top boy

You & Me

Monday

ITV2, 9.00pm

Industry's Harry Lawtey stars in this romantic comedy drama — emphasis on the drama —that aired on ITVX earlier in 2023.

It’s no easy task to think of a programme that’s done more for cutting-edge British drama than Top Boy. Having made its debut on Channel 4 in 2011 and running for two series before Netflix revived it for a further three, the gritty drama follows the drug gangs of London’s fictional Summerhouse estate in Hackney with exemplary authenticity.

It will be the third series in Netflix's reboot, but technically series five, after the streamer re-branded the first two Channel 4 series as Top Boy: Summerhouse.

A reminder—and spoiler—that the end of the fourth series saw Sully (Kane Robinson) ruin Dushane's (Ashley Walters) retirement plans by assassinating his successor Jamie (Michael Ward).

The rousing trailer opens with a melancholic montage of Top Boy's main players, Sully and Dushane among them, before scenes of weapons being loaded bleed into public protests erupting.

Carty-Williams, the bestselling author of Queenie and People Person, has penned an eight-part love letter to Black British music set in south London, and the BBC has released some first look images of the stars.

Top Boys' Malcolm Kamulete will lead as Bosco Champion, a rap sensation who comes home from prison ready to dominate the music industry.

Based on the novel of the same name by Louise Doughty, the "haunting" and "nail-biting" series follows Lisa (Jobson) after she witnesses a catastrophic event on platform 7 of a railway station. The trauma somehow jogs her memory and reveals a connection between her own life and the event.

Toby Regbo (A Discovery of Witches), Yaamin Chowdhury (The Lazardus Project), Phil Davis (Trying) and Reece Ritchie (The Outpost) will also star.

Holding

Monday

ITV, 9.00pm

A very Irish comedy crime drama adapted from Graham Norton’s novel of the same name, with comedian Kathy Burke directing all four parts.

Announced via a huge billboard at London’s BFI IMAX, and confirmed on the series’ official Twitter page, Top Boy is set to return on 18 March. Ashley Walters and Kano will reprise their roles as Dushane and Sully, with Michael Ward and Simbi Ajikawo (Little Simz) also returning as Jamie and Shelley.

Accompanying the announcement was a picture of the screenplay for the first episode entitled ‘Killing No Murder’, written by Ronan Bennett.

It will technically be the fourth series after the first two were billed as Top Boy: Summerhouse when Netflix revived the franchise last year.

Netflix also confirmed that Dushane (Ashley Walters), Sully (Kane Robinson), Jamie (Michael Ward) and Shelley (Simbi Ajikawo, better known as Little Simz) will all return.

Canadian Musician Drake is a huge fan of the series and is attached to the project as executive producer. The new 10-part series, which is set to premier in 2019 will pick up where series two left off.

Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson (Kano) will reprise their roles as Dushane and Sully, as they attempt to dominate the London drug trade.

Top Boy’s original creative team, Charles Steel, Alasdair Flind, Ronan Bennet and Yann Demange will return for the project, which was originally broadcast on Channel 4 then made available on Netflix.​