Jeremy Clarkson begs fans for help with 'impossible' Adolescence scene

TV star Jeremy Clarkson has taken to social media to bid for help as he struggles to understand one major scene from hit Netflix series, Adolescence. The popular series follows a regular family as their world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller is arrested for murdering a schoolmate. The charges against their son force them to confront every parent's worst nightmare. The Who Wants the be a Millionaire? host reached out to his 8million X followers to ask for help understand one “impossible” moment.

He shared: “Adolescence. The camera at the end of [episode] 2. How on earth did they do that? It’s impossible.” Clarkson is referring to the remarkable camerawork from the series, which is filmed continuously across its four episodes in one shot. In this particular shot, the camera is seen moving through a classroom and filming through the window as chase sequence is shown. Fans tried to offer up their knowledge on the specialist camerawork in the comments. One fan, who claimed to be an actor on the show, divulged the use of drones being key to the success of the shot.

“Hey Jeremy. Actor that worked on the show. It was indeed attached VERY carefully to a powerful drone. They only got the take in the bag on the final day.” Clarkson responded: “Well congrats to you all. Masterful television.”

Another fan shared a behind the scenes Netflix video which showed the filming in action.

“Thank you for this. The magic is explained. Ballsy to do that at the end of a one hour take. Seriously ballsy,” Clarkson added. “It had to be the same camera they used for the whole hour.

"It’s just not possible though. Amazing. And an amazing show. I’ve been in the business for 30 years and I cannot work it out. The only other time I was stumped was the bathroom cabinet scene in Contact.”

Adolescence is co-created and written by Graham and Jack Thorne and directed by Philip Barantini.

“You just press record, and then press stop an hour later,” Barantini told Netflix. “There’s no cuts. There’s no edits. Once you turn the production engine on, you can’t stop or go backwards”

Speaking about the very shot Clarkson referenced and whether or not drones were used, Thorne explained: “Yes, in the final moments of Episode 2, the team used a drone camera. The surprising thing was using the technical to free us.”

The episode ends with a chase sequence which takes Bascombe (Walters) and one of Jamie’s classmates from the school all the way past the murder site. “The camera was going to travel back on its own back to the school,” says Thorne.

Matthew Lewis, the director of photography, added: “Phil called me up and he said, ‘Matt and I think we’ve found a way to make the camera fly,’” recounted Thorne. Their innovative idea involved attaching the camera to a drone.

“It was an example of the technical meeting the story and finding a fusion which is actually better than anything the story had come up with on its own.”