Plot thickens in second series of Channel 4’s urban saga Top Boy
Mayor Jules Pipe refused to allow show’s producers to film on Hackney estates, but that hasn’t prevented them creating ‘damn good drama’
Ronan Bennett
Top boy: stories of Hackney’s young drug dealers
Ronan Bennett spent two years interviewing gang members in east London for his powerfully personal TV drama, Top Boy. Here he describes their hidden, hopeless world – and the lengths they’ll go to escape from it
Britney Spears shoots Criminal video as council bars gang drama filming on Hackney estates
Replica gun used at Stoke Newington Town Hall as council fears residents risk having ‘neighbourhoods stigmatised’