'It is a drama that I can honestly say I have never seen on television before'

The gripping drama This City is Ours returns this evening as a battle to lead the crime family erupts. The fourth episode airs at 9pm - although all episodes are available on iPlayer. This City is Ours is the story of Michael (James Nelson-Joyce), a man who for all of his adult life has been involved in organised crime.

..but 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 (Hannah Onslow). This City is Ours tells the story of Michael and Diana's love affair, set against the disintegration of Michael’s crime gang. For years, together with his friend Ronnie (Sean Bean), Michael has successfully been bringing cocaine into the City and beyond, directly from Columbia; but when a shipment goes missing, then he knows their Kingdom is under attack.

READ MORE: Sean Bean and James Nelson Joyce on their roles in This City is Ours BBC This City Is Ours: Full cast list and when it's on TV The City Is Ours to film in Bolton this weekend Interview with Hannah Onslow (Diana Williams) (Image: Diana Williams (Hannah Onslow) Image: BBC/Left Bank Pictures/James Stack) What was your first impression when you read Stephen Butchard’s scripts? Firstly, I loved the scripts. I think we all feel that what Stephen has written - this world and the characters he’s created - feel so specific, rich and very much their own unique thing. Diana has such depth, I really wanted to tell her story.

She isn’t like any other role I had read or seen on screen before. She had to grow up very quickly. She hasn’t had a typical childhood, Diana has a dark history and what I love about her in particular, is that she hasn’t had a ‘normal’ life, but any girl could be Diana and that is one of the things I think that is so clever about how Stephen has written her.

The way she interacts with the world and how she wants to appear to the world, you just wouldn’t know. It’s amazing to play someone so complex. She’s an extraordinary character.

Her and Michael’s relationship is very strong, they really do love each other so much. They are both at a big turning point in their life and want to start a family together. I don’t think Diana knew she could ever feel this way about someone, and I think the same goes for Michael.

Their relationship is really special, beautifully written and it has been a complete joy to do it with James. Stephen writes with great depth and sensitivity. For me, the show is all about the relationships, and Stephen has written them with such detail, his writing is incredibly perceptive.

This latest role sees you alongside some of the nation’s best loved actors. You’re in great company? I’m a big fan of everyone in the cast. I can remember at the readthrough, I was looking at the scripts and then glancing around the room and thinking ‘How lucky am I?’ To be working with these people, and with this script - I am absolutely delighted.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say this, but we all really loved this job, and each other. We also got to kick off filming in Spain, so that helped! Everyone was so professional and experienced, and our casting directors Julie Harkin and Nathan Toth did such an amazing job. It just works - everyone was so talented.

A lot of the cast agree that waiting for each new script was in itself a cliffhanging situation. Did the scripts surprise you when they arrived in your hand? Oh, yes, one hundred percent. What was going to happen next was all we talked about during and after each shoot.

I’ve never been on a set where the crew have also been so invested in the story, I’m pretty sure there was a sweepstake going at one point and you had to put your predictions in! The fact that the crew were so invested, says it all really. How did you find speaking with the Scouse accent? I loved it. I love the accent so much, I think it’s gorgeous.

I did a lot of work on it, I had a wonderful accent coach Helen Ashton who was always there if I needed her and she helped me with the real specificities of the accent. I also had a set of recordings on my phone and had my own catalogue of videos that I collated, but luckily I was just around so many scousers on set so if there was anything I was struggling with, help was always on hand, and scousers will always tell you the truth! It also helped just being in Liverpool and soaking it all up. It’s an amazing city.

Why should people watch This City is Ours? It is a drama that I can honestly say I have never seen on television before. There is something for everyone and I think although the show heavily explores a really brutal world, it also has enormous heart. How would you sum up the series in three words? My words would be - smart, sexy and mega.

