Hello and welcome to How to Fail

with Elizabeth Day, the podcast that celebrates the things that haven't gone right. This is a podcast about learning from our mistakes and understanding that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger, because learning how to fail in life actually means learning how to succeed better. I'm your host, author and journalist Elizabeth Day and every week I'll be asking a new interviewee what they've learned from failure. For many of us, Ashley Walters is our favourite kind of anti-hero. As to Shane, the East London drug kingpin who has a difficult relationship with his personal morality, he was top boy in the eponymous TV show. Despite all the terrible things do Shane does, you always somehow end up rooting for him. This is largely down to Walters' brilliant performance and it's a role he's about to reprise for the fourth series. Walters' own upbringing was in South London. He grew up in Peckham, an only child raised by his mother Pamela. After classes at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Walters started working as an actor from the age of 14. A brief foray into music in his 20s saw him find fame under the Monica Asher D as a member of the UK garage collective So Solid Crew. Later, his film and TV credits grew to include Hustle, Small Island and Bulletproof. He recently made the move into directing. His debut was a short film for Sky Arts called Boys and he mentors children at his local youth club. He's releasing new music in the spring. With so many strings to his bow, the NME dubbed him a walking inspiration. But arguably his most important role is as a father. He has seven children, a stepson and at the grand old age of 39, one grandchild.