An editorial trainee has revealed the truth about how the one-sH๏τ episodes in Netflix hit Adolescence were edited. 

The gripping four-part drama has been a non-stop talking point over the last few weeks after it amᴀssed 66.3 million viewers and became the most-watched UK тιтle ever for the streamer. 

It has been praised for both its chilling plot line, toxic masculinity, and the fact each episode was filmed in one take.

Now, one member of staff from the show’s editorial department, Bella, has given an insight into filming. 

Speaking in a TikTok, she explained: ‘I want to clear up, yes all four episodes were in one take. I wasn’t there on production but I was just as impressed as you were.

‘I know you’re thinking, “if there wasn’t an edit on this show then why was there an editorial department?” 

An editorial trainee has revealed the truth about how the one-sH๏τ episodes in Netflix hit Adolescence were edited

The drama has been a non-stop talking point after it amᴀssed 66.3 million viewers now, one member of staff from the show’s editorial department, Bella, has given an insight into filming

Bella continued:’For post-production, why we needed  is because you can’t just take a camera card out of a camera and give it to Netflix.

‘Although it is literally like a full episode once its cut, it still needs sound editing, it still needs colour grading, it still needs VFX. 

‘It still needed to be sent to the composers. Theres a lot that goes into it and I can’t explain it in a 90 second video.

‘Our job is to bridge the gap between production and delivery. So, what I did mainly was doing VFX pulls, I was ᴀssisting the ᴀssistant with whatever she needed. Although there was’n’t an edit there was still a big need for an editorial department. 

‘It was the first show I’ve ever worked on and I don’t think I’ll get to work on a production like that ever again.’ 

Elsewhere it was revealed the show had four alternate endings that we never saw on screen as the director revealed Netflix’s secret backup plans in a recent interview. 

Adolescence’s moving aerial sH๏τ which ends up showing the murder scene and Stephen Graham laying flowers was one of four endings for the second episode and was only completed in the nick of time. 

The ambitious technical challenge involved the camera going from filming people crossing the road at head height to flying over buildings and then coming down in a car park with police tape and flowers laid for schoolgirl Katie, who has been murdered. 

Speaking in a TikTok, she explained: ‘I want to clear up, yes all four episodes were in one take. I wasn’t there on production but I was just as impressed as you were’

However, after an initial plan of just having a camera move at eye level, and then two other inferior endings being filmed – partly because it was too windy for a drone – ‘terrified’ cinematographer Matt Lewis finally got what he wanted on the last afternoon of filming.

The time allocated to shooting each of the four episodes was only five days, with one morning attempt and one in the afternoon.   

It was only on the Friday morning they were able to fly and film from the drone – leading Lewis to cry – and not until the afternoon where they managed to add the landing to show Graham’s character Eddie.

Speaking about continuing the show’s continuous one-sH๏τ camera style from the sky, Lewis said: ‘It was my idea.

‘It was a suggestion in order to replace an existing beat which was essentially that the camera move down a street at eye level. I was a little concerned that that would read as a person moving.’

Of the switch to using a drone, Lewis said: ‘I didn’t know we could do it to be honest.

‘I thought it would be amazing if we could take off and fly away and use the motivation of someone crossing the road to fly us away over the crime scene.’

Lewis told The Rest Is Entertainment podcast that although they had a different less dramatic ending in the bag by the Wednesday, they weren’t happy with it, and it was then that a Netflix executive suggested having Graham – who plays the father of teenage murderer Jamie Miller – in the episode at the murder site.

She added: ‘Although it is literally like a full episode once its cut, it still needs sound editing, it still needs colour grading, it still needs VFX’

The series director Philip Barantini said: ‘Instead of saying “No, we’re not doing that, it’s ridiculous”, I was like “Oh my God, Matt, Matt, we need to land the drone, we need to try it at least”.’

Lewis continued: ‘There’s not a lot of room for changes. 

‘Part of me wanted to absolutely freak out.

‘Wednesday morning’s take we replaced with rehearsal of the landing. The coming down was really tricky because a drone when it’s moving really fast can kind of cut through the wind and apparently Pontefract is a really windy place.

Read More The hidden meanings behind seemingly random moments in Adolescence… and their chilling warnings

‘When it slows down and it has to descend you start to feel that sort of – almost like a leaf falling from a tree – that sort of zig-zag it can create.

‘And we had the issue of the drone had to be controlled on a moving vehicle because the range wasn’t long enough from the school (where the camera sH๏τ most of the episode).’

Lewis and four others were tasked with driving to the car park and trying to catch the descending drone.

He said: ‘I was terrified because I was like ‘obviously it’s a gamble’. 

‘If it pays off it’s amazing, if it doesn’t I was a bit scared that the episode we wouldn’t get it, because it’s so critical. 

‘We’d done all the other stuff, we’d done stunts, we’d done kids having a fight.

‘It came down to the Friday because basically the Thursday it was super windy,

‘We couldn’t really take off I think. So we made like a little ending where Stephen was near the school. It wasn’t the ending that everyone wanted.

‘It came down to the last day. 

Elsewhere it was revealed the show had four alternate endings that we never saw on screen as the director revealed Netflix’s secret backup plans in a recent interview 

‘On the morning take I sort of slightly – I don’t know if I threw my toys out the pram or I put my foot down – but I was like “I think we need to get safety here”, like one where we just take off the drone but we don’t come into land just so that we’ve got one in the bag. 

‘Because the wind was still on the cusp of it being too much.

‘So we got that, so there is a take where that happens. That was when I cried, because I knew we’d got the episode at least!

‘But then we managed to get the second take of that day, the very last one we did, was the landing of the drone. And therefore it was the winner.’

The series starring Graham, who co-wrote it, follows the family of 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie, who is accused of the brutal murder of a young girl.

It has become the first streaming show in history to top the UK’s weekly TV ratings and has become the centre of national conversation on incel culture and misogyny, sparking discussion in Parliament.