Banning the sale of zombie knives is a positive step, but schools need to intervene earlier to help tackle the UK’s knife crime crisis, says Idris Elba.

The actor, 52, has spent the last year making a documentary for the BBC about solutions to knife crime, during which he met victims’ families, police officers and teenage offenders.

In addition to early intervention, he told the BBC that ninja swords should be banned and even suggested domestic knives could be made less dangerous.

“Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say,” he adds, “but you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it.”

A total of 507 children were treated in English hospitals for knife injuries in the 12 months to April 2024, according to the latest figures analysed by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).

“I’ve got three kids,” says Elba. “As a parent, that’s always going through your mind.”

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.

“I looked around and saw that the only people who ain’t getting bullied are the people who are this certain way,” the teenager tells Elba, “so I felt the need to become that person.”