This City is Ours takes a searing look at the world of organised crime in Liverpool and it has already become one of my favourite new dramas of the year!
The eight-part series, airing on BBC One in the UK on Sundays and on BBC iPlayer as a box set, centres on the Phelan crime family, headed up by veteran crook Ronnie, played with a great mix of steeliness and self-doubt by the always wonderful Sean Bean.
When it opens, Ronnie and his gang are riding high, running a successful business bringing in drugs from Colombia to Merseyside. But it’s not long before events take a nasty turn when they renegotiate a deal with their Colombian partners and then their latest shipment goes badly awry, leading Ronnie to think there might be a traitor in his ranks...
As the series progresses, a dangerous battle for power then ensues between Ronnie’s reckless son Jamie (Time’s Jack McMullen), and Michael Kavanagh (A Thousand Blows’ James Nelson-Joyce), who helped Ronnie set up the firm and has been loyally at his side for years.
This may all sound familiar gangster fare, but what I think makes This City is Ours stand out from the crowd is the fact that the criminal machinations, while utterly engaging, are really a backdrop to the fascinatingly complex interpersonal relationships between the gang, their associates, and, most importantly, their partners and families.
The women – always immaculately turned out – who have fallen in love with these criminals are not supporting players, they are integral to the drama, from Benidorm’s Julie Graham as Ronnie’s savvy, strong wife Elaine, to Gavin & Stacey’s and Archie's Laura Aikman as Ronnie and Elaine’s shrewd accountant niece Rachel, who is married to gang member Bobby Duffy (Kevin Harvey) and wants her own say in how the business is run.
Meanwhile, Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson gives a lovely turn as Cheryl, the brittle spouse of another shady Phelan associate, Davy Crawford (Stephen Walters), who appears to be regretting the life she has signed up for.
At the heart of the series though, is the achingly poignant love story between Michael and his girlfriend Diana Williams (Belgravia: The Next Chapter’s Hannah Onslow), who have both experienced troubled backgrounds but are now trying to build a happy family of their own by undergoing IVF.
But Michael is horribly torn between his ambitions within the gang and his dream of forging a better, more wholesome life with Diana, and storm clouds are on the horizon…
I have been completely blown away by James Nelson-Joyce and Hannah Onslow, who give electrifying performances full of both grit and vulnerability, which deserve to set them both on the road to stardom.
But amid all the angst, emotional trauma and violence, which is often brutal but always feels like a necessary and never gratuitous part of the plot, there is a delicious and much-needed layer of Scouse humour.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool setting simply shines and is interspersed with the wide and hilly landscapes of Spain, where the Phelans have a villa and where some of their most shocking altercations take place, as you feel the heat rise in sync with the tensions between the gang.
So, suffice to say, I am going to be camped out on my sofa with my phone switched off, following every fabulous twist and turn of the betrayals and backstabbing that the Phelans get mixed up in, and I reckon this glorious gangland extravaganza could run and run.
This City is Ours airs weekly from Sunday, March 23 at 9pm on BBC One and all eight episodes are also available to stream on BBC iPlayer from the same date. We will let you know about a US release if and when one is announced.
