Netflix, Drake revive Top Boy

A new season of Top Boy will debut in 2019

Netflix is reviving Top Boy, the UK drama about two drug dealers that last aired on Channel 4 in the UK four years ago, alongside musician and producer Drake.

The gritty drama, which follows two drug dealers at a public housing estate in East London, was created and written by Ronan Bennett.

The show’s first two seasons, which ended on C4 in 2013, are now available on Netflix globally and the next season on Netflix will consist of 10 new episodes, again written by Bennett and executive produced by the original creative team.

That includes Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind for Cowboy Films, Bennett for Easter Partisan and Yann Demange. The show has been slated to premiere as a Netflix original series in 2019.

The new instalment will be executive produced by Drake and his business partner Adel ‘Future’ Nur, along with Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson for SpringHill Entertainment.

The new episodes pick up as one of the dealers returns from exile to his home in London to reclaim his throne in the highly lucrative drug market.

Bennett said: “I am delighted to be reunited once more with the Top Boy team – our wonderful cast and my partners at Cowboy Films – and to have Drake and SpringHill as new collaborators. And I could not be prouder to be doing the show with Netflix.”

Cindy Holland, VP of original content for Netflix, said: “Drake came to us several months ago with a passion to help bring this series back to life, and we’re thrilled to support the original creative team to do just that.”

The show will be Drake and Nur’s first foray into TV production, with the duo attached as exec producers.

Top Boy becomes the latest C4 show to move to Netflix after the streamer took rights to air the third season of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror in the UK in a US$40m deal.