SummaryDushane (Ashley Walters) and his friend Sully (Kane Robinson aka Kano) deal drugs from their East London housing estate in this crime drama series written and created by Ronan Bennett. [The first two season are called Top Boy: Summerhouse on Netflix]
Created By:Ronan Bennett
Top Boy
5 Seasons
Season 1 Premiere:
2011
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
86
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
86
93% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sep 10, 2024
100
This final series isn’t perfect (it feels a couple of episodes short, and some sociopolitical elements seem Blu-Tacked on), but these are quibbles. Overall, what a blast, what a cast, what a genre-defining ride. Top that, indeed.
Sep 7, 2023
100
The show sees them [Sully and Dushane ] as three-dimensional men in the throes of a Shakespearean tragedy. There can only be one Top Boy, but there is no shortage of reasons to recommend this powerful and potent conclusion.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
78% Positive
59 Ratings
59 Ratings
5% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
17% Negative
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
Dec 9, 2023
10
Top Boy (both the 2011 and the recent three seasons) is further proof, as if any is needed, that British TV maintains a very, very high standard of excellence. This series is extremely dispiriting in its characters' lives and interactions, but everything feels necessary and, sadly, inevitable. The writing is finely etched, characters respond in ways we can't anticipate. For a non-British viewer, captions are probably essential - they were for me. I watched the original and the recent versions, really sad that either ended. There is no added 4th season in the Netflix return.
Apr 17, 2022
10
Fam, get to watchin this mighty quick ya hear, as it's only the best show out there, innit!
Sep 7, 2023
92
Top Boy has rarely taken a wrong step. The only risk you take here is becoming like me—a hopeless evangelist who knows the futility of his cause, but is so taken with the quality of this singular show in its sunset moment that I can’t stop shouting into the void.
Sep 7, 2023
80
But it’s not the stories or the action that you remember long after the episodes have ended. Instead, it’s the incredible performances that stick with you.
Mar 18, 2022
80
It’s a storming series, which manages to take on serious issues – mental health, domestic abuse, homophobia, child neglect – without ever becoming po-faced or worthy. The script is full of heart and humour. If you binge-watch the eight episodes (as many fans will surely do), you’ll feel spat out, exhausted, thrilled.
Jan 3, 2020
80
Top Boy can be bleak and violent, with dialogue so naturalistic that it verges on the impenetrable, but in telling stories that rarely get heard, it asks us to think differently about the city we live in. Drake has done British viewers a favour. We can thank him later.
Sep 1, 2023
60
This concluding chapter of the Top Boy saga pulls none of its punches – if anything it makes too many of them, like a rabbit-punching flyweight – and demonstrates that a big American streamer can be trusted to tell Black, British stories.
Sep 25, 2019
10
Okay now I won’t say it is in the same class as The Wire because I think it is the best show of all time. I will say it is very comparative and an amazing show which I would highly recommend. Great series I would and am going to rewatch.
Mar 25, 2025
9
This show will appeal to you if you're a fan of inner city crime dramas such as The Wire. It's elevated by top-notch scripting, acting and directing.
