It’s a phrase that’s entered the language – and especially the media – in recent years. And this week sees the arrival in cinemas and on digital of County Lines, a film that examines the problem through the eyes of one 14 year old who finds himself embroiled in drugs trafficking.
The debut feature from director Henry Blake, a former youth worker, it draws heavily on his experiences in a Pupil Referral Unit, following Tyler (Conrad Khan), a withdrawn teenager whose mother struggles to keep her family afloat. With problems at school and money pressures piling up, Tyler becomes a train-bound drugs courier for Simon (Harris Dickinson), the local kingpin with a lifestyle the boy craves. It takes him into another world, one of deceit, exploitation and violence.
In our interviews below, Blake talks about his years in youth work – he’s still involved, alongside his film career – and how one character in particular is based on a former colleague. Conrad Khan, who plays Tyler, reflects on the work he did with the director as part of his research for the role, while Ashley Madekwe recalls one particularly harrowing scene between the two of them.
County Lines is cinemas and on BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema from Friday, 4 December.
