What might have been...

Stars Toheeb Jimoh and Rakie Ayola on a drama that imagines how Anthony Walker, victim of a real-life racist murder, might have lived on

- Ian MacEwan

On 30 July, it will be 15 years since Liverpool teenager Anthony Walker was killed in a brutal racist attack that robbed him of a bright future.The A-level student was at a bus stop with his girlfriend and cousin when he was racially abused, chased and attacked by Michael Barton, brother of footballer Joey Barton, and Paul Taylor, who killed Anthony with an ice axe.

To mark the anniversary, acclaimed screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (Broken, Moving On, The Street) has created a powerful 90-minute story that imagines the life Anthony might have led had he lived, and re-creates the shocking events of that tragic night.

Partly based on conversations with Anthony’s mother Gee, who forgave his attackers, the drama, which sees Anthony grow up to marry and become a father, seems all the more timely coming at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Here, actors Toheeb Jimoh (previously seen in Amazon Prime Video’s The Feed) and Rakie Ayola (Holby City), who play Anthony and Gee, tell TV Times why they wanted to help bring the Walker family’s story to the small screen…

What impression do you have of Anthony Walker from working on this drama?