Top Boy: what’s the story behind the comeback?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2019

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

Six years since it last aired, the TV series Top Boy is back. Although the show, which revolves around an east London estate and the people who live there, is entirely fictional it was lauded for depicting the reality of inner-city life. But even though its second series premiered to critical acclaim, Channel 4 cancelled Top Boy. It was only after an intervention by the Canadian rapper Drake that Netflix decided to bring it back. The creator Ronan Bennett came to the Beyond Today studio to talk about why he wanted to write Top Boy, the show’s revival and Drake’s involvement. We also speak to the rapper Kano about his character Sully and why the show is more relevant than ever. Producers: Seren Jones, Alicia Burrell Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello, I'm Tina Dehealey and this is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4,
0:11.2	a space to ask one big question about one big story. The For many people, today is a big day. Six years since its last episode, top boy is back.
0:46.0	Hey, Sonny's back on summer house, you know.
0:50.0	A boy just saw him walking in the road.
0:53.0	Guess he was with?
0:55.0	Deschain Hill.
0:56.0	Season one of the show first came onto our screens back in 2011
1:02.0	and it introduced us to the lives of Dushene and Sully played
1:06.6	by British rappers Ashley Walters and Cano. Now top boy revolves around Summer House, a fictional East London estate, and the mostly men who are
1:16.8	fighting to get to the top of the food chain in the drug industry.
1:21.3	At the time of its release, Top Boy was groundbreaking.
1:24.3	There was nothing like it that had been seen on mainstream British TV.
1:29.0	By the time season two aired, the show had taken off and then promptly cancelled by Channel 4.
1:35.9	Well now, Top Boy is back and in no small part thanks to a certain Canadian rapper Drake.
1:42.4	I just want to say thank you so much for allowing me to be part of it.
1:45.0	I know a lot of time people are like,
1:47.0	you're not even from there, why do you?
1:49.0	But the drama doesn't stop on screen. This week the godfather of
1:55.0	Grime Wiley accused Drake of being a pagan Drake is a culture voter.
1:59.7	So why did it take the involvement of Drake who's frequently talked about his love for
2:04.8	the series to get Netflix to commission it?
	...

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