way, but I've always been aware of that.

"And this is a great show to promote that because I think there's a huge problem with the buzz phrase toxic masculinity. And it's important for role models to step up and be there to support their sons in these moments."

Adolescence is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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