But most importantly, it gave a voice to the voiceless. For too long, London estates were shown as backdrops for rom-coms or Hugh Grant films. Top Boy 2011 put the camera inside the flats, at the kitchen tables where mothers cry, on the balconies where teenagers dream of escape.
Twelve years after its debut, Top Boy 2011 holds up as a work of social realism. It predicted the drill music scene that would dominate the UK charts. It showed the human cost of austerity. It gave actors like Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson a platform to become national treasures. Top Boy 2011
