‘An emotional bulldozer hitting you in the face until you started sobbing’

Damilola Our Loved Boy

Minow Films for Channel 4

Minnow Films’ Damilola, Our Loved Boy is a touching, feature-length drama about 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor, who tragically lost his life due to knife crime in London in 2000.

Told primarily from the perspective of his father Richard, this lovingly rendered film reveals the story behind the headlines as Damilola’s parents seek justice while dealing privately with their grief and loss.

Written by Levi David Addai and directed by Euros Lyn, the film was recognised with a Bafta for Best Single Drama this year, along with Best Supporting Actress and Best Actor awards for Wunmi Mosaku and Babou Ceesay as Damilola’s parents.

The drama was conceived with close co-operation from the Taylor family, helping to make it a surprising, intimate and deeply moving story of fatherhood, family and hope.

The judges described it as a “classy” piece of drama that was like “an emotional bulldozer hitting you in the face until
you started sobbing”.

One judge praised the way the film deepened the audience’s understanding of the event, in a way news coverage was unable to. “It was pitched just right,” he said.

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