One of the last people to see Damilola Taylor before he was fatally stabbed in Peckham, John Boyega will be a part of a new BBC documentary detailing the final hours of the 10-year-old whose death shocked the nation 26 years ago. Joining close friends and family members of Damilola, they shall discuss the impact his death had on them and their community.
Directed by double Grierson Award-winning filmmaker Alex Thomas (Bibaa & Nicole: Murder in the Park) and produced by At Home With the Furys maker Optomen, the film retraces Taylor’s final day – charting his movements and examining the environment and pressures shaping the lives of young people around him at that time.
Jack Bootle, the BBC’s Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual, said: “The killing of Damilola Taylor shocked the UK and changed the lives of those closest to him forever. This film traces their stories – and honours Damilola’s memory through the voices of those who knew him best.”
Thomas added: “Damilola’s story has never been told through the experience of the young people who were living it at the time. This film shows what it meant to grow up in an environment shaped by fear, bullying and the need to protect yourself — and how those pressures influenced the choices people made. Twenty-five years on, those experiences still stay with them, and many of those pressures still exist for young people today.”
