Top Boy

Fan is a new column about the way fandom touches every sector of our culture. This is the fifth column in the series. Get caught up on our first four dispatches:

Moomin boom

Herzogians 

Pools, Hot Tubs, & Beaches

The other K-pop

J’Nae Phillips on the fandom that followed in The Wire’s footsteps but stepped out of its shadow.

I was 17 when Top Boy first aired on British television in late 2011. Being a teenager growing up in inner-city London, I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. For the first time in my life, I saw myself reflected in the characters I saw on-screen. Granted, my life wasn't as harsh and volatile as theirs, but still, something about it caught my attention in a way no other TV show had done up until that point. 

Created and written by Irish screenwriter Ronan Bennett, Top Boy unveiled a world I found myself gravitating towards because it mirrored things I’d seen and heard about in real life. Whether that was a snapshot of the London drug trade, the harsh realities of poverty and violence, the impact of gentrification, socio-economic inequality, community displacement, or the brutal policing of London’s Black communities, the Channel 4 show was a wake-up call and springboard into national conversations. I was hooked. The various plots transported Londoners into worlds and situations that felt all too real and familiar. And for outsiders looking in, it gave them a glimpse into a reality they'd probably have never imagined was possible.

My friends, family, and just about anyone I came into contact with were hyped. I hurried through my homework just so I could recount, detail by detail, exactly what went down in each episode and either cringe, laugh or cry about the storylines with others. It was all we could talk about for the rest of that year.

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Top Boy permeated group chats, lunchtime conversations in the school canteen, and many, many discussions on Facebook groups and MSN messenger. Its arrival was significant for many reasons; it introduced depth, sensitivity, and a way for multicultural Londoners to see themselves represented on screen. The show stood out for its portrayal of Black culture and threads of urban social commentary, as noted in Clive Chijioke Nwonka’s book Black Boys: The Social Aesthetics of British Urban Film. It had such an impact that two years later in 2013, after demand from fans and critics alike, we got a second season. And then it was cancelled and no one knew if we’d ever see it again.

But, years later, Top Boy’s biggest celebrity fan—Drake—stepped in to give the show a new lease of life. The Toronto-born rapper was recommended the show while on tour and began fangirling about it on Instagram in 2014, butchering the use of London linguistics in the process (eye-roll-worthy behaviour), only to discover it was no more. In 2015, actor and Top Boy star Ashley Walters revealed that Drake had reached out to him and expressed interested in funding a third season. The rapper, a former child actor, also wanted a role. 

According to Waters, the production company that owned Top Boy turned down Drake’s offer. “Top Boy is the sort of brand we knew would sell to Netflix, Amazon. The numbers speak for themselves,” he said in 2015. “So we had that power and the production company still owned the rights, and Drake made an offer and they turned it down.” Waters added: “I don’t know what is going on with it, but I heard they are talking about a Top Boy Chicago.”

But to quote what Drake said in 2016, “Top Boy will rise again.”

In 2017, Bennett, the show’s creator, and Drake successfully pitched Netflix on a third season, which was set to premiere in 2019. Drake and Future would serve as executive producers, alongside the original creative team and LeBron James’ SpringHill Entertainment. Drizzy even gave fans the inside scoop about Top Boy’s comeback via a trailer he played at a 2019 London show. 

"At first it was kind of, just for me, I was like—I need this back. But then I realised how much it meant to so many people," he told Netflix at the premiere. Even though the rapper took over the very same iconic London caff (British slang for café) Top Boy was filmed in for his For All The Dogs album release, he thankfully never made an appearance in the show itself.

With the help of Drake’s endorsement, Britain’s favourite street drama went mainstream to become a show that’s considered prestige.

Top Boy possesses all the telltale signs of an American inner-city hood show, often drawing comparisons to HBO’s The Wire. Top Boy’s dissection of Black life on Summerhouse estate is in lockstep with The Wire's scrutiny of Baltimore's drug trade and its impact on the Black community. Fans of both shows like to fixate on the intense interpersonal dynamics between characters; it’s easy to become emotionally invested. But as a born and raised Londoner, Top Boy is the standout show for me. The Wire set the standard for urban TV “hood” shows to even exist, but I felt that it concentrated too much on cops and law enforcement. Meanwhile, Top Boy has always been for the people. The cops play second fiddle and the spotlight is firmly on residents of the fictional London estate where the action takes place. 

The women in the series have had a lasting impact, creating a legacy all of their own. Both Top Boy and The Wire make wider comments about society and culture such as struggling single mothers battling mental health issues, the too-close-to-home impact of gentrification and deportation, and the effects taking drugs has on the diaspora. Top Boy opts for slow-burn character revelations to keep fans watching. In one powerful scene, Jaq, one of the lead drug dealers, questions the ethics of the only world she’s ever known after her sister, Lauren, dies from an overdose with the drugs Jaq sells.

Now that Top Boy is done and dusted (its fifth season finale was released in early September), fans are still keeping its spirit alive. Fanfiction stories on Wattpad are thriving (My Brother's Hood Bestfriend (74.4k views), HOODRICH, jamie (40.4k views) and Top Boy (20.2k views) are among the most popular). Clips of the show—and people’s reaction to it—have gone viral on TikTok. And the hallowed halls of Wiki fan pages are keeping people up to date with everything the show has to offer, from a central fan page to details on the Summerhouse gang to character profiles and episode breakdowns. But the fandom spirit may be most alive on Reddit forums, where show devotees can find Top Boy starter pack memes and lively discussions around the use of British slang. Recently, one user polled the group as to whether or not a spinoff should be made—229 people voted yes versus 165 who voted no.

The Dirt: Top Boy might be done—for now—but its fanbase is anything but.

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