Adolescence star Owen Cooper reveals 'minging detail' while filming incredibly tense scene with psychologist

It may have only been on Netflix for a week but it feels as though we’ve all already agreed on what may be this year’s best release.

Adolescence, of course. Since the four-part series dropped, it’s like the whole of the UK has been talking about it, dissecting the details and being wowed by the brilliant filming.

And while Stephen Graham is getting called one of the ‘greatest ever’ British actors for his performance in the hit series he helped create, the other stars have deservedly received praise.

But despite being at the core of the story, one of them had never had an acting gig like this before. Owen Cooper stars in Adolescence as the accused Jamie and has been opening up about his time on the project, including one ‘minging’ detail.

Tipped to win awards for his performance, the 15-year-old’s first time acting on screen was episode three. The incredibly tense ep features Jamie’s meeting with child psychologist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty).

Here, we get more of an insight into the boy’s motives for killing the young girl as an expert has explained the reason why he gets offered

half a sandwich in the scene.

But that’s not the only thing Briony brings Jamie, she also presents him with a hot chocolate with marshmallows. And despite the dark themes and long stint of dialogue, it was this prop that proved a particular challenge for Owen.

The lad revealed that while it did start out as the chocolatey drink during rehearsals, it ended up getting changed to a ‘horrible’ alternative.

During an interview for Netflix, he explained: “It was minging that. That was horrible.

“It wasn’t hot chocolate because it had to get changed, it was making the floor sticky for the camera."

As viewers will know, during one explosive part of the conversation, Jamie hits the cup, sending it crashing to the floor as it spills out the brown liquid.

The psychologist then eventually leaves the room, and as the cameras followed Erin, the crew were able to quickly tidy up so there wouldn’t be any slips.

“I remember when in one of them [the takes], it spilt all over the table,” she said. “I could see people in the cameras that could see into the room quickly trying to clean it up by the time I came back in.”

Owen once again said that the prop drink was ‘disgusting’ before Erin went on to praise his acting in the scene: “I still feel really sorry for you.

“It takes a craftsman to really toe the line of anger and vulnerability. The fact that you were able to feed those things in and without making him a monster in any way is really impressive and necessary in order for us as an audience to care about you.”