Sean Bean Owns Liverpool in 'This City Is Ours's First Look
Sean Bean as Ronnie Phelan and Julie Graham as Elaine Phelan in 'This City Is Ours'
BBC
There's been a lot in the news lately about the BBC's pipeline backup and the need for Parliament to change the rules ahead of the 2026 charter to be more flexible about co-productions and grant money. While some of this is a bit of hyperbole and impending "doomierism," if you will, in hopes of spurring the Labour government to act, the pipeline from commission to air is much slower than it has been in previous years. Take This City is Ours, one of the 11 commissioned series the BBC announced a year ago as part of the 2024 slate. No American co-producer stepped up to help fund the project, so here it is, 2025, and we're only just getting the first images.
(That's actually doing well, considering that Dear England hasn't even reached the production stage.)
The series is somewhat cliched, but only because these stories have brought in big viewership numbers for the BBC in recent years. Set in present-day Liverpool, this is a fictional gangland story about the western city's organized crime cabals, specifically, the Phelan family. Sean Bean (Time) plays the head of the Phalen family, Ronnie, who has controlled the city for decades with his right-hand man, Michael, played by James Nelson Joyce (A Thousand Blows).
However, when Ronnie, now middle-aged with a wife, Elaine (Julie Graham), and adult son, Jamie Phelan (Jack McMullen), starts seriously considering retirement, Michael starts thinking about a life where he lives within the law, especially when he meets the love of his life, Diana (Hannah Onslow).
Hannah Onslow as Diana Williams and James Nelson Joyce as Michael Kavanagh in 'This City Is Ours'
BBC
Jack McMullen as Jamie Phelan in 'This City is Ours'
BBC
Here’s the series synopsis:
This City is Ours is the story of Michael and Diana's love affair, set against the disintegration of Michael’s crime gang. For years, together with Ronnie, Michael has successfully been bringing cocaine into the City and beyond, directly from Columbia; but when a shipment goes missing, he knows their Kingdom is under attack.
This City is Ours explores what happens when Ronnie’s son Jamie decides he wants to inherit their kingdom and that there is no longer a place for Michael at the table. Both Michael and Jamie have bold ideas to modernise the gang and they will battle for control of it. But Michael’s biggest battle will be to save the woman he loves and the child he has always wanted.
This is a story about family, and love destroyed and corrupted by ambition, pride and greed. It’s a story about power: what we will do to secure and keep it.
Laura Aikman as Rachel Duffy and Kevin Harvey as Bobby Duffy in 'This City is Ours'
BBC
Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Cheryl Crawford and Stephen Walters as Davy Crawford in 'This City is Ours'
BBC
The cast also includes Laura Aikman (Archie) as Rachel Duffy and Kevin Harvey (Treason) as Bobby Duffy; Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls) as Cheryl Crawford and Stephen Walters (Slow Horses) as Davy Crawford; Bobby Schofield (Rogue Heroes) as Bonehead; and Darci Shaw (The Irregulars) as Melissa Sullivan. The series also features Mike Noble (The Long Shadow) as Liverpool's own legendary Banksey.
Kevin Harvey as Bobby Duffy, Mike Noble as Banksey and James Nelson Joyce as Michael Kavanagh in 'This City is Ours'
BBC
Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom) is the lead writer on the eight-episode series with Robbie O’Neill. Director Saul Dibb (The Sixth Commandment) helms all episodes with Simon Maloney producing. Butchard and Dibb executive produce with Andy Harries, Rebecca Hodgson, and Sian McWilliams for Left Bank Pictures and Jo McClellan for the BBC.
This City Is Ours still lacks an American distributor. BritBox or PBS needs to get on fixing that, yesterday if possible.
