Sean Bean To Play Gang Leader In BBC Drama Series ‘This City Is Ours’ From ‘The Crown’ Producer Left Bank
Sean Bean is to star as a gang leader in Stephen Butchard‘s epic Liverpool-set crime series This City is Ours [working title] from The Crown producer Left Bank.
The two-time BAFTA winning Game of Thrones alum will play Ronnie Phelan in the series, which will also feature James Nelson-Joyce (Bird, A Thousand Blows) as Ronnie’s friend, Michael Kavanagh, Hannah Onslow (Empire of Light, This Is Going to Hurt) as Diana Williams, Michael’s partner, and Jack McMullen (Hijack, Ford V Ferrari) as Ronnie’s son, Jamie Phelan. Also joining the cast are Laura Aikman (Archie, Gavin & Stacey) as Rachel Duffy, Kevin Harvey (Treason, Time) as Bobby Duffy, Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls, Upgraded) as Cheryl Crawford, Mike Noble (Shardlake, The Long Shadow) as Banksey, Bobby Schofield (SAS Rogue Heroes, The Suspect) as Bonehead, Darci Shaw (Judy, A Thousand Blows) as Melissa Phelan, and Stephen Walters (Slow Horses, Anne) as Davy Crawford.
Created by Butchard (The Good Mothers) and directed by Saul Dibb (The Salisbury Poisonings), This City is Ours follows Kavanagh’s journey working with Phelan as he falls in love for the first time and sees in his future something to win and something to lose, which is set against the backdrop of the disintegration of his gang.
Bean’s previous BBC series was 2022’s Marriage opposite Nicola Walker. That same year he won a BAFTA for BBC prison drama Time. He also featured as Thomas Cromwell in Butchard’s Disney+ series Shardlake.
“It’s a joy to see cameras rolling on This City is Ours with a glorious cast who have made Stephen Butchard’s sublime scripts even more exciting,” said BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt.
The series was unveiled on a 12-strong BBC drama slate featuring another Left Bank series, Dear England, as the indie plots a Crown-less future. Speaking to Deadline in February, Left Bank boss Andy Harries said This City is Ours, which costs between £2.5M ($3.2M) to £3M ($3.8M) per episode and is being deficit financed by Left Bank owner Sony, is reflective of Left Bank’s strategy to make shows at lower price points.
This City is Ours is written by lead writer Butchard with Robbie O’Neill writing further episodes. Producer is Simon Maloney (Peaky Blinders, I May Destroy You). Executive producers are Harries, Rebecca Hodgson and Sian McWilliams for Left Bank, Butchard and Dibb, and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Sony Pictures Television will distribute the series internationally. Additional funding and support comes from the Liverpool Film Office through its Liverpool City Region Production Fund.
https://deadline.com/2024/05/sean-bean-this-city-is-ours-bbc-left-bank-stephen-butchard-1235942250/BBC announces casting for This City Is Ours (w/t), an epic new drama set and filmed in Liverpool
Sean Bean, James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Onslow, and Jack McMullen lead the cast in the eight-part series from writer Stephen Butchard
The BBC has announced casting for This City is Ours (w/t), the epic new crime drama now filming in Liverpool and Spain. The eight-part series is created and written by Stephen Butchard (The Good Mothers, The Last Kingdom, Five Daughters), directed by Saul Dibb (The Salisbury Poisonings, The Sixth Commandment), and produced by Left Bank Pictures for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Sony Pictures Television will distribute the series internationally.
Two-time BAFTA TV Award-winning actor Sean Bean (Marriage, Time) will play gang leader Ronnie Phelan, with James Nelson-Joyce (Bird, A Thousand Blows) as Ronnie’s friend, Michael Kavanagh. Hannah Onslow (Empire of Light, This Is Going to Hurt) will play Diana Williams, Michael’s partner, and Jack McMullen (Hijack, Ford V Ferrari) plays Ronnie’s son, Jamie Phelan. Julie Graham (Shetland, Time) will play Elaine, head of the Phelan family alongside her husband Ronnie.
Set and filmed in Liverpool, This City is Ours is the story of Michael, a man who for all of his adult life has been involved in organised crime, working for his friend and the gang leader Ronnie. When Ronnie begins to hint at retirement, Michael too begins to imagine another life. Because, for the first time in his life, Michael is in love. For the first time in his life, he sees beyond the day-to-day, he sees a future: something to win and something to lose - Diana.
This City is Ours is the story of Michael and Diana's love affair, set against the disintegration of Michael’s crime gang. For years, together with Ronnie, Michael has successfully been bringing cocaine into the City and beyond, directly from Columbia; but when a shipment goes missing, he knows their Kingdom is under attack.
This City is Ours explores what happens when Ronnie’s son Jamie decides he wants to inherit their kingdom and that there is no longer a place for Michael at the table. Both Michael and Jamie have bold ideas to modernise the gang and they will battle for control of it. But Michael’s biggest battle will be to save the woman he loves and the child he has always wanted.
This is a story about family, and love destroyed and corrupted by ambition, pride and greed. It’s a story about power: what we will do to secure and keep it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/this-city-is-ours-castingSean Bean leads cast of The Last Kingdom writer's new crime drama
This City Is Ours is filming now in Liverpool and Spain.
Sean Bean will star in an epic new crime drama, This City Is Ours (working title), where he'll play gang leader Ronnie Phelan, who begins eyeing retirement just as a rival organisation prepares to attack.
Created and written by Stephen Butchard, who penned the first three seasons of historical drama The Last Kingdom, the series is billed as "a story about family, and love destroyed and corrupted by ambition, pride and greed".
James Nelson-Joyce co-stars as Ronnie's longtime friend and right-hand man Michael Kavanagh, who is tempted by the prospect of following his boss out of a life of crime after falling in love with a woman named Diana (Hannah Onslow).
This City Is Ours will consist of eight hour-long episodes filmed in Liverpool and Spain, which will air on BBC One and iPlayer at an as-yet-unspecified time.
This City Is Ours is coming soon to the BBC.
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/sean-bean-this-city-is-ours-last-kingdom-writer-newsupdate/ Produced by Left Bank Pictures, the series began filming this week, bringing together a stellar cast including Sean Bean (“Time,” “Marriage”), James Nelson-Joyce (“Bird,” “A Thousand Blows”), Hannah Onslow (“Empire of Light,” “This Is Going to Hurt”), and Jack McMullen (“Hijack,” “Ford V Ferrari”).
The 14-week filming schedule will span various locations across the Liverpool City Region, supported by the Film Office through the LCR Production Fund.
https://theguideliverpool.com/new-bbc-crime-drama-this-city-is-ours-begins-filming-in-liverpool/https://www.televisual.com/news/sean-bean-to-lead-left-banks-this-city-is-ours/This City Is Ours
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31438328/?ref_=nm_flmg_unrel_6_act
