18 September 2019
How Drake helped revive Top Boy
In 2013, Top Boy was shelved after running for two seasons on the UK’s Channel 4. After its cancellation a few years later, Netflix began to stream the two seasons of the series about rival drug-running gangs in the housing estates of Hackney in East London (called Top Boy: Summer House on the platform).
Its appearance on the streaming service caught the attention of many viewers around the world – including multi-Platinum-selling artist Drake.
The revival
In an interview with Digital Spy, Ashley Waters, who plays the show’s main character Dushane, recalls that Drake enquired about the show’s return via an Instagram post. Ashley responded to the post, telling Drake that the show would not make a return, to which the rapper replied: “Well, we’ll see about that.”
A year after the Instagram post went up, Drake presented Top Boy’s producers with a deal, and that’s what led to the show being revived in 2019 as a Netflix Original.
More like Top Boy
For the love of London and Toronto
During an interview with Good Morning Britain, Drake shared the reasons for his being an unashamed fan of the show.
“I just really became attached to it, I became attached to the characters, and the story really drew me in. And I think there are so many parallels between Toronto and London – obviously, we don’t have the same accent, but we speak the same. So it reminded me of people that I grew up with and people that I know.”
Drake had limited creative contribution to the series, insisting that the original cast and crew had all the creative freedom they needed to make as much of an impact as they did with the original series.
Top Boy Season 3 (simply called Top Boy) consists of 10 all-new episodes and is available to stream on Netflix.
Netflix is already in talks about bringing the next season to our screens, and fans hope that it won’t be another six-year wait.
Not Drake’s first TV rodeo
Drake is also the executive producer of HBO’s Euphoria, an intense series about a group of teenagers who are navigating life, love and the modern world with the help of their friends, their lovers, social media, and in the case of Zendaya’s Rue, a cycle of addiction and rehab.
You’ll also find Drake talking about everything from popular culture to the music industry on HBO’s The Shop.
Both shows are also available to stream on Showmax.