Top Boy's BAFTA win isn't surprising, it's a long time coming

In the anticipated awards ceremony, it's the gong for best drama that is, arguably, one of the biggest of the night. Up against the likes of The Gold, Happy Valley and Slow Horses, I personally love the fact that those who have yet to watch Top Boy never counted the Ronan Bennett series as a serious contender for the award. Oh, how wrong they were.

X (formerly known as Twitter) users have not spared a minute in their incessant tirade against Top Boy since last night's win, deeming it to be the most unexpected of the night and bandying around phrases like "unbelievable" and "what a joke" at Top Boy's success.

For a lot of people, the front-running series was Sally Wainwright's expertly penned third season of Happy Valley. The final instalment to what will likely go down in crime drama history, many clearly feel as though it should've been celebrated one last time as the official BAFTA announcement was swarmed by X users proclaiming that Happy Valley was "robbed" of its award.

"Happy Valley should have won" becomes such a regular sentence in reply to the official news in question that it almost seems like it's being churned out by those pesky online bots.

But what a lot of those people fail to realise is that if you haven't actually watched Top Boy, you can't understand the way that the series is more than deserving of the Best Drama Series award.

Bowing out after an impressive run of five seasons in total (including its previous Summerhouse iteration, which initially premiered on Channel 4 back in 2011), the final series – like Happy Valley – brought the world of Top Boy to a spectacular close.

Jasmine Jobson, who was rightfully recognised for Supporting Actress on the night, too, pretty much carried the final season as the fearless and captivating Jaq, the only woman in the male-dominated London drug industry. She risked it all, turning against her mentors and friends Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson) and in her, we also explored the ethics and morality of being a drug dealer.

Where Dushane and Sully's over-arching rivalry could've so easily waned, it took on a new form in the final season, as well as centring on the often heart-breaking story of young Stefan (Araloyin Oshunremi). It even saw Saltburn star Barry Keoghan part of the drug-dealing action.

Sure, the final season of Top Boy left its viewers divided, with many deeming the series as feeling rushed, needing more time for some of the big character twists to breathe and the character arc of people like Dushane as feeling quite unrealistic.

I agree with all of those sentiments in part but, ultimately, did Top Boy season 5 leave me on the edge of my seat? Did it have my heart racing? Was it also home to some spectacular performances? Most definitely.

There will be a lot of people who will tune into Top Boy for the first time now that it's been recognised by BAFTA, and what a journey they're about to embark on. But for those of us who have long held the series close to our hearts – especially those of us from East London, where it's set – it's been a hell of a long time coming.

Name me another top-rated Netflix series that has cast first-time actors from London youth groups, helped launch the acting career of Michael Ward as well as grime legend Kano or acclaimed rappers like Little Simz and Dave, as well as authentically portrayed what life in a constantly redefined and gentrified area such as Hackney is really like.

It's a series that never shied away from tackling some big themes such as immigration, poverty, homophobia and domestic violence, even being praised by women's charity Refuge for its handling of the latter. Top Boy is, obviously, very much centred around gang culture, but went head-on with its explorations around social housing, the distrust of the police and challenged preconceived notions around what authentic Black British storytelling can look like.

It's a series that means so much to a lot of people and that's no small feat, especially also managing to be a show with the pacing, twists and high octane action expected of a glossy production these days.

Now with its BAFTA win under its belt, a lot of Happy Valley fans are trying to demean Top Boy by outlining the rollercoaster ride the BBC crime drama has taken us on across its three seasons. Sarah Lancashire, of course, won the BAFTA for Leading Actress and the show also won the favour of the public with this year's most memorable moment.

But like Happy Valley and its journey of success and hiatus, let's take some time to dive into that for Top Boy, shall we?

Originally airing on Channel 4 in 2011, the first two seasons comprised of four episodes each and at just eight episodes in total, it was very much the talk of the town at the time. Despite being the buzzy new series on course for a natural renewal, Channel 4 dropped Top Boy. But much to everyone's surprise, the TV show was picked back up by Netflix in 2017 after newfound interest from Drake (current rap beef aside), who served as an executive producer on the new iteration of the series.

Many of the same faces reprised their roles for the new run and in 2019, the new Netflix series (technically the third one in total but the first on the streamer) was released to critical acclaim. Renewed for another and then the third and final season (fifth in total), the story of Top Boy is a beautiful full circle tale of a TV underdog.

In a television landscape that is still very much archaic, stuck in its ways and regurgitates the same themes and plots in different ways, Top Boy really carved out its own space and will be sorely missed.

But after 13 years since it first landed on our screens and countless comparisons to one of the most talked-about crime dramas of all time, The Wire, this BAFTA win for Top Boy feels like a backdated nod to the sheer amount of work that's been put into it across its five seasons.

For an arts charity like BAFTA that has also previously been put under the microscope for its all-white winners, here's hoping that Top Boy's win inspires more networks and broadcasters to take more risks when it comes to commissioning.

And if you're still complaining about Top Boy without ever having tuned into the series, take this as your sign to quit the moaning and get embroiled in the world of Summerhouse – you won't regret it.

Top Boy season 5 is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.