THE KING AND I

Sir Idris Elba was helped by the King's charity - and now, newly knighted, he's working with the monarch on a film to change lives

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Once tipped as the next James Bond, Sir Idris Elba has a very different future mapped out for himself: one that involves stepping back from the camera while becoming more involved in humanitarian issues.

Indeed, the actor has just been knighted for services to young people after setting up the Elba Hope Foundation with his wife, Lady Elba, saying that he accepted the honour “on behalf of the many young people whose talent, ambition and resilience” have driven the work of his charity. “I'm paying it forward,” says Idris, 53.

The British actor recently attended the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia for a screening of his Nigerian short film Dust to Dreams.

He made his debut as a feature film director in 2018 with Yardie, starring Stephen Graham, but his next film project calls for him to direct perhaps the biggest star of all: the King.

Even more surprisingly, the documentary is being funded by Netflix, home to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's enterprises, and The Crown, which told a fictionalised version of the King’s unhappy school days at Gordonstoun.