| This City Is Ours | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime drama |
| Created by | Stephen Butchard |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | Rael Jones |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Simon Maloney |
| Production company | Left Bank Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One |
| Release | 23 March 2025 – present |
This City Is Ours is a crime drama television series created by Stephen Butchard for BBC One. Set in Liverpool, it was produced by Left Bank Pictures and premiered on 23 March 2025. In May 2025, it was renewed for a second series. [1]
The series centres on crime boss Ronnie Phelan, who's looking to retire, triggering a power struggle between his partner Michael Kavanagh, and his ambitious son Jamie.
The eight-part series was commissioned in February 2024. [2] Andy Harries of Left Bank Pictures served as an executive producer, Butchard is lead writer and Robbie O’Neill is writing further episodes. [3] In May 2024, Sean Bean was confirmed in the lead role and the cast also includes James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Onslow, Jack McMullen, Julie Graham, Laura Aikman, Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Darci Shaw. [4]
This City is Ours has filming locations including Liverpool and Spain with filming underway in May 2024. [5] [6]
| No. | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Episode 1 | Saul Dibb | Stephen Butchard | 23 March 2025 | 3.64 |
| 2 | Episode 2 | Saul Dibb | Stephen Butchard | 30 March 2025 | 3.35 |
| 3 | Episode 3 | Saul Dibb | Stephen Butchard | 6 April 2025 | 3.41 |
| 4 | Episode 4 | John Hayes | Robbie O'Neill & Stephen Butchard | 13 April 2025 | 3.50 |
| 5 | Episode 5 | John Hayes | Robbie O'Neill & Stephen Butchard | 20 April 2025 | 3.92 |
| 6 | Episode 6 | John Hayes | Stephen Butchard | 27 April 2025 | 4.11 |
| 7 | Episode 7 | Eshref Reybrouck | Stephen Butchard | 4 May 2025 | 3.74 |
| 8 | Episode 8 | Eshref Reybrouck | Stephen Butchard | 11 May 2025 | 3.48 |
This City Is Ours premiered on 23 March 2025 on BBC One with all the episodes made available on BBC iPlayer. [7]
Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph awarded the show five stars and praised the performances, especially Nelson-Joyce. [8] Carol Midgley in The Times awarded the show four stars and praised the "modern, witty and authentic" dialogue, as well as the on-screen chemistry between Nelson-Joyce and Sean Bean. [9] Lucy Mangan in The Guardian also praised the performances but awarded the show three stars, finding it rather "generic”. [10] Rachel Cooke for The New Statesman described it as "marvellous and witty" and compared it to a "superior Scouse Dallas ", with "its unfeeling, brutish men" and "its ruthlessly ambitious women". [11] Phil Harrison for The Independent gave the show four stars, commenting that the moral complexities and depth of the characters raised the drama from cliche. [12] Dan Einav in The Financial Times described it as "solid but unspectacular", noting that the "idiosyncrasies of Liverpudilian speech, clothing and humour are not simply background details — they are made integral to the identity" of the series. [13]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating based on 11 critic reviews. [14]