New BBC crime drama This City is Ours has had a profound impact on a UK city before it has even aired.
The eight-part gangland drama starring Sean Bean has boosted Liverpool’s economy by £9,000,000 after it received investment from Liverpool City Region’s Production Fund (LCR), its city council has confirmed.
The cast and crew of This City Is Ours spent 17 weeks filming in Liverpool, creating around 300 jobs for local people and supporting 17 trainees and two apprentices.
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: ‘The LCR Production Fund isn’t just bringing millions into our local economy—it’s opening doors for local people, giving them life-changing opportunities and helping them get a foot in the door of the industry.
‘By backing projects like This City Is Ours, alongside the world-class talent and infrastructure we’ve got here, we’re making sure our region isn’t just part of the conversation—we’re leading it by working to cement the region as the “Hollywood of the North”.’
From The Last Kingdom’s Stephen Butchard, the crime drama centres on a powerful family of drug dealers, headed up by Ronnie (Bean).
However, war breaks out between Ronnie’s son James (Jack McMullen) and his righthand man Michael (James Nelson-Joyce) over who is next in line to run the empire.
Reviews have started to roll in for the show with NME describing Ronnie as a ‘kind of Sheffield Tony Soprano’.
The review continues: ‘If the series were only concerned with the grim machismo of drug deals and violence, it would be fine. But the layering of other storylines, one in particular, makes This City Is Ours a gripping watch.’
The Evening Standard’s glowing four-star review called the mob drama ‘tense, gritty and supremely violent’.
Laura Aikman, who plays gangster accountant Rachel in This City Is Ours, agreed with comparison to The Sopranos in an interview with Metro. ‘I was a huge fan of The Sopranos, so I’m absolutely in for that,’ she said.
Like the hit US show, This City Is Ours is a family drama set in the crime world, she explained, adding: ‘I think that’s what keeps people coming back.’
Discussing how This City of Ours fits into the world of high-brow crime dramas, Time star James told Hollywood Reporter: ‘Everyone is complex. I think that’s the beauty of any great writing, which is what Stephen’s done.
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‘When you watch Walter White or you watch The Sopranos, and you watch all these programs, even though these people are doing bad things, you still root for them. We all love Walter White. We all love Tony Soprano.’
Hannah Onslow, who plays Michael’s girlfriend Diana, added to the BBC that it is ‘a drama that I can honestly say I have never seen on television before’ noting that there was ‘something for everyone’.
The Lord of the Rings star also called it ‘mould-breaking television’, setting the bar quite high.
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All of episodes This City is Ours arrive on BBC iPlayer on Sunday, March 23. The first episode will air at 9pm on BBC One.
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