Trapping filmmakers and rapper Abra Cadabra to take ‘grim reality’ of county lines drugs to parliament
It takes just minutes for the scenes to turn grim: a dirty trap house, a drug user injecting scabbed feet, a tiny baby crawling amid the filth.
This is Trapping, a new British film starring MOBO-winning drill rapper Abra Cadabra and produced by filmmakers and grime pioneers Femi Oyeniran and Nicky “Slimting” Walker.
Later this evening, they take the story to parliament for a discussion about the bleak reality of the UK’s county lines problem, where vulnerable adults and children as young as six, according to the Children’s Society, are recruited to move and supply drugs.
While the portrayal of drug dealing often shown on screen has long drawn criticism for glamourising the lifestyle, the same cannot be said for Trapping. Rather than focusing on the “girls, the money, the cars”, as writer and director Penny Woolcock tells Sky News, it delves into the world of “going county” and those on the frontline, also showing the hopelessness of the addicts they feed.
Louis Ede plays main character Daz. Pic: Alice Dunhill
Raised on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, Abra Cadabra, real name Aaron Philips, told Sky News at the film’s premiere that he drew on his personal experiences to play county lines gang leader Magic.
“It’s reality,” he said. “It’s what some of the kids in London go through growing up. It’s good to show what’s really going on… I’ve seen a couple of my friends go through stuff like that. It hit home.”
Louis Ede, who plays main character Daz, a young boy wanting to earn some money to help his struggling mum, is now 20 but had just turned 18 when filming started.
“I learnt a lot of things I didn’t know before. I’ve been around people who have been in that environment – that’s why, in a way, it was kind of easy for me to portray the character because I could channel the things I’ve experienced from my past. However, saying that, I didn’t know how gritty that lifestyle actually is until I shot the film.”
‘This is not just a black problem – it’s a white problem, too’
Nicky ‘Slimting’ Walker and Femi Oyeniran at the premiere of Trapping
For the film’s stars and creators, taking the debate to parliament is a big deal. Oyeniran and Abra Cadabra will be part of a panel supported by campaigner and chief executive of Enact Equality L’myah Sherae; author and activist Ben Lindsay, founder of Power The Fight; filmmaker and youth coach Amani Simpson; and Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
They are calling on the government to launch a creative grants scheme to help young people in need, taking stats from the Children’s Society stating that 46,000 children in England – and likely many more unknown – are thought to be involved in gangs, with 4,000 teenagers being criminally exploited in London alone.
They say the situation has been made worse by the recent rise in children reported missing from school and increasing child poverty.
Oyeniran, who started his career starring in the cult classic Kidulthood and went on to produce films including It’s A lot, The Intent and The 12, says widening the debate is as important as the film itself.
“[Trapping] gives a rounded perspective of drug dealing,” he says. “Sometimes you look at films about drugs and it’s either a critique of drug use, or it’s about drug dealers. This shows the real side, it humanises the drug users, and also it shows that it’s beyond just a working class thing, it’s also a middle class thing. And it’s not just a black problem, it’s a white problem, too.”
Too often, in the media and with politicians as well as in film and TV, the focus is on gangs, he says. “It’s titillating, the idea of a gang is scary, and all of that stuff. But let’s talk about the middle-class people that live in counties that consume drugs… who are these drugs being sold to?”
Abra Cadabra also recorded the soundtrack for the film, and performed at the premiere in London
Read more on Sky News:
Guns and swords seized in county lines crackdown
Organised crime group targeted in ‘largest single operation’ to close down county lines
Walker, his filmmaking partner, says he hopes children and young people watching the film will be put off the lifestyle often sold to them. “There’s only one thing that happens to you when you’re a drug dealer – you end up going to jail for a very long time. Or, you end up dead.
“A film like Trapping will show you the dark side. It’s not glamourising, to be the next Pablo Escobar. It’s not showing you about the flashy clothes and all these things… it’s showing that you’re in this sh*tty, horrible flat, that it smells, and you’re around dirty people.”
‘This is about protecting children’
Woolcock said she wanted to make something authentic, that young people vulnerable to the lifestyle could relate to. You have kids that queue up [to sell drugs] because they think it’s going to be great. We wanted to show that, that’s truthful.”
Woolcock is calling on MPs to tackle the problem. “Youth service has been cut to shreds, there’s virtually no youth provision. Poverty and inequality have increased and those are the underlying causes, why people want to get into this.
“A kid in a certain neighbourhood will think there are three options: you are either a drug dealer, a footballer or a rapper, and that is it.”
“Politicians have a responsibility to end this issue,” says Ms Sherae. “In order to protect the next generation, they have to do more and introduce laws to really think about prevention rather than a hard line on drug use. If you think about this as a safeguarding issue, this is about protecting children.”
The Trapping movie panel discussion takes place this evening, with the film released on Friday on The Drop, a new streaming platform which aims to serve minority and underrepresented audiences and promote independent and upcoming British talent, supported by the British Film Institute and launched by Oyeniran and Walker’s Fan Studios.
Hollywood actor and Oscar-winning director Robert Redford, known for films including Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men and The Sting, has died at the age of 89.
Redford, who was also the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the US, died on Tuesday morning.
In a statement, his representative said he was “surrounded by those he loved”, at home in “the place he loved” in the mountains of Utah. “He will be missed greatly,” she added.
The actor and filmmaker won the Oscar for best director for Ordinary People in 1981. Pic: AP
Born Charles Robert Redford Jr in Santa Monica, California, in 1936, he attended college on a baseball scholarship but later went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He debuted on Broadway in the late 1950s before moving into television, in shows such as The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Untouchables.
Rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford became a go-to leading man in Hollywood and a huge star of the following decade, leading films including The Candidate, All the President’s Men and The Way We Were.
