Idris Elba hosts BBC documentary about British knife crime

British actor Idris Elba (Luther, Kidnap) will host a new BBC One documentary about the reality of knife crime in the UK

In recent years the star has been a campaigner against knife crime and hopes the hour-long program Idris Elba: A year full of knife crime (a working title) will provide solutions to resolve the crisis. He will meet young offenders, bereaved families, youth workers and the police to understand the rise in knife crime across the UK.

The film includes a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said that if elected his government would commit to cutting knife crime in half, as well as a meeting with King Charles to discuss ways to tackle the problem.

A BBC press release said: “Idris faced a crossroads in his life as a teenager and knows how easy it would have been to take a different path, having grown up in what he describes as a difficult part of East London , in which there was always violence.” a possibility.”

Elba said: “Many people dismiss knife crime as something that doesn't affect them and assume it's an urban and gang-related problem affecting black and brown people – but that couldn't be further from the truth.” He continued: “Whites, middle classes and rural areas are also affected, the perpetrators are getting younger and fear is spreading.” I hope our film helps change these stereotypes and makes everyone confront one of the biggest to deal with the challenges of our time. It’s been a tough year for me – but I’m hopeful.”

The documentary is produced by 22Summers for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The executive producers are Diene Petterle (In cold blood, Lewis Capaldi: How I feel now) and Nina Davies (Jews don't count, Better off dead?). Leanne Hayman (Marked) is a producer and Ben Steele (Bad surgeon, Dead silence) directs. It was commissioned by Joanna Carr, Head of BBC Current Affairs. The BBC's editor-in-chief is Gian Quaglieni.