John Boyega, who was friends with Damilola, speaks in this moving programme. Plus: David Harewood’s superb new legal drama. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC Two
It’s been 26 years since 10-year-old Damilola Taylor was killed by teenagers. For the first time, the last people to see him alive create this essential account: from the actor John Boyega and Boyega’s sister Grace (Damilola’s mates who were at the library with him) to Guillermo Casal (the North Peckham Estate caretaker who found Damilola and cradled him as he died). His brother Tunde and the former Met officer Leroy Logan also revisit events, which eventually led to the conviction of two brothers, and take a wider look at why there were so many similar killings. The trauma and sadness remain palpable, but there is also a lot of love and even hope to be found in Damilola’s legacy. Hollie Richardson

The star was just eight when his friend was stabbed. Decades on, he’s ready to talk about that day – how it shaped him, and how, as he becomes a father himself, it will shape him as a dad

“I feel a bit nervous,” confesses John Boyega, as he sits down in front of the camera. “Speaking about it could possibly help. I haven’t revisited this in a long time. Yeah, my heart is just beating.” The Attack the Block and Star Wars actor is talking in the opening scene of a new BBC Two documentary about the killing of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor.

On 27 November 2000, Damilola was stabbed in the leg with a broken bottle and left to die in a concrete stairwell, attacked as he walked home from an after-school club at Peckham library in south London. It took six years and three separate trials at the Old Bailey, costing a total of £16m, to secure a manslaughter conviction. His death shocked the nation not only because he was so young, but because all the suspects were also children. Boyega was one of the last people to see Damilola alive. The pair had enjoyed a close friendship since Damilola’s move to the UK from Nigeria in August of that year.