This City is Ours: What Liverpudlians Think of BBC Hit Show
There have been too many films and TV shows set in Liverpool to mention. From the likes of Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool to The 51st State via Brookside and G’wed, the city has long been a location for stories to be told.
Some of them have been well-received by the people of Liverpool whilst others have been met with a grimace and a sense that the story being told isn’t one that we should be associated with.
One of the most recent additions to the pantheon of entertainments that have been filmed in Liverpool is This City is Ours, but what is it about and how has it been received?
The Story
In This City is Ours, James Nelson-Joyce plays the role of Michael, who has spent his life working in organised crime alongside Sean Bean’s Ronnie. The pair have made huge sums of money bringing cocaine into Liverpool, but Michael has fallen in love with Diana and suddenly sees that he has something to lose if he continues down the same road.
The show follows their love affair alongside the disintegration of the gang that has carried out their criminal activities, whilst Jamie, Ronnie’s son, attempts to position himself as the natural heir to Ronnie’s empire at the expense of Michael.
For those watching episode 3 of “This City is ours” thinking it’s a bit slow …
It cranks up like a massive crescendo.
Brilliantly done with tremendous performances from the entire cast.
An absolute cut above.
A travesty if there’s no second series.
#thiscityisours pic.twitter.com/1KBMVZteuM
— Karl Cunliffe (@KDCunliffe) April 6, 2025
The story is one that looks at how family and love can be destroyed by ambition. It explores the manner in which pride and greed can stop people from seeing how they’re destroying what matters to them the most, set on the streets of Liverpool.
From the waterfront to Chinatown via Wirral, the themes of needing change and being proud of who you are and where you’re from shine through both in the writing and via the way that it is filmed.
What makes it interesting is that it is a crime drama but it comes at it from the point of view of the villain rather than the police.
The People Involved: Cast and Crew
The series was commissioned in the February of 2024 and Andy Harries from Left Bank Pictures was brought on as an Executive Producer. It was created by Stephen Butchard, who adapted Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories into a BBC/Netflix drama called The Last Kingdom.
He had begun working with the BBC in 2010 when the broadcaster showed his mini-series Five Daughters, which was about the 2006 Ipswich serial murders. He wrote the first three and last three episodes of the series, with Scouse actor Robbie O’Neil writing episodes four and five.
@ntrtnmts Navigating love and organised crime 💷 Watch #ThisCityIsOurs March 23rd on @BBC @BBC iPlayer ♬ original sound – Entertainment
Saul Dibb was brought in to direct the first two episodes of the season, with the final two being directed by Eshref Reybrouck and the other three directed by John Hayes.
In addition to Sean Bean as Ronnie and James Nelson-Joyce’s Michael, the series also stars Hannah Onslow, Jack McMullen and Julie Graham, amongst many others. Of course, the real star of the show is Liverpool itself.
Speaking to the BBC about the series, Bean spoke of his warmth and affection for the city and the people who live in it, who have always welcomed him with open arms.
Reception in Liverpool
Liverpudlians are a fiercely loyal crew, with Scousers not willing to have anyone take the Mickey out of them or treat the city with disdain. As a result, one of the most important reactions in the eyes of many of the people associated with the show was that of those Scousers who have watched it.
It was given rave reviews from the critics, such as a five star review in The Daily Telegraph and a four star one in The Times that spoke of the ‘modern, witty and authentic dialogue’. More importantly, most comments on social media were hugely positive ones.
Current TV crush: James Nelson-Joyce as Michael Kavanagh in “This City is Ours”
— Reverend Magister (@rev-magister.bsky.social) 7 April 2025 at 08:25
On social media platform BlueSky, words like ‘good’ and ‘great’ were used by many of the people offering their thoughts on it. Dan Einav wrote in The Financial Times that ‘the idiosyncrasies of Liverpudilian speech, clothing and humour are not simply background details; they are made integral to the identity of the series’.
On Twitter, people were similarly effusive and referred to it as ‘class’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘properly well-written’, with the phrase ‘the Scouse Sopranos’ also used.
The fact such reviews seem to be coming from both Scousers and people from outside the city will be seen as excellent news by those associated with the show.
One person said, “So good. Not seen anything this good on the BBC for a long time”, although they did follow that up with a typically anti-Scouse line saying, “Need to watch it with subtitles though”.
That locals have taken the show to heart to such an extent that the group responsible for organising the banners on the Kop at Anfield, Spion Kop 1906, tweeted saying ‘This City is Ours’ after the April Merseyside derby.
