EastEnders to include true life drama

Warning: Spoiler.

In a curious mix of soap-meets-true life EastEnders will incorporate realism in a storyline involving a knife crime.

The episode will centre around the funeral of Shakil Kazemi and will be a first for the UK soap, as during the episode viewers will hear true life accounts from those who have lost someone to knife crime.

John Yorke, Executive Consultant, says: “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.”

BBC Three will also produce short films and publish written features on the issue for social platforms and online.

EastEnders airs in Australia on UKTV.