Ashley Walters says starring in Adolescence made him ‘conscious’ about his own son’s screen time

‘No-one wants to be the ogre parent that comes in and goes, ‘all right, that’s it, everything off’’

Adolescence star Ashley Walters has said the hit Netflix series has led him to reduce his son’s screen time after being made aware of how important the issue had become.

The 42-year-old actor plays DI Luke Bascombe in the series, which examines so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture which has led to widespread and bullying misogyny online.

The series, also starring Stephen Graham, became a global success upon release and prompted a national conversation around internet safety, including the introduction of anti-misogyny classes in schools.

Walters has now spoken about how the show’s subject matter has had an impact on his own life and being more conscious about what content his son views online.

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.”

Ashley Walters in ‘Adolescence’ (Netflix)

Walters added that he has now introduced different activities for him and his son to do together in order to discover new interests.

“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.

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“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 s***, Adolescence says this could happen, now we’re going to start having this conversation’. I think that’s a good thing.”

The actor has two children and a stepson with his current partner and Chewing Gum actor Danielle Walters, four children with an ex-partner, Natalie Williams, and two with another ex-partner. His children are aged between 21 and seven, and Walters became a grandfather at the age of 38 in 2023.

Adolescence. (L to R) Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller in ‘Adolescence’ (Netflix)

Elsewhere in the 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.