'This City Is Ours' Trailer Sets a U.K. Premiere

The BBC has officially set a premiere date for the high-profile awards-bait series This City Is Ours, one of the primary titles the British Broadcaster commissioned in early 2024 along with such other ambitious projects like a filmed version of the hit West End stage production Dear England and an adaptation of the novel The Ministry of Time (both still in development hell). Part of the reason these are taking so long to make is the ongoing funding issues, which in recent years have driven the BBC and its competitors to go the co-production route, creating shows with the financial backing of Netflix, Max, BritBox, PBS, etc.

This City Is Ours was lucky; despite no co-producer, the show managed to get made anyway, thanks to it being a story set and filmed on location in Liverpool, which meant it qualified for grants from the Liverpool Film Office through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s LCR Production Fund. (These regional grants, which were created to encourage production of BBC and ITV series on location outside of London have been a life saver for multiple shows stuckin limbo and are responsible for helping fund shows set in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.)

The result is that the BBC will actually manage to get This City Is Ours out as part of the 2025-2026 TV season as planned. The show will even arrive in time for the end of March smorgasbord of shows hoping to get some BAFTA and Emmy attention. The trailer suggests the show is primed to land multiple nominations too.