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This City Is Ours sees crime boss Ronnie Phelan (Sean Bean – Time) wanting to retire, whilst passing on the reins to Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce, who attached himself to the lead weight that was The Family Pile in 2023), rather than his own son, Jamie (Jack McMullen – The First Team).
Michael’s wanting to start a family with his girlfriend, Diana (Hannah Onslow – Empire Of Light), there’s a brick of cocaine going missing, along with a scene with a wedding which – like those in real life – seems to go on forever.
I was thinking that I’ll watch more of the episodes on the iPlayer, as this is a mix of Liverpudlian, Sheffield plus a fake Spanish accent, as well as the fact there’s a lot of whispering and mumbling in the first episode. The preview doesn’t have any subtitles on it, so I could barely catch a word that was being said when they did that.
However, this opener has very little Sean Bean compared to the time it spends on Michael, and is just monumentally tedious as a whole. It’s like the Sean Bean drama spoof on The Kevin Bishop Show, when everyone was walking around, saying, “Gritty BAFTA!” and nothing else.
Julie Graham is still MILFy, though.
This City Is Ours begins tomorrow night on BBC1 at 9pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
All episodes will soon be available on the BBC iPlayer.
Director: Saul Dibb
Producer: Simon Maloney
Writer/Creator: Stephen Butchard
Cast:
Ronnie Phelan: Sean Bean
Michael Kavanagh: James Nelson-Joyce
Diana Williams: Hannah Onslow
Jamie Phelan: Jack McMullen
Banksey: Mike Noble
Elaine Phelan: Julie Graham
Rachel Duffy: Laura Aikman
Lesley Williams: Leanne Best
Bobby Duffy: Kevin Harvey
Cheryl Crawford: Saoirse-Monica Jackson
Bonehead: Bobby Schofield
Melissa Sullivan: Darci Shaw
Davy Crawford: Stephen Walters
Nurse Kitty: Nadia Kamalli
Sommelier: Louise Lee
Ricardo Guzman: Daniel Cerqueira
Frederico: Nicholas Bishop
Stefania: Yolanda Vazquez
Mister Lassiter: Thomas-Jan Johnston
Cyclist: Anthony Dixon
Molly: Eva Morgan
Billy: Shane Walker
Messenger: Lee Morris
Crooner: George Gallagher
Freddie: Adam Abbou
Sound Man: Terence Caddick
Priest: Charlie De’Ath
Alfie Phelan: Enzo Van Rompaey Escano, Kobe Peppercorn, Martin Padillo Recio
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.