This City is Ours follows a crime family and their associates as they face treachery and intrigue.
The eight-part drama, airing on BBC1 in the UK, centres on gangster Ronnie Phelan (Sean Bean), who is married to supportive wife Elaine (Julie Graham) and runs a lucrative business bringing drugs into Liverpool from Colombia.
Ronnie is contemplating retirement, but when a shipment goes wrong, it plunges the firm into crisis, while a battle to take over ensues between Ronnie and Elaine’s loose cannon son Jamie (Time's Jack McMullen) and Ronnie’s loyal right-hand man Michael Kavanagh (A Thousand Blows' James Nelson-Joyce).
In an exclusive interview with What To Watch,The Hardacres, Shetland and Benidorm star Julie Graham tells us what to expect from This City is Ours…
This City is Ours has so many twists and turns. What drew you to the drama?
“I'm a huge fan of Stephen Butchard, the writer, and even though it's about gangsters, what it’s really about is family, which we're endlessly fascinated by – it all comes down to loyalty, love and betrayal.”
How do you see Elaine?
“She’s the matriarch and is loyal to her family, you wouldn't cross her! She's warm but has status and gravitas, so she doesn't need to raise her voice. And she and Ronnie have a strong marriage, they’re equals, but she doesn't involve herself with what he does, although she knows more than she lets on."
Is she pleased Ronnie is thinking of retiring?
“Yes, she’s happy about his retirement. I get the impression they don't spend a lot of time together because you’re very busy when you're a gangster, there’s so much to do! So I think she just fancies spending more time with him and slowing down. And she has her eye on Jamie taking over, despite his flaws. She's always trying to rein him but she wants him to step up. She can see that he craves attention from his dad, she really wants him to have that relationship with Ronnie. But she tries to keep Michael on side too, she’s got a lot of respect for him.”
How have you found working with Sean Bean?
“The whole cast was irresistible. I’d never worked with Sean before, although I was a massive fan. He's shy, but so lovely and it's been an honour. In one of our first scenes, we had to dance, which is a fast track way of getting to know each other!”
Was it easy to perfect the Scouse dialect?
“It’s a difficult accent and the women speak it differently from the men. You want to do it authentically, so it helps being surrounded by Scousers in the cast and we had an accent coach. Also, maybe me being from Glasgow made it easier, because there's a similar sing-song element.”
What makes Liverpool the perfect setting for the show?
“There’s a unique sense of humour there, and Liverpool has such a strong identity in art, music, and football. There's something inspiring about Liverpool, and the wealth of talent there is incredible. And there’s this idea of ‘We’re all in this together’. I've never met people who are so proud of coming from a city and I can't imagine this story being set anywhere else."
You also got to shoot some of the series in Spain where Ronnie and Elaine have a villa. Was that fun?
“Yes we were there for about five weeks and it was a really nice way for all the cast and the crew to bond, because we were all there together so we could have some nice social time afterwards. It was important that we bonded, because the characters are meant to be so close. So I want to say that being in Spain was really hard, but it wasn't, it was amazing!”
This City is Ours airs weekly in the UK from Sunday, March 23 at 9pm on BBC1 and all episodes are available as a box set on BBC iPlayer on the same day. We will let you know about a US release when it is announced.
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