May 12, 2024: "Top Boy" producers Tina Pawlik (fourth right) and Alisdair Flind (sixth right) along with the production crew, pose with the Drama Series Award at Sunday night's BAFTA TV awards. Getty Images
"Top Boy," the popular UK crime drama written by Northern Ireland's Ronan Bennett, won big at the BAFTA TV awards which were hosted yesterday, May 12.
The award-winning series, which follows the lives of two drug dealers on a Hackney estate, first aired on Channel 4 in 2011 but was later revived by streaming service Netflix.
"Top Boy" beat off competition from "Happy Valley," "The Gold," and "Slow Horses" to take home the Best Drama Series award on Sunday for the BAFTA TV awards.
Speaking at the BAFTA TV awards on Sunday, "Top Boy" producer Charles Steel paid tribute to actors Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson, who "created these incredible characters and brought them to life."
The team behind Top Boy take to the stage to collect the BAFTA for Drama Series 🏆#BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises pic.twitter.com/wWHn9pqsUb
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 12, 2024
Jasmine Jobson also scooped the Supporting Actress award for her turn as Jaq in the crime drama.
Up first it’s the award for Supporting Actress. And the BAFTA goes to… Jasmine Jobson for Top Boy 👏#BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises pic.twitter.com/3E52b1FONW
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 12, 2024
The latest series of the popular drama series featured a surprise cameo from Oscar-nominated Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who plays an Irish gangster prone to committing brutal acts of violence.
Keoghan appeared alongside former "Love/Hate" star Brian Gleeson, son of veteran Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, in the fifth and final series of the popular series.
The series first aired on Channel 4 in 2011 but was dropped by the network in 2014 after two seasons.
Streaming platform Netflix revived the series in 2017, producing three further series between 2019 and 2023.
Netflix has announced that the fifth season of the popular show (the third produced by Netflix) will be the last.
Meanwhile, there were several Irish nominees who missed out on the top prizes at the BAFTA TV awards on Sunday night. Sharon Horgan was nominated in the Best Leading Actress category for "Best Interests," Róisín Gallagher ("The Lovers") and Máiréad Tyers ("Extraordinary") were both nominated in the Best Female Performance in a Comedy, Emma Moran was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy for "Extraordinary," and Graham Norton was nominated for Best Entertainment Performance.