Damilola: The Untold Story - A Morning at BAFTA

On Wednesday 16th September, BAFTA on Piccadilly hosted an exclusive preview screening of Damilola: The Untold Story, the BBC documentary directed by double Grierson Award-winning filmmaker Alex Thomas and produced by Optomen Television.

The film retraces Damilola Taylor's final day in Peckham on 27th November 2000, telling his story through the voices of those who knew him - including Star Wars actor John Boyega, who was one of the last people to see Damilola alive and speaks publicly about that experience for the first time in the documentary. John Boyega's sister Grace, who was a close friend of Damilola's, also appears in the film.

The screening was followed by a Q&A panel bringing together the film's director Alex Thomas, John Boyega, Grace Boyega, Damilola's brother Tunde Taylor, and Leroy. As a former Metropolitan Police Superintendent, founding member of the Black Police Association, and trustee of the Damilola Taylor Trust, Leroy was part of the investigation that followed Damilola's death and has known the Taylor family since the 1970s.

During the Q&A, Leroy reflected on what has and has not changed in the 25 years since Damilola died. He spoke about the Peckham he knew in the 1970s - a place with a real sense of community - and the changes he witnessed as crack cocaine, criminality and the rise of gang culture and postcode rivalries transformed the landscape. He spoke of Damilola's case as a moment that seemed to open the floodgates for a wave of violence that followed.
But he also offered a message of hope. While the underlying issues around knife crime have not fundamentally changed, the conversation that Damilola's story continues to generate matters. As he reflected at BAFTA: you can regenerate buildings, but if you do not regenerate the people - giving them a real sense of hope, aspiration and the opportunity to reach their potential - then you are only tinkering around the edges.

Damilola: The Untold Story is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

©BAFTA/Kate Green/Getty Images for BAFTA