Here’s a chilling thought as knife crime continues to surge in the UK – there is a deadly myth that it’s possible to stab someone without causing serious or fatal harm.
While knife crime has received widespread attention for many years, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed in 2025 that police-recorded offences involving knives or sharp objectives have increased by 81% over the past 10 years. The myth of “safe” stabbing removes some of its consequences – and therefore deterrents.
Saatchi & Saatchi UK has partnered with StreetDoctors, a charity tackling knife crime by empowering and educating young people to make different choices, to launch The Fatal Question to mythbust the safe stabbing idea.
Martin Griffiths CBE, a leading UK trauma surgeon and clinical director for the London Violence Reduction Programme, stated, “Over the years, I’ve been asked many times, “Where is a safe place to stab someone?”. The question reflects a dangerous common myth and highlights the pressure that young people feel to potentially carry weapons.”
The Fatal Question campaign turns the question back to young people to find out what they really think. Teenagers from London schools were invited to engage with a life-sized, interactive human sculpture, pointing to areas of the body where they believed a stab wound would not be fatal – revealing the widespread misconceptions at the heart of the campaign.
Once a body part has been guessed, the statue emits a beam of light which triggers projections of the real-life stories of victims, accompanied by personal accounts from their loved ones, detailing the sobering stories of young people killed by a single stab wound to that area of the body.
The personal stories include high-profile cases such as 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, killed by a single stab to the thigh; Joshua Ribera, a Birmingham-based rapper killed by a single stab wound to his heart; and 12-year-old Ava White, who lost her life to a single stab wound in 2021.
The young people’s session with the statue has been captured in a three-minute film, directed by Jonathan Kneebone of The Glue Society, that will be broadcast across major cities across the UK this summer including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow. StreetDoctors also hosted a series of workshops on the day with healthcare professionals, teaching young people life-saving first aid and how to deal with knife crime encounters.
To continue bringing this vital education into the right spaces, the three minute film will form part of the charity’s ongoing education workshops in schools, prisons and local community groups. StreetDoctors will also provide educational information on the dangers of knife crime on its own site.
The sculpture was created and built by Machine Shop, guided by Saatchi & Saatchi, in collaboration with The Glue Society. The campaign film is delivered in partnership with C-Screens, a leading UK TV OOH broadcaster, that is donating premium national inventory to ensure the film reaches the communities most at risk at strategically geo-located sites around the country, as well as at PowerLeague five-a-side football venues across the UK. PR and media relations for the campaign was run by Taylor Herring.
Franki Goodwin, CCO, Saatchi & Saatchi, stated, “How do you ask a question in a way that makes a teenage kid not just think about the answer, but about why they’ve had to ask the question? With beauty and interactivity and insight, that’s how. This is creative collaboration at its most important – part public service film, part physical experience, part educational tool. We hope it travels as far as it needs to, to make a difference.”
Martin Tilbury MBE, CEO Street Doctors, added, “At StreetDoctors, we work with young people every day who are navigating complex realities where fear and misinformation can shape dangerous decisions. The question ‘Where is a safe place to stab someone?’ is often asked out of confusion and worry by young people. The campaign is about supporting young people in their environment and providing them with informed information. Education is one of the most powerful tools we have to prevent street violence and this campaign is helping young people make the right life changing choices”
Robert Hicks, CEO of C-Screens, commented, “We knew from the very start that this campaign needed to be seen in the right places, by the right audiences, to make the greatest impact. That’s why we’ve been involved throughout the creation of The Fatal Question, and why we are donating media space across our national network of sites. By broadcasting this powerful film in communities most affected by knife crime, we hope to spark conversations, shift perceptions and ultimately help save lives.”
Credits:
Images by Michael Leckie @ PinPe
Client: StreetDoctors
CEO: Martin Tilbury
Relationships & Investments Manager: Gerard Mitchell
Communications & Advocacy Coordinator: Fee Lyssejko
Creative Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Chief Creative Officer: Franki Goodwin
Executive Creative Director: Will John
Associate Creative Directors: Pete Ioulianou & Ollie Agius
Senior Creatives: Elliot Lee & Rory Peyton Jones
Conceptual Designer: Ajay Sookraj
Account Director: Dyfed Thomas
Account Manager: Lupien Troelstra
Senior Integrated Producers: Lizzie Mabbott & Nayab Malik
Producer: Harriette MacNaughton
Production Assistant: Rita Aboderin
BTS Photographer: Abdul Onipede
Senior Strategist: Bridget Moyle
Production Company: Biscuit x Revolver
Glue Society – Director: Jonathan Kneebone
Producers: Ran Holst & Fiona Martin
Founding Partner: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producers: Daisy Mellors & Katie Keith
Head of Production: Emily Atterton
Production Manager: Dalia Saeed
Production Assistants: Ollie Watts, Nagham El-Khoury & Raha Mahamoud
Director of Photography: Robert Farley
Production Designer: Oliver Hogan
Gaffer : Riaz Ahmed
Production Company: Prodigious
Head of Design: James Crickmore
Senior Designers: Kumal Shah & Joelly Nathan
Designer: Conor MacLeay
Head of Retouching: Kirsten Howe
Senior PM: Dipika Chauhan
Retoucher: Maider Oribe Marcos
Post Production: Harbor
Creative Director: Oliver Davies
VFX Producer: Sarah Maerz
Animators: Toby Anthonisz, Julia Olsson, Jared Tomkins & Diogo Gil
Colourist: Karol Cybulski
VFX Artists: Jack Sheldrake, Mark Chapman, Clive De Souza & Savneet Nagi
Editing: MSE.TV
Editor: Toby Conway-Hughes
Edit Assistant: Curtis Rutherford
Producer: S.J. O’Mara
Post Production: MACHINESHOP
SFX Senior Technician: Dean Rowson
SFX Supervisor: Steve Loible
Sound: 750mph
Music: Twenty Below Music
PR Agency: Taylor Herring
Media: C-Screens
Research: Raw Research
