This City is Ours is an explosive crime drama from the BBC following the organised crime gang led by Ronnie Phelan (Sean Bean).
As Ronnie speaks of retirement, he contemplates who he'll hand his empire over to — his son, Jamie, or his right-hand man, Michael. But there's problems that run far deeper throughout the gang as they navigate selling drugs, rats, and rival gangs. All with Liverpool as the backdrop. The eight-part series unfolds the intricate web of lies and deceit, while Michael vies for a better life and dreams of raising a child with his girlfriend, Diana. Spoilers to follow for This City is Ours.
Here's a recap of everything that happened in This City is Ours episode 3.
The third episode begins at the villa in Spain. Michael gets out of bed and Diana pretends to still be asleep. He comes round and sits with her, but she tells him not to touch her and that she wants to go home. He says right now, he needs her with him and that they can’t be the first ones up or the ones that find Ronnie’s body. He begs her to understand that he would’ve been dead if he didn’t do it. For now, he says, they need to sit and wait.
Diana hears the baby wake up first and peaks out the door to see Jamie heading downstairs, followed by Rachel. Rachel tells Jamie she’s been trying to speak to Ronnie about business, but Elaine interrupts. She jokes that Ronnie is still outside on the sun lounger after their big night. She gets a bucket of cold water to throw over him and Rachel says she’ll film it. As the pair get closer though, Elaine suddenly stops and then runs over to him, screaming. Jamie runs out and Elaine begs him to do something, but he panics. Then, Michael runs downstairs and quickly instructs everyone to get Ronnie inside and they’ll sort it.
Banksey comes over and asks what they’re going to do. Michael calls for a lockdown and that him and Bobby need to move Ronnie indoors. The whole family are in tears and they hug each other, while Diana watches on. Meanwhile, Banksey heads upstairs and gets a gun to check the area. Downstairs, Jamie steps into the room with Ronnie’s body to speak to Michael and Bobby.
Jamie thinks it’s the Colombians, but Bobby says that loads of people knew Ronnie was here, it could be any of them. Jamie says they can’t bring in the police, so instead Michael suggests that they drive Ronnie home and give him the send-off he deserves. He says they might have a problem at border control, but whoever killed Ronnie might step forward when they hear he was buried peacefully at home.
When Jamie leaves the room, Michael tells Bobby that only Jamie knows what Ronnie was thinking when they spoke to the Amigos. He casts doubt that they don't really know now what they’ve gotten into. Michael steps outside and Rachel asks him what they’re going to say to Cheryl when they get home. He says nothing, to just say that he went to Estepona.
As Diana packs her things to leave, she has a flashback of her mum screaming her name. Michael interrupts to tell her they’re booking flights and she tells him that she was watching when he killed Ronnie. Meanwhile, Jamie goes to speak to Melissa. He says Michael is saying everything he should be saying, but she assures him that he doesn’t need to be in charge today. She wants to know if they're safe and she tells him she doesn’t want guns involved.
Michael then drives Diana to the airport and says he wants to be there when they implant the embryos. But before he drops her, he goes to see the Colombians one more time alone. He tells them that Ronnie is dead and that the container is no longer in their possession. That they’d heard it had been stopped and searched by customs by one of their own, who is also now dead, and wrote it off.
They raise their concerns that there’s nothing to sell, so realise that they can't be paid now. Michael says he’ll pay and he’s in control, but Riccardo says if Jamie is still alive, he’s not in control. Michael instead suggests instead of three months extension on payment, he wants a second shipment on the old terms, but 100% of the sales goes to them and he will take no profit at all. He tells them he'll sell it on his markets. Riccardo agrees, but tells him for the plan to ahead he needs to finish the job with Jamie if he wants to be in control.
Michael gets back into the car with Diana and tells her he trusts the Colombians. While she's been angry, she tells him she does understand why it was necessary for him to do what he did and they hold hands. After Michael returns to the villa, they talk about how they’ll get Ronnie home. It’s a two-day journey and Elaine says she wants to come. Michael asks if Jamie wants to come. Meanwhile, Jamie calls his friend back home and asks him to come out to meet him in Spain and to bring backup with him.
