Top Boy is the Netflix crime saga The Gentlemen fans keep skipping past

If you think The Gentlemen is Guy Ritchie’s grand return to the British gangster playground on Netflix—flashy edits, black humour, the usual suspects—let me point you to another crime saga on the same platform that’s played the long game and delivered something with far more bite. Top Boy might not have Ritchie’s comedy swagger, but it’s got that same gritty London underbelly and then some—done with a subtlety and depth most shows only wish they had. If you’re looking for guns and geezers, Ritchie’s your man; if you’re after something that feels more like London chewing you up, you want Top Boy.

Top Boy first hit Channel 4 in 2011, but its Netflix revival added more episodes and a deeper look at its characters’ lives.

A Tale of Two Gangs

The heart of Top Boy is the sometimes-friendship, sometimes-rivalry between Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson), a proper partnership built on crime, trust, betrayal, and, inevitably, plenty of fallouts. The comparison to The Wire gets thrown around a lot, mostly because the show refuses to paint these two as outright villains—more like by-products of their environment, which in this case is the fictional Summerhouse estate in London. It’s not glam; it’s not cartoonish; it feels like somewhere you might actually end up if you took the wrong bus after dark.

Top Boy actually started back on Channel 4 over a decade ago—2011 and 2013, to be precise—and managed to snag solid ratings and a raft of critical praise. And then, for reasons that remain a mystery to anyone with sense, Channel 4 axed it. The only thing more baffling than British TV executives is the fact it took a Canadian rapper to bring the series back: Drake got involved, wagged his oversized chequebook, and convinced Netflix to revive the show.

When Netflix took it on, they didn’t just resurrect it—they upgraded it. The old Channel 4 episodes went back up as 'Top Boy: Summerhouse,' and then, in 2019, the new run kicked off, starting with what’s technically the third season. Two more seasons landed in 2021 and 2023, this time with more episodes and an even broader look at the characters and the world they inhabit. We see more depth to Dushane and Sully, but also to the people around them, with the writers digging into the effects of gentrification, mental health, and the way communities get exploited by just about everyone except those living there.

Critical Praise, No Rose-Tinted Glasses

What really sets Top Boy apart is that it’s not interested in glorifying the drug trade. The writers dodge just about every cliché going—there are no one-dimensional bad guys, no cheap heroics. Everyone’s a bit flawed, and you can’t help but sympathise even when they’re making terrible decisions. The beauty of it is you recognise bits of these characters in people you know. By the end, when the show finally wraps after twelve long years, it does so in a way that actually feels earned—tragic, yes, but honest.

Spin-Offs in the Works

This is where things get a bit odd. Despite that absolutely definitive ending, Netflix isn’t letting this universe rest. They’ve ordered two spin-offs. The first up is Jonny Boy, a prequel series about Jonny McGee—the Irish mobster played by Barry Keoghan in Top Boy’s final season. Expect five parts of that. Then there's a second spin-off, Jaq, which will follow Jasmine Jobson’s character (first introduced when Netflix took over) for six episodes. But both series are still in the pipeline; don’t hold your breath for them before 2028.

• The original Top Boy ran for two seasons on Channel 4 (2011, 2013), later rebranded as Top Boy: Summerhouse on Netflix
• Netflix revived the show with three new seasons (2019, 2021, 2023)
• Jonny Boy (five-parter) and Jaq (six-part spin-off) are both in development, not due until at least 2028
• Stream all five seasons—including the original Summerhouse run—on Netflix now