New BBC crime thriller This City Is Ours may have been dubbed the ‘Scouse Sopranos’ but ‘the Mersey Macbeth’ might be closer to the mark.
Sean Bean is Ronnie Phelan, a Liverpool crime patriarch who’s thinking about passing the mantle on to a younger heir. But will it be ambitious young pretender Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce) or his own ruthless but underestimated son Jamie (Jack McMullan)?
The sudden collapse of a major drug deal threatens to send the whole organisation into free fall, with violent consequences for all concerned.
What is This City Is Ours about?
‘There’s nothing good about our men. Get out while you can.’
As that line, spoken by one of This City Is Ours’ female characters hints, the men in The Last Kingdom screenwriter Stephen Butchard’s new crime drama aren’t a band of angels. Then again, neither, necessarily, are the women.
The show makes it a trifecta of attention-grabbing BBC series for Sean, after Jimmy McGovern’s exceptional prison drama Time (2021), and Marriage (2022), an unvarnished look at married life.
It’s a visceral, gripping dynastic tale
But it’s not Bean’s show. That honour belongs to his Time co-star James Nelson-Joyce, who you might also have spotted in Andrea Arnold’s social-realist fantasia Bird last year.
In This City is Ours he plays Michael Kavanagh, an ambitious, and when required, vicious operator whose priorities are divide by his desire to settle down with the love of his life, Diana Williams (Hannah Onslow).
If he’s the man Ronnie seems to have picked as his heir apparent, Ronnie’s son Jamie (Jack McMullen) has other ideas. Something is brewing at the heart of this previous slick drug gang.
Who stars in the series?
The cast also features Shetland’s Julie Graham as Ronnie’s wife Elaine, Judy’s Darci Shaw, Stephen Walters, Mike Noble, Kevin Harvey and Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
‘A visceral, gripping dynastic tale’ is executive producer Andy Harries’ description. Maybe The Sopranos comparisons are on the money after all – with locations in Liverpool and Spain serving as the New Jersey turnpikes of its criminal enterprise.
Where was This City Is Ours filmed?
The cast and crew spent 17 weeks filming in Liverpool in 2024, and the city’s unique culture and atmosphere are baked into the drama. ‘The city looks brilliant on film, from the waterfront to Chinatown, and across to the Wirral, where Ronnie lives,’ Bean tells the BBC. ‘This City is Ours is a great title in many ways because it is defiant and triumphant.’
‘Liverpool is a very photogenic city – from its stunning architecture to its working docks and river to its grimy backstreets – and it’s those contrasts that we wanted to capture,’ adds director Saul Dibb (Journey’s End).
His Liverpudlian co-star Nelson-Joyce notes that the series taps into his hometown’s defiant, resilient qualities of his hometown. ‘Liverpool’s a very working class city,’ he tells Rolling Stone, ‘and me and Mike Noble (who plays Kavanagh’s adjutant Banksey) went to the same school and on set we were talking about all the things that went on: fireworks going off in classrooms, teachers being knocked out, kids coming in with things they shouldn’t be coming in with. It was wild, but it was about survival and wanting to stand up for yourself. That’s what Stephen Butchard has created with this script.’
Saint Philip Neri Church, Toxteth
This grand Toxteth church is used for the christening scene in episode 1. ‘I like to use exclusively natural light and not traditional film lighting and prefer real locations and streets over building film sets,’ explains Dibb, citing fellow filmmakers Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) and Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Emilia Pérez) as big influences.
St Paul’s Square, Liverpool
The Liverpool Echo clocked the production filming scenes in this square in the city’s business district in August 2024.
Royal Albert Dock Liverpool
The Grade I listed dock has been a key destination for several centuries – first for trade, now tourism (it’s the most-visited free tourist destination in North West England) – and it’s a regular presence in This City Is Ours. ‘The city itself is a star, and we approached shooting it the way American films have shot places like Boston,’ says Dibb, ‘another dock and river city with a strong Irish influence’.
Port of Málaga, Spain
Spain was the show’s other key location, and the old port of Málaga stands in for the northern Spanish city of Santander in the series.
Marbella, Spain
The Andalusian city of Marbella is best known as the birthplace of Picasso and as a holiday destination for hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In the BBC drama, it’s attracting people from as far afield as South America: the Colombian cartel’s cliffside base, a villa with major ‘Bond lair’ energy, was filmed in an exclusive part of the city.
Torcal National Park, Málaga
The ruggedly beautiful Sierra del Torcal mountain range appears in another scenic Spanish location used in the show.
When can I watch This City is Ours?
Episode 1 is on BBC One at 9pm Sunday, March 23, which further episodes airing weekly. All eight episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am on March 23.
Is there a trailer?
Yes, and you can watch it below in all its Tony Bennett-accompanied tension.
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