The Liverpool waterfront with the Anglican Cathedral in the distance, the setting of the BBC drama 'This City Is Ours'.
Photo by Neil Theasby, via Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk), licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
The stars of 'This City Is Ours' have hit back at claims that the hit BBC drama glamourises crime, insisting the Liverpool-set series is a story about family, love and consequence — not a celebration of the gangland world it depicts.
The defence comes as the show returns for its second series on Sunday 25 October, with all episodes landing on BBC iPlayer and a primetime slot on BBC One, as the BBC reported. The first series, which debuted in March 2025, became one of the BBC's most-watched new dramas, attracting an average audience of around 6.2 million viewers and earning two BAFTA Television Award nominations — for Best Drama and Leading Actor for star James Nelson-Joyce.
"More than just crime and drugs"
Nelson-Joyce, who plays conflicted enforcer Michael Kavanagh, has been the show's most forthright defender. In an interview with the Radio Times, he argued that reducing the drama to its criminal trappings misses the point entirely. "This City Is Ours is more than just crime and drugs," he said. "It's got a heart to it."
The Liverpool-born actor pointed to the love story at the centre of the series — between Michael and his partner Diana, played by Hannah Onslow — and the sense of family and community that viewers responded to. It was those elements, he suggested, rather than the violence, that drew audiences in their millions.
He also addressed head-on the suggestion that the show makes crime look attractive. "You don't see one line of cocaine getting sniffed. You don't see one drug user. Violence is kept to a minimum. It's storytelling," he said — a deliberate creative choice by creator and writer Stephen Butchard to show the cost of criminal life rather than its supposed glamour.
A city bristling at its portrayal
The glamourising debate is only part of a wider argument the show has provoked in Liverpool itself. Some residents have bristled at seeing their city depicted, once again, as rife with criminals — criticism that has also followed other Liverpool-set dramas such as 'The Responder' and 'The Cage'.
Nelson-Joyce's rebuttal to that charge was characteristically direct. "First, every city's dangerous," he said, adding that drug crime exists in every big city and town. The show, he insisted, was made with love for Liverpool — and, he believes, the city is proud of how it turned out.
There is evidence the affection is mutual. The Liverpool Film Office has said the first series brought £9 million into the local economy, with filming across the city region, and the production returned to Liverpool and the wider area — plus Spain — for the second series.
The Royal Albert Dock waterfront in Liverpool, where the second series of the BBC drama was filmed.
Photo by Richard Cooke, via Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk), licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
What to expect from series 2
The new run picks up immediately after the explosive events of the first series. Michael and Diana have barely arrived in Spain when they are pulled back into the criminal fold to answer questions surrounding the death of Ricardo, the Colombian gangster whose killing set off the first series' final reckoning. Back in Liverpool, tensions simmer among the remaining members of the gang, while a former gangster from the era of the late Ronnie Phelan — played in series 1 by Sean Bean — emerges from prison demanding compensation from the firm.
Two major new faces join the cast. Shaun Evans, best known as the young Endeavour Morse, plays Ozzie Thompson, an old-school gangster recently out of prison. Álvaro Morte, the Spanish star of Money Heist, plays Felipe Guzman — a member of the Colombian cartel and the younger brother of Ricardo, who was murdered at the end of the first series.
Returning alongside Nelson-Joyce and Onslow are Jack McMullen as Jamie Phelan, Julie Graham as Elaine Phelan, Mike Noble as Banksey, Laura Aikman as Rachel Duffy, Kevin Harvey as Bobby Duffy, Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Cheryl Crawford, Darci Shaw as Melissa Sullivan, Adam Abbou as Freddie and Bobby Schofield as Bonehead.
From gamble to flagship
Few would have predicted the scale of the show's success when it launched. Created and written by Liverpool writer Butchard — previously known for 'The Last Kingdom' — and produced by Left Bank Pictures, the eight-part drama was recommissioned for a second series just one day after the first series finale aired on BBC One in May 2025, as Country & Town House noted — a sign of how quickly it found its audience.
The first episode drew more than 8.3 million viewers — more than quadrupling its initial overnight figure of 1.9 million — and almost three million people streamed the finale on iPlayer before its broadcast transmission. Nelson-Joyce went on to win the Best Breakthrough Talent award at the RTS North West Awards 2025 for his performance.
The BBC has since gone further, confirming a third series with filming set to return primarily to Liverpool in 2027. As the Liverpool Film Office noted when the trailer dropped, the drama has become one of the BBC's flagship returning series.
The wider debate about crime drama
The argument over whether crime dramas glamorise the worlds they depict is as old as the genre. British television has long wrestled with the charge — from 'The Sweeney' to 'Peaky Blinders' to the BBC's own record-breaking 'Celebrity Traitors' launch, which drew more than 15 million viewers and its own conversation about how television shapes public taste.
What distinguishes 'This City Is Ours', its defenders argue, is restraint. Where other prestige crime dramas lean into excess, Butchard's writing keeps the camera on the emotional fallout — on families, friendships and a city — rather than the proceeds of crime. Whether that answers every critic is another matter; Liverpool's debate about how it is seen on screen will surely outlive any single series.
For now, though, the cast and creators are letting the audience decide. Series 2 arrives in full on iPlayer on 25 October, with the weekly broadcast run on BBC One following on Sundays and Mondays at 9pm, as detailed by Hello Rayo's TV guide.
