Famous actor Idris Elba, known for his roles in Luther and the Marvel Universe, has a new BBC Two programme where he is trying to empower young people across the UK through boxing. Idris is hoping through the intensive training the recruits will be able to change their lives.
Idris Elba's Fight School will begin on Sunday, April, 16 on BBC Two at 9pm, and included in the nine recruits is a Welsh candidate. Two of the UK's best boxing coaches will join Idris on this life-changing and highly personal project.
Currently Idris is also rumoured to be the next James Bond and he will be headlining Cardiff's Inside Out festival in May. Here is everything you need to know about Idris Elba's Fight School.
When is Idris Elba's Fight School on?
Idris Elba's Fight School will begin on Sunday, April, 17 at 9pm on BBC Two. There will be five one-hour-long episodes in the series, each airing on Sunday night.
What is Idris Elba's Fight School about?
Using his own experience of learning to box when he was younger, something he credits to keeping himself off the streets and out of gangs and having witnessed first-hand how a community of young people in South Africa were empowered and transformed by the introduction of a local boxing club, Idris wants to do the same. He has hand-picked eight young people, from all across the UK from different backgrounds, to take part.
The programme will show the recruits undergoing an intense training routine where they will train twice a day, six days a week. Idris’s goal is for them to be able to compete in an official amateur fight in just five months.
Professional coach Greg White and Rachel Bower, Head of Amature Boxing at Rathbone and Hawley ABC, will be training the recruits. The students will all live together as well, cooking, cleaning, and allocating the shopping budget as part of the training.
Who is Welsh recruit Jess?
Jess is 25-years-old and from Merthyr Tydfil and she has never boxed before. She works in a call centre and wanted to take part in Fight School because she "needed a big jolt."
She said: "I wanted to make changes in my life because I had fallen into a rut. I’d had a turbulent childhood but then life calmed down and I found myself on repeat. I wanted to do something different. I needed a big jolt."
Jess has described the experience as "one of the highlights" of her life, she said: "It is one of the highlights of my life. I met people I would never have spoken to in a million years and I did something I never thought I would do."
Idris personally supported Jess on her journey, swimming next to her in the swimming challenges and being determined that Jess would enter the ring and "have her moment."
Idris Elba's Fight School begins on BBC Two on Sunday, April, 17 at 9pm.
