This article contains minor spoilers for the Netflix drama Adolescence.

Adolescence star Ashley Walters has admitted he took “for granted” quite how physical his role in the popular drama would be.

The hit Netflix series has already sparked plenty of conversation thanks to its dark subject matter and its unique shooting style, which saw all four episodes being filmed in one long continuous take.

Speaking to The Mirror last week, the former Top Boy star opened up about how filming in this way was no walk in the park – particularly as he turned up for his first day on set with a sports injury.

“I took it for granted,” he claimed. “I’m not gonna lie. Because I wanted to do the one-shot process so much. And I turned up to set with a bad back, by the way. My back had gone.”

He continued: “I’d just been playing basketball with my daughter before I got on the train and my back was completely gone. I suffer with sciatica. So, I kind of got out the car, and I think Jo [Johnson, producer] and Hannah [Walters, executive producer] were standing there like, ‘For fuck’s sake!’ Excuse my language. It was really bad.”

Ashley went on to say that he was almost unable to go on with filming, adding: “It nearly didn’t happen.”

Fortunately, he recalled that the team was able to find “a good chiropractor”, and “it worked”, meaning he was able to go ahead with his part in the first two episodes of the hard-hitting show.

That’s just as well, because Ashley’s role in Adolescence was a particularly demanding one physically.

In episode one, his character leads a police raid on the Miller family’s home, while in the follow-up, he chases a teenager out of school and pursues him around the local area – all with no breaks in filming.

Adolescence marks Stephen Graham’s co-creating and co-writing a project, as well as starring in one of its central roles.

Find out more about its unique filming techniques here.