They wrap Ronnie’s body up to travel and load him into the back of a van in a freezer. Concealing his body, they pack up furniture in front of it. Michael and Banksey travel with the van and Elaine and Jamie follow in a car behind. Elaine asks Jamie who would kill Ronnie and Jamie says a little piece of him is looking at Michael. In the van, Michael tells Banksey that it was Jamie that took the shipment and that he arranged for someone to take it. Banksey asks him who he thinks killed Ronnie and Michael says he doesn’t think it’s the Amigos. He says only that it’s what happens when you start keeping secrets and asks Banksey what he thinks happened.
Elaine then reveals to Jamie that Ronnie would reveal ‘snippets’ of information about a rival and pass them on. Jamie is angry at this and asks how much he was revealing and Elaine says he was clever, but no one else knows. Though now Jamie wonders if that’s why Ronnie was killed. They stop for food and Elaine asks Michael who he thinks did it. She also says she’ll travel with Ronnie’s body when they cross over into England. Michael says he doesn’t know, but the circumstances, talking to Jamie, killing Davy, and the shipment of Lemo (slang for cocaine) all add to the confusion. Michael turns to Jamie and asks him what was said between them, that killing Davy must’ve meant Davy said something that made him do it. He won't answer. Michael gets a doorbell camera notification of Diana arriving safely home. He calls her, but she ignores it.
At home, Diana is haunted by what she saw Michael do. But then she has another flashback to her younger self. Her mum is begging her at the bathroom door as Diana drops a bloodied knife into the sink. She washes it off and returns to reality. The next day as Michael, Elaine, Jamie and Banksey pull up to charge the van, Jamie takes a moment to call his friends to confirm they're waiting at the ferry dock. He tells them to get to Michael on the ferry and that he wants the damage to be permanent. Jamie asks them if they brought “it” and his friend confirms.
The group arrive to board the ferry. At the same time, Jamie’s friends also board. The van passes through without a search. They all go to their cabins, apart from Jamie. Back at home, Diana carries on her hormone injections for IVF. She searches for ‘Leslie Williams mother’ on her laptop in a private internet window and reads articles about how her mother was found guilty of killing her husband, Daniel, and given 20 years in prison. She then has more flashbacks of her mother coming into the bathroom and helping her clean the knife.
Diana drives to the prison to see her mother. Diana tells her she’s been trying to remember exactly how it happened, but her mother insists that it’s in the past and that she’s happier in prison than she was out of it. She asks her mum, “Would you say it was necessary?” And she replies, yes and that he needed to be stopped. Her mum asks about Michael. Diana tells her they’re a lot alike and he loves her. Her mum then tells her that she has a phone number that Diana can text her on and then she’ll call her back.
Back on the ferry, Jamie meets with his friend in the toilets. His friend hands him some liquid and Jamie says he’ll spike Michael’s drink and when he’s passed out his friend has to go and smother him to death. His friend refuses, but Jamie explains that Ronnie’s been killed and Michael’s acting like he’s in charge. Jamie says he’ll do it himself. He goes to the bar and gets two drinks, spiking Michaels and leaving it on the table for him. As Michael comes to meet Jamie for a drink though, he catches Jamie's friend come over to talk to him, warning him not to do it and ruin everything.
As the friend leaves, Michael sits down and drinks. Again, he spots another of Jamie’s friends and gets up to follow him, pretending to go to the toilet. He beats him against the wall and takes his passport, taking photos of it on his phone. As he leaves the toilet, he suddenly struggles to walk after being spiked. Jamie follows him and as Michael struggles with his keys at his cabin door, he makes it into his room before falling to the ground. He pleads with Jamie, who is standing over him, before passing out.
All episodes of This City is Ours are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now, or released weekly on BBC One.
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