Filmmaker produces BBC documentary after being stabbed in Bristol

A new documentary showing the impact of knife crime has been produced by a filmmaker who was stabbed five times.

Aodh Breathnach was stabbed in Bristol eight years ago and said he hardly spoke about it afterwards.

Mr Breathnach met other stabbing victims in Scars: Surviving a Stabbing on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.

In the documentary, he spoke to anti-knife crime campaigner Jasper Taitt-Williams, who runs Put The Knives Down Gloucester.

Mr Taitt-Williams said he came to terms with being stabbed and how he has been removing knives from his local community.

Scars: Surviving a Stabbing airs at 21:00 BST on 11 October on BBC Three and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

"He [Mr Breathnach] messaged me on Facebook regarding all the work I've been doing and he wanted to meet up to discuss the documentary that he's been producing," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"I was really overwhelmed.

"I just felt like my message was really getting out there for a company in London to reach out to me in Gloucester."

After Mr Breathnach was stabbed in Bristol on a night out, he said he noticed an impact on his mental health, but hardly spoke about it.

He set out to meet other people who have been stabbed to learn about how they are coping with their physical and emotional scars.

Mr Taitt-Williams told Mr Breathnach about how he was physically and mentally impacted when he was stabbed in the face.

Speaking about his scars in the documentary, Mr Taitt-Williams said: "I couldn't eat, I had to force myself to eat with a straw.

"They had me on multiple steroids and antibiotics so I was constantly knocked out."

"I was upset that my face had been deformed. It was a really hard time. I just felt isolated.

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