A forthcoming ‘EastEnders’ special will feature accounts from relatives of real-life knife crime victims.
The long-running soap has announced that true stories will be woven into an episode centred around the funeral of Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi) – who was stabbed by a gang last month – in July and the heartbreaking and gut-wrenching accounts will be told by the relatives themselves.
The soap’s executive consultant John Yorke decided to incorporate the real-life accounts into the show after the researchers began speaking to families about the topic ahead of the death of Shakil.
John said: "From the very beginning we were determined to treat the difficult subject of knife crime in a responsible, non-sensationalist way. We started out with detailed research, and the more stories we heard, the more we felt other people should hear them too.
"The episode gradually evolved into something unique for ‘EastEnders’ – real families telling their own devastating stories alongside our own characters.
"We’ve tried to find a way to do justice to an incredibly difficult, tragic and emotive subject, and, with huge help from the families of real-life victims and the support groups they work with, we hope we’ve come some way to getting that enormity across."
The show’s knife crime storyline was explored to mark the 10th anniversary of former star Brooke Kinsella’s brother Ben, who was stabbed to death in the summer of 2008 by three male youths.
And it looks like it will be a storyline that will be going on for a long time as Bonnie Langford – who plays Shakil’s mother Carmel Kazemi – has admitted that it is a "slow burner."
She said: "It goes on a long, long time, and I’m so glad it does."
When asked if it gets "darker before it gets brighter", she replied: "Yes."
The 53-year-old actress hopes the hard-hitting storyline will lead to some people "thinking differently" in real life, and revealed the plot will look at some of the non-politically correct things people do and say following a tragic stabbing.
EastEnders special to include relatives of real-life knife crime victims
