Hot Picks: This City Is Ours

“How could you do Macbeth?” says Wayne Garvie of the idea behind This City Is Ours, Left Bank Pictures’ Liverpool-set drama about succession, ambition, pride, greed and corrupted love.

Garvie, president of International Production at Sony Pictures Television (SPT), says the Stephen Butchard-penned 8 x 60-minute series for BBC1 is the type of modern crime thriller he had been “hoping for a long time” an SPT label would make.

“I’ve realised what really works for all great dramas is that they are family-based – whether it’s Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or Ozark. It’s always about dynamics that go around family and people who do terrible things because they’re trying to do the right thing,” he says.

This City Is Ours follows Michael (James Nelson-Joyce), who has been involved in organised crime for his entire adult life, working for his friend and gang leader Ronnie (Sean Bean). When Ronnie hints at retiring, Michael begins to also imagine another life for himself, having fallen in love for the first time in his life, with Diana (Hannah Onslow).

Their love affair is set against the disintegration of Michael’s crime gang after a shipment of cocaine goes missing and it becomes clear that their kingdom is under attack. Also, Ronnie’s son Jamie (Jack McMullen) decides he should succeed his father to head the gang, edging Michael out of the inner circle.

This leads to a battle between the two men to seize control of the cartel, while Michael also fights to save the woman he loves and the child he has always wanted.

“Stephen took that Macbeth idea and created this brilliant concept of a Liverpool crime family,” says Garvie. “And as in all crime families, there’s always the problem of the blood relative who looks like the successor going up against the one who is not a blood relative.”

Outside of the criminal element of the story, Michael and Diana’s relationship touches on the reality that many young couples face in trying to conceive, which becomes a driving force behind the pair’s actions. Garvie adds: “It’s got tension, it’s got an emotional thump to it and makes you care about people who do bad things.”

What sets This City Is Ours apart from similar crime-centred fare in the market is its realism, according to the Sony exec. “There are a lot of heightened thrillers out there that I enjoy, like Black Doves and Gangs Of London, but they’re high-octane entertainment that take the world and imagine it in a different way.

“This City Is Ours feels absolutely believable as a piece of drama and with characters that you root for and believe in.”

While SPT has only just launched the title in the market, Garvie says early reaction has been encouraging, with Latin American buyers expressing keen interest. And while crime usually resonates among male audiences, Garvie reckons This City Is Ours will prove popular among women too, due to the strong female characters and plots.

Garvie anticipates that it will be of interest across a broad spectrum of buyers, not just obvious destinations like the streaming majors, where crime series have thrived.

He adds: “It’s on BBC1, a mainstream UK channel, and if it works there, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for mainstream commercial channels. It’s a compelling piece of work.”