John Boyega to appear in BBC Damilola Taylor film

Star Wars actor John Boyega will appear in a documentary about the death of his childhood friend Damilola Taylor, the BBC has said.

The programme, with the working title Damilola Taylor: The Last 24 Hours, will explore the final hours of the 10-year-old's life before he was fatally stabbed in Peckham, south-east London, on 7 November 2000 - just metres from his home.

The killing made headlines across the country and became a crucial moment in sparking a national conversation around the tragedy of knife crime.

The BBC One film will explore the impact Damilola's death had on the people who knew him, including Boyega, who was one of the last people who saw him alive.

Boyega will give previously unheard testimony along with other close friends and family members who will provide an account of the events that led to the boy's death and the impact of the murder on their lives.

Directed by filmmaker Alex Thomas, the film retraces Damilola's final day and examines the environment and pressures shaping the lives of young people around him at that time.

It will also explore the rise in knife-related crimes over the 25 years since his death.

Thomas said: "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."

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