He worked hard to transcend being typecast for his good looks, through his political advocacy and a willingness to take on unglamorous roles.
Starring alongside Charles Dierkop and Robert Shaw in The Sting. Pic: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
On set behind the camera during the filming of A River Runs Through It. Pic: AP
In the 1990s and 2000s, his film credits included Indecent Proposal, The Last Castle and Spy Game, and he also worked actively as a filmmaker – helming movies including A River Runs Through It and The Legend Of Bagger Vance. In 1998, he both starred in and directed The Horse Whisperer.
But he was best known for his role as wily outlaw the Sundance Kid, opposite Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy in the 1969 film. The pair became a famous screen partnership, starring opposite each other again in The Sting a few years later, and good friends.
As well as his starring roles, Redford was also an activist and an accomplished filmmaker – winning the Oscar for best director for Ordinary People in 1981. It was the second of his two Academy Awards – the first won for his acting performance in The Sting – as well as an honorary prize in 2002.
Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All The President’s Men, released in 1976. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
In a career spanning seven decades, he also received three Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B DeMille lifetime achievement honor in 1994.
In his later years, Redford took on a challenging role in All Is Lost, a 2013 survival story that featured virtually no other characters and barely any dialogue. His performance earned a standing ovation after the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2018, he received critical acclaim again in what he called his farewell movie, The Old Man And The Gun.
His legacy lives on in the Sundance Film Festival, which grew into a cornerstone of the film industry and provided a launching pad for filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Darren Aronofsky.
And in 2016, former President Barack Obama awarded him the presidential medal of freedom – considered the US government’s highest civilian honour – saying at the time that Americans “admire Bob not just for his remarkable acting, but for having figured out what to do next”.
Pic: Reuters
Robert Redford leaves behind his wife Sibylle Szaggars and two daughters – Shauna, a painter, and Amy, an actress and director.
He was previously married to Lola Van Wagenen. One of their children, Scott, died at the age of two months from sudden infant death syndrome. Another, James, died of cancer in 2020.
‘One of the lions has passed’
Meryl Streep starred alongside Redford in Out Of Africa in 1985. Pic: Cover Images via AP
Tributes have been shared across social media following the announcement of Redford’s death.
Meryl Streep, who starred in Out Of Africa and Lions For Lambs opposite Redford, said: “One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend.”
Filmmaker Ron Howard, known for Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, described Redford as “a tremendously influential cultural figure for the creative choices” he made as an actor, producer and director, and said Sundance had been a “gamechanger”.
Pictured with his wife Sibylle Szaggars in 2012. Pic: Reuters
Marlee Matlin, star of the Oscar-winning CODA, said the film “came to the attention of everyone” because of the Sundance Festival.
“Sundance happened because of Robert Redford. A genius has passed,” she said.
“He was part of a new and exciting Hollywood in the 70s and 80s,” wrote author Stephen King. “Hard to believe he was 89.”
Spencer Cox, the governor of Utah, wrote: “Decades ago, Robert Redford came to Utah and fell in love with this place.
“He cherished our landscapes and built a legacy that made Utah a home for storytelling and creativity.
“Through Sundance and his devotion to conservation, he shared Utah with the world. Today we honor his life, his vision, and his lasting contribution to our state.”
Spain has become the latest country to threaten a boycott of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel competes.
It is now the fifth broadcaster to say it will pull out over Israel’s participation, following recent announcements by the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland – but the first of the competition’s so-called “Big Five”, a group which also includes Britain, Germany, Italy and France.
These countries provide the biggest financial contributions to Eurovision, with participants automatically qualifying for the final round, and their withdrawal would increase the pressure on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the event.
Ireland, represented by EMMY at Eurovision 2025, have also said they will not take part if Israel does. Pic: Reuters
The Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group, the competition’s governing body, said a decision on Israel’s participation is pending and that it has “taken note of the concerns expressed by several broadcasters”.
RTVE, the Spanish state broadcaster, announced the decision following a board vote on Tuesday.
The measure, proposed by president Jose Pablo Lopez, garnered 10 votes in favour, four against, and one abstention in the 15-member board, the broadcaster said in a statement.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has previously called for Israel to be banned from the competition, highlighting how Russia was expelled following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
At the time, the EBU said the decision reflected “concern that, in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year’s contest would bring the competition into disrepute”.
Yuval Raphael represented Israel at this year’s event. Pic: Reuters
Recent editions of the contest, which has always expressed political neutrality, have involved demonstrations against Israel’s continued military action in Gaza – launched in response to the attack by Hamas militants on 7 October 2023, which left some 1,200 people dead.
Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas attack, finished second in this year’s competition, held in Basel, Switzerland, in May – but there were protests before and during her performance. Austrian singer JJ, who won, has also called for Israel’s exclusion in 2026.
Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest JJ from Austria. Pic: AP
Israel has denied accusations it is committing genocide and claimed its actions have been in self-defence against Hamas. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military action.
In a statement following the vote in Spain, contest director Martin Green said he understood the “concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”, and that consultation with members is ongoing “to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions”.
Broadcasters have until mid-December to conform if they want to take part.
What have others said?
The Netherlands was represented by Claude in Switzerland. Pic: Reuters
Dutch broadcaster AvroTros said last week that it was taking a stance in response to the loss of life in Gaza, with the deaths of journalists there a factor in the decision.
Irish broadcaster RTE said the country was taking the same stance, saying it was “unconscionable” to take part given the “ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.
Following his win in May, singer JJ said it was “disappointing to see Israel still participating”, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais. “I would like the next Eurovision to be held in Vienna and without Israel,” he added.
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The “potential impacts and consequences of either decision” are being assessed, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group said in a statament.
Next year’s Eurovision will be the 70th anniversary of the event, and will take place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna on 16 May.
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