A BAFTA-WINNING  actor who helped bring home the challenges of London life in the tense drama Top Boy has warned that young people can fall into trouble when they feel they have nowhere to go.

Jasmine Jobson, who played Jaq in the Netflix series, was talking to the New Journal as she joined a collection for the Hurricane Melissa relief in Jamaica led by the Coram’s Fields charity.

She said that community centres played vital roles when older teenagers were struggling.

“Having a safe space keeps them off the streets,” Ms Jobson said. “At the end of the day they are human and we need to treat them like it.”

Top Boy proved compelling but uncomfortable viewing as it told the story of how young people can be drawn into drug dealing and gang violence.

Ms Jobson was recognised by Bafta for the best supporting actor prize. She later played Zosia in Mobland.

“I’ve got so many friends from so many different walks of life with different backgrounds.

“Whenever I stepped out of my house to play with my friends every single neighbour was able to tell me off just like they were my parents or my grandparents and that is because we all stood together and everybody looked after each other.

“I think more kids are getting into trouble because there aren’t enough youth centres, which is why I’m really grateful that we have places like Coram’s.”

The Coram’s Fields Youth Outreach Programme delivers targeted support for young people across estates, parks and local hangouts in an attempt to build relationships and establish trust with young people in environments where they feel safe.

Ms Jobson said: “We don’t know what is going on at home with these young people. Some of them have troubled lives and their escape and freedom is to come to the youth club. You take that space away from them – what do they have?”

Ms Jobson said she put herself into foster care aged 14, and it was at this time she was encouraged to take up acting. “It really starts with how these kids are treated and how they are looked at,” she said.

“If they are judged straight off the bat, that’s the beginning of that broken relationship.

“It’s the same with what we were portraying in Top Boy.

“We weren’t glamourising it all, we were humanising these young people as some of them come from troubled backgrounds and didn’t necessarily have a choice, slipping through the cracks of the system.

“Youth centres give kids expression. For me it was therapy. Acting completely changed my life and when I’m performing I’m able to tether some of my genuine emotions and traumas to my characters.

“Acting allowed me to get some closure on things that I had dealt with from my childhood – it was the best thing for me, performance is therapy.”

The New Journal reported in September how Badruddin Pouget had appeared at Coram’s Fields AGM to talk about how he had been affected by the death of his brother, Abdul Latif, in a stabbing in Back Hill, Clerkenwell, and the importance of support.

But Basil Andrews, outreach manager at Coram’s, said: “Last month that there was an urgent need for more investment in therapy for young people who had either experienced the trauma of knife crime or were at risk of getting involved.”

Some of the shoes donated to the scheme

JASMINE Jobson was happy to be at Coram’s Fields last week to help with a donation drop off for the Hurricane Melissa relief effort in Jamaica.

Anybody who has clothes, nappies and sanitary essentials can bring them to the centre this week.

They will go to people who have lost everything since the disaster last month.

Ms Jobson said: “It’s heartbreaking that my Dad’s childhood memories are now non-existent. I went to Jamaica last year for the first time and I absolutely fell in love with it.

“Now to know what happened and to see how the island has been left I’m completely distraught for my people.”

Ms Jobson, who grew up around Edgware Road, has teamed up with Basil Andrews, the lead youth practitioner at Coram’s Fields to organise donations.

The strongest storm ever recorded in Jamaica killed more than 30 people and caused severe damage to homes and infrastructure leaving communities struggling to recover.

Ms Jobson said: “Community means family.” Mr Andrews added: “Both Jasmine and I are Jamaican and I have family out there now.

“It’s absolute devas­tation. There should be more support.

“It’s very close to our hearts.”

If you can’t make a donation of supplies at Coram’s Fields, you can go to the fund-raiser page to contribute to the cost of shipping items out to Jamaica.