Idris Elba ‘overwhelmed and angry’ about UK knife crime crisis in new BBC documentary: ‘Constant’
Idris Elba has shared how he is “overwhelmed and angry” over UK knife crime as he reflected in a his new BBC documentary about a passionate plea he made in 2019.
The actor, 52, has been talking about the worrying subject for years, and is now fronting a documentary exploring the issue.
In 2019, he filmed a video urging people to put down knives, which he revisited in the upcoming programme.
“No issue is permanent, there’s got to be a way out of it,” he says at the start of the documentary, The Mirror reports.
He also reflects on the 2019 “rant.” where he comments: “If you’ve got a knife, or know someone who’s got a knife, tell them to stab themselves”.
He went on: “You’re going to stab your future if you stab someone else.
“You become a murder, you go to prison, you ain’t got s**t. For what?
“For some beef that lives within your community. You need to see past that, we have to say something about it.”
In the present day programme, the Luther star looks back at his words from six years ago, admitting he felt “overwhelmed and angry”.
“Five years ago, I had this rant, I just felt quite overwhelmed and angry. It’s just a constant flux of young people murdering each other,” he explained.
He went on to add that while knife crime happens daily, that particular day had been “really painful”.
It came after he saw a news story about a teenage girl who had been stabbed to death in a London park, which prompted the emotional video.
Elba has been campaigning in the years since in order to raise awareness of knife crime.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Elba had called for kitchen knives to be blunted at the ends in order to protect potential knife crime victims.
He makes the argument in the documentary, which is set to air next week.
He states: “I do think there are areas of innovation that we can do.
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“Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say.
“But you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it.
“In a country in crisis, yes, let’s look at that.”