THE London-born actor who plays a ruthless crime boss in The Wire has agreed to become an anti-crime ambassador for the Prince's Trust.

Idris Elba grew up in some of east London's most deprived areas in the Eighties but has become a global star after playing Stringer Bell in the American police drama.

Elba said a grant from Prince Charles's charity when he was in his teens had helped him become an actor. "It was a major factor in helping me get to where I am today," he said.

The Wire, which made its terrestrial television debut on BBC2 this week, shows how drugs destroy communities in the housing "projects" of Baltimore.

But the 36-year-old actor today told the Standard that parts of London are suffering from the same problems and he warns of an "emerging gang and drug culture" in Britain.

He said: "The underlying issues of The Wire are not a million miles from what British kids are dealing with today.

"The show is recognised for its realistic portrayal of urban life where kids hang around on corners with nothing to do.

"They are hand-picked by gangsters that offer them quick money for dirty jobs - this is very similar to the gang and drug culture emerging in some of the UK's biggest cities.

"Similar to The Wire, British police are having to adopt US-style tactics, carrying out 24-hour surveillance on teen gang bosses."

Elba was born in Forest Gate before moving to Hackney. "I was born within a three-mile radius of the Bow Bells - so I'm literally a cockney." At the age of 10 his Sierra Leonean father and Ghanaian mother said the family had to move again - this time farther east to Canning Town.

In his first day at school he remembers being "chased by white kids calling me all kinds of stuff".

After leaving school at 16, he spent much of his time in bit-part jobs including working night shifts at the Ford factory in Dagenham and DJing.

Thanks to an inspirational drama teacher at school, Sue McFee, Elba developed a passion for acting and won a place in the National Youth Music Theatre - with the help of a £1,500 grant from the Prince's Trust.

His first break came playing "a guy who chopped his girlfriend up and put her in the freezer" in a Crimewatch reconstruction, before he landed a role on Channel Five soap Family Affairs.

At the age of 22, he grew frustrated at the lack of parts for black actors in Britain and moved to New York where he won the role in The Wire. He says he based his drug-dealing character on "some of the people I grew up with".

Elba now lives in Atlanta but said a cover of Time magazine in America last year stating that British kids were "unhappy, unloved and out of control", had alarmed him.

"I thought to myself, is this really true?

"The breakdown of family life leads to parents not caring about what their kids are doing as well as kids not caring what their parents think."

Dee Kundra, spokeswoman for the Prince's Trust said: "When we approached Idris to see if he would like to become an ambassador, he jumped at the chance."

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