# Top Boy (2019)

> Two veteran London drug dealers face a ruthless young hustler threatening their hold on the estate.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/79126

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 24
- Episode runtime: 53 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Ronan Bennett
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Kane Robinson, Ashley Walters, Micheal Ward, Malcolm Kamulete, Araloyin Oshunremi, Joshua Blisset, Saffron Hocking, Olivia Musangi
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, tense, bleak, melancholic, propulsive

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, praising its gritty portrayal of London street-level drug dealing and its rivalries.

## Synopsis

Top Boy (2019-2023) is a British urban crime drama series created by Ronan Bennett for Netflix. Veteran dealers Sully (Kane Robinson) and Dushane (Ashley Walters) have returned to run the drug trade on a gritty London estate, but their hold on power is challenged by a young and ruthless hustler, Jamie (Micheal Ward). Their engine is the constant pursuit of money, territory and respect, and each season is built from the deals, rivalries, and street-level betrayals that keep those ambitions alive. Friendships and old loyalties strain against ambition as the stakes rise across the three seasons. The show unfolds as a continuing serialized story, with ten, eight and six episodes across its run, rather than a case-of-the-week format. Shot with an unflinching eye on the everyday texture of London's urban life, the series blends tense, grounded realism with moments of melancholy and survival. Fans of The Wire and Peaky Blinders will find resonance in its portrait of crime as a fragile economy and a hard route to power.

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