‘It took me back’: Adolescence star reveals genius four words that were completely off-script

Adolescence star Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie Miller, has revealed how actress Erin Doherty improvised four off-script words during a tense scene that made the moment completely “amazing.”

It might only be four episodes but Netflix’s Adolescence packs one hell of a punch. It’s about Stephen Graham’s character Eddie who is forced to deal with the reality that his 13-year-old son might have killed a classmate. It’s written by Stephen himself, with the assistance of His Dark Materials’ Jack Thorne, and directed by Boiling Point’s Philip Barantini.

The new Netflix show has already got 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and that’s partly down to the incredible work of Owen. Despite this being his first acting job, Owen skillfully slipped into the mind of 13-year-old killer Jamie and now people are calling for him to win awards for the performance.

But as with any project, Adolescence was a team effort and now Owen has paid tribute to one of his co-star’s improvised lines.

Adolescence’s Owen Cooper said the moment surprised him

During a recent sit-down on The One Show, Owen was joined by his co-star Stephen Graham as they discussed the ins and outs of making the series. It was here that Owen revealed how Erin Doherty, who played psychologist Briony Ariston, improvised a line during episode three.

“In episode three, it was the second take of the day – we do two takes a day, so it was the second take and you know I was tired so a yawn came to me,” he said.

The yawn obviously wasn’t included in the original script, but Briony went with it and chimed in with another unscripted moment that ultimately paid off.

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“Then Erin did an amazing line, she said ‘Am I boring you?’ so that took me back and it made me smile because it wasn’t in the scripts, I wasn’t expecting that at all so it took me back a little bit but it was amazing,” he added.

Speaking about the moment, Stephen explained that his much younger co-star was “feeling the pressure” of the scene but managed to keep his composure.

“That’s all we’re trying to do isn’t it, be present, be in the moment and with this kind of way of filmmaking, it really helps you to do that,” he said.

Adolescence is on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Netflix