Top boy: stories of Hackney's young drug dealers. Channel 4.

yeah they fucked that up
Kano even tweeted during episode 2 or 3 that the "timeline was fucked"

yeah, the timeline was fucked up, really badly shown and if I was going to watch it again I might see if there were even any indications in the dealer timeline or the young teenagers timelines to indicate how much time was supposed to have passed.
It was just one line in the opening episode when the vietnamese guy said how long the crop would take that gave a concrete indication of how much time is meant to be covered by the drama.
None of it felt like 13 weeks had gone by, more like a few days or a week maybe..

I gave it a go because I've liked a couple of the novels Ronan Bennett's done ( The Catastrophist and Havoc in its Third Year) and as I recall his scripts for Face and The Hamburg Cell were OK. Saw Public Enemies and that was a bit by the numbers, and so was this despite all the research, as has been said. One of them things where you've got a lot of talent involved for less than the sum of its parts.

I don't know what you lot are moaning about that was a fucking excellent drama.

Enjoyed it although found the ending far to contrived.

However the time line point is an interesting one and got me thinking that a show set over 13 weeks with the centre of it being the cultivation of a drugs 'crop' could be an interesting one with all the ins and outs that could be weaved into it.

Not my world so could not even begin to formulate a plot line but as a backdrop to a drama, well I reckon it would work.

when there is a murder in Hackney, the Hackney Gazette tends to sell out on Thursday when it comes out.

No I really disagree - it'd didn't glamourise anything. If anything it was a bit to heavy with the family morality stuff, but not in a way that undermined the plot. I'm not saying it was strictly realistic but it was a good drama, well-scripted, for the most part well-acted.

true

he wanted to get involved with the gang but Leon warned him off. Not too far fetched to see him roped in with the mj 'farm' etc.

Anyone know if it's going to be a one-off, or if a second series or mini-series has been commissioned?

the ending suggested a second series - he's still standing, got away with it and that.

Whoever said the Eno soundtrack was good was OTM. Fine use of Fuck Buttons twice too.

I did. What is OTM?

On The Money

Owed Twenty Margaritas

Hes ripping them off.

i agree that the acting was generally good, but the plotting was poor and the claims to represent "real life", whatever that is, were misleading and in danger of glamourising something which is usually much more mundane tbf.

I thought this was really good. I mean it's drama right, it's gotta have a good story at the risk of being a bit implausible. best thing I've seen for ages!

then why trailer the thing as being the result of "2 years research"? i have no problem with it as a complete work of fiction.

Well research could be just to get a feel of it, pick up the jargon, find out how drug dealing gangs operate etc. I mean I'd kinda know fuck all about it, and I'm not exactly without experience of drugs and London estates. It don't mean it's a 'true story' does it?

Tippa Irie Top Boy vid

I think it was on the Grauniad website the other, they'd played it to a load of young males from Hackney and the area and they said the main gripe was that there was no sign whatsoever of the police.