Top Boy’s Lisa Dwan talks about the inclusiveness of the UK hip-hop scene

"It's an articulate, confident, creative world that I feel extremely privileged to be part of."

On a recent episode of Ireland Unfiltered, actress Lisa Dwan talked about her life, her upbringing, her career and everything in between with Dion Fanning. Dwan recently appeared as a prominent character in Netflix sensation Top Boy, a series that gives a realistic and enthralling view at gang life in London. She spoke brilliantly about her experience on the show, saying that working on Top Boy has given her an inside look at a scene that she otherwise would have known nothing about. "My experience working with these guys has exposed me to the most extraordinary bunch of artists," Dwan said. "Talk about a community that helps one another. They're so encouraging - Stormzy to Dave to Little Simz, sharing platforms with one another. They're so generous, as a community of artists, to each other. "Helping each other on certain platforms and shout-outs, it's really collaborative and vibrant. There's such a confident voice coming from a Britain that we haven't heard as much of before. "It's just as British as the Johnsons, in fact more so, because it's based more in reality. It's more hard-earned. It's more reflective of the vast majority of people, and it's a world of real consequences, real talent and real hope and real intelligence." "Real creativity, because by god have they had to be creative, when traditional doors just aren't open... It's an articulate, confident, creative world that I feel extremely privileged to be part of." UK rapper Dave, who also stars in the most recent season of Top Boy, was recently awarded the prestigious Mercury Prize. Dwan also spoke about the differences between her and her co-stars, with particular reference to Michael Ward, who plays her love interest, Jamie, in the Netflix series. She told a story of being out with her co-stars when she left her entirely black cast to walk into a book store to see nothing but white people. When she returned outside to the cast, Ward said to her: "You can walk in there and live in that world and then come out here. I can't live in both of those worlds." Ireland Unfiltered will be available everywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube every Tuesday.