http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/tv-radio/tv-preview-top-boy-1-3050106
TOP
BOY
Tuesday,
Channel 4, 9pm
Paul
Whitelaw
Channel 4 is a frustrating beast.
With its halcyon days at the vanguard of experimental, alternative,
socially inclusive television long gone, it now spends most of its
time sneering at the poor and gawping at misshapen testicles: the TV
equivalent of a particularly objectionable Daily Mail
columnist.
And yet as everything crumbles around
it, C4's drama slate continues to impress. With the recent likes of
Southcliffe, The Mill and, now, the second series of TOP
BOY, it's the last bastion of quality in an otherwise devastated
field. But even that has its downside: it makes virtually everything
else on the channel look even worse by comparison.
In any case, Top Boy,
an unflinching crime drama set on a fictional estate in Hackney, east
London, is one of British TV's most distinctive dramas. While series
one attracted inevitable comparisons with The Wire
– both provide rounded portraits of street-level drug dealers in
deprived urban areas – Top Boy
deserves to be judged on its own merits.
Written
by Hackney resident Ronan Bennett (The Hamburg Cell;
Hidden), it's drawn from
research into the lives of locals, which lends the characterisation,
setting and slang-heavy dialogue a ring of authenticity. Plus, the
performances from the predominantly young black cast are entirely
free of affectation.
Now,
I'm a white arts critic from Fife, so I've obviously no idea if Top
Boy actually delivers an
accurate portrayal of east London crime culture. But I'm convinced by
the wealth of little side details – kids rapping awkwardly on an
overpass, banter in the hair salon, the boy who mystifyingly talks
with his hand covering his mouth – which feel like observations
based on experience.
Ashley Walters stars as Dushane,
whose goal of becoming 'Top Boy' – i.e. the drug dealing king of
his estate – was grasped at the end of series one. However, his
affluent lifestyle is threatened by a police investigation into the
murder of a rival. Meanwhile, property developers are forcing local
businesses from the area, as Dushane's gang set their sights on a
cartel of Albanian criminals.
Charming, bright and quietly
charismatic, Dushane's likeability masks an inner ruthlessness: like
Tony Soprano, he's a screen 'villain' whose dichotomous personality
deliberately wrong-foots the viewer and shakes them from complacency.
Bennett makes us care about his plight, but never attempts to excuse
his behaviour.
Preoccupied
with themes of family loyalty, vulnerable children trapped in a
violent environment, and the debilitating effects of greed on both a
corporate and street level, Top Boy
gets its points across without recourse to heavy-handed moralising.
The political dimension is implicit, rather than confronted
directly. And despite its brutal surface, it also benefits from a
welcome jolt of humour: the banal reality of crime is often more
ridiculous than scaremongering media reports would have you believe.
Refreshingly
devoid of glamour, Top Boy
is a tense, kinetic, utterly engrossing drama, fluidly directed by
Jonathan van Tulleken and, as he skilfully weaves together several
characters and storylines, impressively realised by Bennett. It's
richly human drama.
And that, dear reader, is it. After
over six years of watching TV and scribbling shapes for yer Scotsman,
I've decided to move on to pastures new. But it's been a hoot and/or
optional holler. Please don't talk about me when I'm gone.
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