How many times Adolescence filmed each one-shot episode and the mistakes the show kept in

Netflix has revealed just how many times it filmed the four Adolescence episodes, given each one was a one-shot scene. Yes, it’s true the show really did film each episode in one continuous shot.

Adolescence tells the story of 13-year-old Jamie. He’s been arrested for murder, after a girl from his school is found with multiple stab wounds. His father, played by Stephen Graham, acts as his appropriate adult in his shocking police interviews.

It soon becomes clear that whilst Jamie thinks he’s done nothing wrong, he did commit the crime. The show touches upon incel culture, and what young boys in the UK are being taught regarding their feelings towards women.

Adolescence has received rave reviews. And so it should have. Not only does it touch upon sensitive and shocking subjects, but it tells the story with emotion and realness. By the time you make it to the final episode you’re completely engrossed, and have forgotten everything is being filmed in one take.

Now, Netflix has been answering some vital questions about how the show was made. Mainly, how on earth did they film all of those episodes in one take?! “If you can’t see the joins, it’s because there aren’t any,” Netflix said. “Each episode was genuinely filmed in real time, in one continuous shot.”

via Netflix

So, how many times did Netflix film the Adolescence episodes?

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Given it’s all in one take, the episodes of Adolescence had to be filmed more than once, so the final one was as perfect as possible. Netflix said each was filmed “a lot more” than just once. “It was initially planned they would film each episode in full 10 times. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, across five days,” Netflix explained. “But in reality, a few attempts had to abandoned or restarted.”

Some of the episodes took more than the estimated 10 takes. Here’s a full breakdown of which attempt was used in the end:

• Episode one: Take two (shot on day one of five)

• Episode two: Take 13 (shot on day five of five)

• Episode three: Take 11 (shot on day five of five)

• Episode four: Take 16 (shot on day five of five)

via Netflix

Did any bloopers or mistakes make it into the final episodes?

Netflix has been pretty honest, and said given the nature of how the show was filmed some errors made it into the show. There were some slight bloopers and ad-libs that didn’t really change things, that just ended up being kept. “It depended on the size of the mistake,” it was said. “In some instances they carried on, but often takes were completely abandoned.”

One line that definitely wasn’t meant to be in the script came in episode three. In this episode, Jamie was talking to his therapist. Part-way through the chat, Jamie yawned and the therapist replied: “Am I boring you?”. Jamie then smirked. This was completely ad-lib, and was left in because it felt truthful to the characters. But, Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie, was probably just tired!

During an interview on The One Show, Owen was joined by Stephen Graham as they discussed making the series. It was here Owen revealed how Erin Doherty, who plays psychologist Briony Ariston, improvised the 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. “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.”

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