He vouched for me and young men and women began to open up and tell me their stories. My interest piqued, I talked about it to my good friend Gerry Jackson, a well-known and hugely respected figure in the community. Top Boy began life a decade ago when I witnessed a small child dealing drugs outside my local supermarket (I wrote about the show’s genesis in the Observer when the first season came out on Channel 4 in 2011). The only problem was that Top Boy had been cancelled. On buses, on walks, in the shower, I started to build on these scenes and invent characters and relationships. I knew that one day I would write about these things and I knew where I wanted to write about them. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The ObserverĮverything goes into the mix. View image in fullscreen Ronan Bennett and script consultant Gerry Jackson in Ridley Road Market, Dalston, one of Top Boy’s shooting locations. The eldest became guardian to his younger siblings. Their beds had been pushed next to each other so they could hold hands. There was a photograph of the two of them in the hospice, exhausted, semi-conscious, near the end. Shortly afterwards, I came across a heartbreaking story in a newspaper about a husband and wife who died within days of each other. I left a flower on the bench when we left. On Georgina’s birthday, we went to the same bench in the Old English Garden and recalled funny little stories about her.

We became a tight and, eventually, once again a happy little unit. They had to be responsible about making sure the front door was double-locked and the windows closed when they went out. When one cooked, the other would have to wash up. Finn and Molly, by then 14 and 12, would have to learn to cook and take turns to make the dinner. To work, I had to organise a system in the house.

No one is invincible, it turns out.Īfter her death, my priorities were, first, the children, then work. Further radiotherapy gave her some control over the wayward eyelid and restored her partial vision. She had had her right eye removed the year before.

Suddenly, her left eyelid dropped involuntarily. Twelve years later, Georgina and I were watching the final episode of season two of Top Boy on Channel 4. Watch a trailer for the new series of Top Boy.

Autumn in my heart netflix