Ashley Walters says Adolescence role made him ‘draw back’ his son’s screen time

Adolescence star Ashley Walters has said the hit Netflix series has led him to reduce his son’s screen time.

The 42-year-old plays DI Luke Bascombe in the series, which examines so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture which has led to misogyny online and bullying using social media, prompting a national conversation around internet safety.

In an interview with Men’s Health UK, Walters said: “(As parents) we’re really about uplifting and pushing the things that they love.

“He’s (his son) an animator, so he has a lot of animation software on his iPad and spends his time doing that. But sometimes, he’s not animating when we think he is.

“We’ve been very conscious about that and drawing back on his screen time. Half the week, he can’t even touch his device.

“Then actually, it’s about me stepping in as a dad and saying, ‘let’s go fishing, let’s do more stuff’, so he doesn’t want to be on there as much as he is.

“No-one wants to be the ogre parent that comes in and goes, ‘all right, that’s it, everything off’, I don’t want them to feel like they’re not the same as their friends.

“You get caught up in all of that stuff as a parent, but I feel like around the world this show has allowed parents, to go, ‘f*** that shit, Adolescence says this could happen, now we’re going to start having this conversation’.

“I think that’s a good thing.”

Walters features on the cover of Men’s Health UK (Hamish Brown/Men’s Health UK/PA). PA Media

The crime drama, written by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, follows a boy accused of killing a girl in his class.

This Is England star Graham plays Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie, played by newcomer Owen Cooper, who sees armed police burst into his home to arrest his son.

Eddie is then chosen as Jamie’s appropriate adult, accompanying him at the police interview and learning the extent of what his son is accused of doing.

In the Men’s Health UK interview, Walters said he would “love to” return to the show for a second series, but he thinks it will be “completely different characters with a completely different story” if that does happen.

The full interview with Walters can be read in the July/August issue of Men’s Health UK, on sale from June 24.