The BBC has released first-look photos from its epic, Liverpool-set crime series This City is Ours - coming to BBC One in the spring with Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson among the ensemble cast.
Irish director John Hayes (Nightsleeper, Dublin Murders) is behind the lens for some of the episodes with Saul Dibb (The Salisbury Poisonings, The Sixth Commandment) and Eshref Reybrouck (Undercover) also directing.
This City is Ours has been created by Stephen Butchard (The Good Mothers, The Last Kingdom, Five Daughters), who also serves as lead writer, with Robbie O'Neill writing further episodes.
Counting down to the eight-part series' premiere, the BBC said: "The new pictures give a first look at the This City is Ours ensemble, including two-time BAFTA award-winner Sean Bean (Marriage, Time) as gang leader Ronnie Phelan, 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, Jack McMullen (Hijack, Ford V Ferrari) as Ronnie's son, Jamie Phelan, and Julie Graham (Shetland, Time) as Elaine, head of the Phelan family alongside her husband Ronnie.
"Set and filmed in Liverpool, with additional filming in Spain, 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 Colombia; 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.
"As previously announced, This City is Ours also stars Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey, Archie) 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 Sullivan, and Stephen Walters (Slow Horses, Anne) as Davy Crawford."
A premiere date for This City is Ours has yet to be announced.
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