- Idris Elba's Fight School premieres on BritBox on 16 June.
- The series was inspired by Elba's recent visit to South Africa, where he saw youngsters' lives transformed through a local boxing club.
- In the show, eight young Brits are put through an intensive boxing training course.
When Idris Elba visited South Africa to shoot a film, he was struck by how the lives of township youngsters were transformed through a local boxing club. This was the impetus for his new series Idris Elba's Fight School, which premieres on BritBox South Africa on 16 June.
He relates, "When you go into the township, you're like, 'Wow, this is how people live and how they survive.' And the crime rate within the townships is high. I went to the township, and there was a boxing gym there. These guys who had set up the fight school lowered the crime rate, and got kids literally out of trouble. The trainers there really saw the value of giving these kids a place to come, train and stay away from crime. That was quite inspiring to watch and it stuck with me."
This experience inspired Golden Globe winner Elba, the star of Luther (available on BritBox) and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom to embark on a life-changing and highly personal project, harnessing the transformative potential of boxing. Having also found purpose and direction at an inner-city boxing gym in his youth, he was determined to pay it forward.
Elba decided to set up his own fight school back home in the UK to empower young adults facing challenges such as poverty, crime and mental health issues. In Idris Elba's Fight School, eight young Brits are put through an intensive course of boxing training to arm themselves with discipline, ambition and mental resilience – tools that will empower them to change their lives for the better.
Working with some of the UK's leading boxing coaches and life mentors, the recruits train twice a day, six days a week – to compete in an official amateur fight at one of the world's most iconic boxing venues York Hall (London) in the space of just five months.
"During my own experience of fighting, there was a level of peace I was able to achieve. Boxing requires you to switch off all the noise and focus on the moment, a skill that I believe all people need, especially younger people who need direction," Elba said.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:
