LET’S TALK filmed is scenes from a musical written, composed and performed by students at Harris Academy Peckham. The script came from real life and the murder of a former pupil in south London when he tried to intervene in a fight.
This formed part of the film screening in autumn 2019 of schools and youth clubs in Southwark.
Filming also took place of “One Road, Two Paths“, a powerful drama by local company Movement Factory, a Peckham-based dance group for 11-19 year olds. Five dancers from the company attended the final LET’S TALK Forum at HAP and performed extracts from their production. Here’s the film:
If it were to be proved that thinking the Police are the right agency to solve our knife crime epidemic was an error, what would you do? To whom would you turn? What is the answer?
Browse the LET’S TALK section of this website and have a think.
Community TV Trust won funding from The Peckham Settlement to run “LET’S TALK”, a project on knife crime, in early 2019. The programme of discussion forums for young people to speak at has now concluded. Work on production of a documentary film and two performance films to tour Southwark and south London has begun. These will certainly stimulate thought and debate and inspire other young people.
Here is a short film introducing the Southwark world of knife crime as registered by its young people across the LET’S TALK Forums:
The 2019 series of Discussion Forums started at Surrey Square Primary School in January to listen to young people aged ten or eleven; moved to Bermondsey’s Bede Youth Adventure Project in early February to hear from 13 year olds, and in late February met 16 year old students at Harris Academy Peckham in central Southwark. LET’S TALK returned to HAP for the fifth and final Forum in early July.
The key ingredient throughout was the Panel of professionals invited by Community TV Trust to attend the Forums and listen to how young people described their world. The Panel convened in March to deliberate over what they had heard and consider what actions to take.
Panel members at the final Forum comprised a Deputy Director of Policy and the Ministry of Justice, a QC who sits as a Judge, a youth pastor, a Stop & Search consultant, a music teacher and an academic, with Chris Haydon, Director of Community TV Trust as chair. All spoke about their ideas and actions:
1 bereaved parents of a recent Harris pupil were enabled to meet the Prime Minister as a direct result of two panel members speaking together;
2 an academic studying the policing of Southwark suggested a controversial idea* – no longer using the Police to combat knife crime … but all other agencies instead should get involved, namely parents schools youth services and so on;
3 Stop & Search required both parties to learn to be more respectful of each other, Police officers as much as young people;
4 Educating Parents was requested by Harris students and CTVT has agreed to host a website and YouTube channel with students driving content generation. CTVT will seek funding for this expansion of LET’S TALK;
5 Young people were urged to communicate more with the Police;
6 All were urged to provide care for victims, and this included families of perpetrators as well as of the victims. One Panel member spoke of her personal loss through a knife crime and her sorrow contemplating the convicted killer’s family who effectively lost their son too, as he will spend the next twenty five years in prison.
Community TV Trust wishes to thank its partners for this successful first year of discussion forums: they are Surrey Square Primary School, Bede Youth Adventure Project, Harris Academy Peckham. Each partner played host to one of the series of Forums.
*CTVT will publish this proposal in full as soon as possible.
NEWS: After 25 years as a charity and more than 22 years producing and facilitating the production of short films, videos, local screenings, educational DVDs on subjects such as Healthy Eating, Islam in Southwark, knife crime, plus full-length documentaries, two local media festivals, a ten-part series of TV programmes for a cable channel, and most recently a podcast series, the Board of Community TV Trust has decided to close the book on its wonderful time engaging with the peoples, young and old, of Southwark and south London. This became effective from 1st September 2025.
Southwark.TV was our breakthrough project in 2003 and as a well-funded, borough-wide web-based project, pre-Facebook and -YouTube, was ground breaking. Partner groups and schools had their own space under their own password, received media training and unlimited support. This came free to the community. To visit this archived site, look lower down on the Home Page.
LET’S TALK Knife Crime was a four-year project, 2019-2022, designed to listen to young people in schools and youth clubs. Covid meant a change of direction early in the second year but led to other great things, such as “CHANGE of THOUGHT”, a documentary about three local boys who narrowly avoided permanent exclusion and began to make their way in the world.
As of 21 May 2025 the charity’s final podcast, with Lord Biggar CBE, became available. His book “Colonialism – A Moral Reckoning” made an impact, some of it negative for him. Biggar, Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral & Pastoral Theology at Oxford University has become a champion of free speech in universities as well as in life in general. He sits in the House of Lords on the Conservative benches.
Cllr Naima Ali, recent Mayor of Southwark, is a warm, courageous woman and shows there is a way to make multiculturalism work.
Louise Dickinson of Alchemise Theatre showed “The Power of Daring to Hope” as she described her journey back from Long Covid, bed-ridden, wheelchair bound, learning to walk again … you name it. A young woman of courage and character. Here is Louise.
Jo Berry of Building Bridges for Peace is a remarkable campaigner and has been for decades, following the IRA’s bombing of a hotel in Brighton in 1984. Here is the link to Jo on PECKHAM PODCAST in March 2025:
Meanwhile here are some of the PECKHAM PODCAST 2024 stories –
Nick Dunne is a man of Faith and determination who became a pilgrim. You’d need that if you’re going to walk to Italy! There’s a marked trend towards this form of undertaking, in contrast to falling church attendance.
The edition released on 11th December with guest Charlotte Prendergast:
Charlotte Prendergast is CEO of Southside Young Leaders Academy in Peckham. Its focus is solely on Black boys who under-achieve in local schools. “What a wonderful discussion about how a different school curriculum could change the world.” (James of Peckham)
Michelle Baharier FRSA is an artist and campaigner for mental health and disability rights. She lives in south London, used to run CoolTan Arts and is our latest guest on PECKHAM PODCAST, tackling dyslexia and the Assisted Dying Bill, among other things.
Wallee & Errol This edition of PECKHAM PODCAST is lots of fun, has film clips(!) and features two guests – Errol McGlashan, ex-offender turned poet and performer, and Wallee McDonnell, Artistic Director of Celebrate Life and producer of “POWER to CHANGE”, a film in which both men feature. Episode link.
Stephen Bourne is PECKHAM PODCAST’s sixth guest, a Black British History writer for Black History Month:
Not taught history at school, no agent, & still published (not self published) more than 20 books
PECKHAM PODCAST offered as its fifth edition – Ben Sturge, a businessman and entrepreneur, a deep thinking man who rebuilt life after time in prison. He has a lot to give.
Ben can be viewed here:
Probably PECKHAM PODCAST’s most unusual guest to date is Fernando Carrillo, Peckham’s newest vicar. He was born in a Miami prison and ordained in St Paul’s Cathedral! Joining the breadcrumbs is amazing.
Fernando Carrillo
Community TV Trust [CTVT] was incorporated 25 years ago and offers media training & filmmaking in schools and PRUs and in workshops for the disabled and marginalised. Engaging young people in open-ended creative work, links Community to Education.
In addition we produce documentary films, in the past educational DVDs and a large web-based local media venture called “Southwark.TV”.
