Ahead of his documentary about knife crime in the United Kingdom, actor Idris Elba argued that knife-points should be blunted in order to prevent stabbings.

In the documentary, called Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis, the Hollywood star meets a 17-year-old boy at Feltham young offender institution who first began carrying a blade when he was 13. He grew up in a violent home and had been badly bullied at school for having dandruff.

For six years he's campaigned to stop kids from killing each other with knives, now the actor is begging the whole country to get behind him

The BBC film sees Elba meet prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said that his party would commit to halving knife crime if elected, and the King, where the pair discussed solutions to the problem with some of the young people most affected by youth violence.

In BBC One’s sobering documentary, the actor meets the King, Prime Minister and victim’s families, each of whom offer few genuine solutions

British actor Idris Elba suggested that the points on some kitchen knives should be altered to help reduce stabbing crimes.

HE’S best known as the Hollywood A-list actor behind gritty homicide detective Luther – who spent five series hunting down fictional sadistic killers in bloody scenes on BBC One.

While these grim figures speak for themselves, a new BBC documentary goes beyond the alarming statistics and occasionally alarmist media coverage to tell the broader story of knife culture in the UK. Short yet wide-ranging, it seeks to ground these tragedies in a deeper understanding of the social contexts that cultivate violence.

Luther star speaks ahead of the release of BBC documentary in which actor talks to victims’ families, police officers and teenage offenders

Fans said it was “powerful” viewing after it aired on Wednesday, 29 January, with many praising Elba for raising awareness. At the start of the documentary, Elba — who has been outspoken about knife crime — told viewers it was a "heartbreaking problem".