There is now no question that Top Boy changed the face of British TV for ever. When it landed on Channel 4 in 2011, it was the first drama to depict the morally complex world of inner-city estates’ drug gangs. It created a generation of mainstream British Black stars – from Letitia Wright to Micheal Ward – and rapidly accelerated the worldwide fame of UK musical legends such as Kano and Little Simz. The devotion it inspired among its fans finally convinced British commissioners that there is mainstream appetite for authentic onscreen depictions of Black life. Arguably we have it to thank for everything from hilarious BBC sitcom Dreaming Whilst Black to Peckham romcom Rye Lane.
But for viewers, there’s something much more important about this show – it is absolutely cracking TV. Its fifth and final series was a masterclass in creating tense television that was both impossible to predict, and to tear yourself away from. Right from the moment we caught up with Sully (Kane Robinson) and Dushane (Ashley Walters) to find the onetime best pals and head honchos of the Summerhouse Estate’s drug gang now barely maintaining a fragile truce, it was clear that all bets were off. There were shifting power dynamics, heart-in-mouth shootouts in retirement homes and TV’s most heart-rending bath-based death.
