PUPPET MASTERS (THIS CITY IS OURS)

 

In Series One of 'KIN,' everybody was talking about Jamie.

In Series One of the Liverpool crime drama 'This City Is Ours,' everybody is... well, talking about Jamie.

Despite being touted as "the Scouse Sopranos", BBC1's 'This City Is Ours' actually has a lot more in common with its RTE/AMC predecessor 'KIN'.

Both have sensitive gangland lead characters at the centre of the show called Michael. 

Both gangs in each show also have macho hotheaded young men desperate to prove their criminal credentials but who ultimately place their families at risk.

Both gangs in each show also incur the wrath of the international drug cartels.

However the most striking thing about 'KIN' and 'This City Is Ours' is the way the women around the men are just as callous, calculating and culpable as the husbands, sons and partners they often run rings around.

That is not to say 'This City Is Ours' is a 'KIN' rip-off.

Like its Irish equivalent, it's well written, impressively acted and superbly directed but it follows a different path with a feud not with rival gangs but within.

The eight part drama from writers Stephen Butchard and Robbie O'Neill focuses on a Liverpudlian crime gang headed by Sean Bean's Ronnie Phelan who regularly heads to Spain to do business with Daniel Cerqueira's Colombian drug cartel representative, Ricardo Guzman.

Ronnie's trusted lieutenant, James Nelson Joyce's Michael Kavanagh is often at his side and is the main link man to Ricardo.

So trusted is he that it is Michael who Ronnie confides in about his plans to retire.

The wild card, however, is Ronnie's arrogant and impatient son, Jack McMullen's Jamie who is desperate to prove himself.

When Ronnie and Michael negotiate a £3 million shipment of cocaine into Liverpool docks with Ricardo, Jamie and a gang of wannabe underlings steal it instead, placing the family business at risk from feeling the wrath of the Colombians.

Back on Merseyside, the finger of suspicion for the disappearing consignment also points at Stephen Walters' Davey Crawford, so Ronnie and Michael decide to take him out to Spain with other gang members and their wives and girlfriends under the pretence that they are celebrating the mob boss's wedding anniversary.

Davey leaves his wife, Saoirse Monica Jackson's Cheryl behind in Liverpool as he heads out to Marbella with Michael and his new love, Hannah Onslow's Diana Williams, Jamie and his fiancee Darci Shaw's Melissa Sullivan, Laura Aikman's Rachel Duffy and her gang member hubbie Kevin Harvey's Bobby and Mike Noble's gang enforcer Banksey to celebrate with Ronnie and his wife, Julie Graham's Elaine.

Grabbing a moment to interrogate Davey, Ronnie loses his temper and kills the long serving gang member when he reveals Jamie's role in the drugs heist.

However his handling of the revelation disturbs Michael and sets off a series of bloody events that are almost Shakespearean in the way they unfold.

Working from eight taut scripts from Butchard and O'Neill, directors Saul Dibb, John Hayes and Eshref Reybrouk deliver a crime drama that is every bit as ambitious and cinematic as 'KIN'.

Cinematographers Joel Devlin and Richard Mott do a superb job along with the editing team of Sarah Peczek and Andrew MacRitchie stitching together a glossy gangster drama that pulsates with energy.

But it is the cast who really benefit from the show's superbly written scripts with James Nelson Joyce, who has so often played the thug in prison and crime dramas, grabbing the opportunity to show there is more to his acting armoury.

He is simply terrific as Michael is pitted against those he has loyally served.

His isn't the only performance to rave about.

Like Claire Dunne's Amanda, Maria Doyle Kennedy's Birdy and Yasmine Seky's Niki in 'KIN,' the women grow as the series unfolds and often outshine the men in their lives in a way that the women in 'The Sopranos' and that other great RTE drug gang series 'Love/Hate' never did.

Aikman's Laura proves every bit as ruthless as any of the men she launders drug money for.

Graham's Elaine and Onslow's Diana are much more strategic as they protect the men they have hitched their wagons to.

A back story about Diana's mum, Leanne Best's Lesley adds further depth, while Saoirse Monica Jackson's Cheryl proves much more astute than some of the gang would give her credit for.

McMullen is also perfect as Ronnie's entitled, meat headed son.

Harvey and Noble bring droll Merseyside wit to the roles of loyal henchmen, while Cerqueira mixes panache and ruthlessness as the suave representative of Colombian cartel.

Bean again lives up to expectations, bringing experience and heft to the part of Ronnie.

There has been an inevitable backlash to the BBC setting an underworld drama in Liverpool, with some people arguing the show trades in Scouse stereotypes.

However I suspect the same accusations would have been made in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle or Glasgow had the show been set there.

However at a time when concerns have been expressed about the future of high quality, original drama on British terrestrial television, 'This City Is Ours' provides a welcome boost to the cause.

Much can be learned from its success.

So, please sir or madam, can we have some more? 

('This City Is Ours' was broadcast on BBC1 from March 23-May 5, 2025, with all episodes available on the BBC iPlayer from March 23, 2025)