Ashley Walters has described his time in prison as “one of the best things” to happen to him.

The 44-year-old actor, who played the detective investigating the murder of schoolgirl Katie Leonard in Netflix’s Golden Emmy-sweeping Adolescence, was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institution in 2002 after being convicted of possessing a firearm.

At the time, he was a member of chart-topping UK garage group So Solid Crew , before going on to establish a successful acting career.

In a new interview with The Guardian , the actor said it was not “a pleasant experience at all” and because of his celebrity name, he was recognised immediately and “all hell broke loose”, with inmates shouting insults and threatening to kill him in the morning.

He said: “I was tried, I was tested, it was pressure, there was loads of fear but I had no choice.

Ashley Walters has described prison as ‘one of the best things that happened to me’ (AFP/Getty)

“It’s an experience I had to go through, and actually it was one…