DOCUMENTARIES: Remembering Dami

Yinka Bokinni on paying tribute to her friend, school-boy Damilola Taylor, who was killed

- Elaine Reilly

DAMILOLA: THE BOY NEXT DOOR

NEW WEDNESDAY / C4 / 9PM / FACTUAL

Yinka Bokinni was 11 when, on 27 November 2000, her childhood friend, Damilola Taylor, was killed yards from her home in the North Peckham Estate, south London. Nigeria-born Damilola, 10, who had only been in the UK for a few months, was walking back from the local library when he was stabbed and left to die alone in a concrete stairwell. Two brothers, aged 12 and 13 at the time, were later convicted of manslaughter.

His tragic death shocked the nation and now, as the 20th anniversary approaches, a new C4 documentary, Damilola: The Boy Next Door, follows Yinka as she explores the devastating impact Damilola’s death had on the lives of almost everyone she knew.

Yinka reconnects with childhood friends and some famous faces from Peckham – including actor Ashley Walters and film-maker Cornelius Walker, who made the Oscar-nominated short Black Sheep – to discuss Damilola’s death and share memories of the close-knit community they grew up in.

Here, Yinka, 31, who’s now a DJ for Capital XTRA, opens up to TV Times about why she believes this was such an important story to tell…