Everyone should expect the unexpected. Interview with Jack McMullen (Jamie Phelan) (Image: Jack McMullen (Jamie Phelan) Image: BBC/Left Bank Pictures/James Stack) What was it about the scripts that stood out for you? I've been an admirer of Stephen's work for a long time. He's really good at setting up relationships and he creates gripping, punchy storylines that are expertly woven.

He is a brilliant storyteller. There's a real Shakespearean theme throughout the series as we follow these stories of love and family as they play out in such a brutal, violent world. The stakes are high throughout, and it makes for a really compelling watch.

When the scripts arrived, it was exciting. With all good scripts - especially character-driven ones - you need to buy into those characters and invest in them. Every character is flawed and that's what makes it interesting.

Stephen keeps us guessing where our allegiances should lie. Does it make you proud to see Liverpool being used yet again as a major location in a big BBC drama series? People love to see cameras on the streets and in communities where they live. They come up and ask you questions like ‘What’s it all about? Who is in it?’ It feels like they want to support it.

When we were filming in Liverpool people were curious and it caused a bit of a buzz. I was the same when I was growing up here, I would hear something was filming here and I'd want to know all about it. You say there was one major Hollywood star you saw in Liverpool that made you want to take up acting? I remember coming home from school one day and there was a big crowd outside the chemists down the road.

They were filming the UK scenes for the action comedy, The 51st State, in and around Liverpool. I went down to see what was happening and I saw Samuel L Jackson stood in our chippy, it was surreal. Maybe subconsciously that helped me understand at a young age that film isn't this abstract thing, these actors are just normal people.

Sean Bean has said that you and James Nelson-Joyce are multi-talented stars of the future. How does that feel? That is high praise coming from him. That is typical of Sean - he's so supportive, he's one of us.

I grew up watching his work but he's a very humble man and a team player. People like Sean are the type of actors you want with you in a series of this scale. He is a phenomenal actor.

James is one of my closest friends and we've known each other for years. We met at a football game in London and worked at the same gym together. We were still cutting our teeth back then and would have never dreamed we'd end up doing a job like this together.

I'm also really good friends with Bobby Schofield (Bonehead) and a few of the other cast, which was a real advantage. When you start a new project you are usually thrown together with strangers and have to bond quickly, so it really helped that there were relationships there already. What three words would you say sum up the recurring themes of this new drama? Loyalty.

Betrayal. Ambition. We spent many months filming in Liverpool and Spain to bring the series alive, and I am over the moon with what we have all achieved.

I hope audiences will be too. Interview with Julie Graham (Elaine Phelan) You have played so many different characters on TV and film in a career spanning four decades. What stood out about Elaine Phelan in this drama? It is a crime drama like nothing else on TV.

I know the cast all agree on that, too. It’s a drama series with mileage and longevity. There are eight episodes, and I would bite their hands off to make more.

We all felt like that, and we still do. When I read the initial scripts, I realised just how well Stephen Butchard writes for women, and Elaine is a very strong, self-assured character who has her own ambitions. She knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak.

I feel lucky that I was considered for the part in the first place and now that we have seen what has emerged, audiences are in for a real surprise. We couldn’t wait for the final scripts to arrive, we were all dying to know what happened next. (Image: Elaine Phelan (Julie Graham) Image: BBC/Left Bank Pictures/James Stack) Elaine is the high-powered wife of the gangland boss Ronnie (Sean Bean), and mum to loose cannon son Jamie (Jack McMullen).

Is she the glue that keeps the Phelans together? Elaine is a wife and mother and that is what drives her before anything else. She is the heart of the Phelans. Family is everything to her and it comes before business and that is non-negotiable.

Elaine is well respected and does not suffer fools, and she can and does call the shots when she has to. She has enough on her plate with husband Ronnie thinking of retiring, taking a back seat, and her son Jamie, meanwhile, is sucking the life out of the family with his ambitions to take over the mantle from his dad. The question is, can he do it? The stakes are very high.

Or will Ronnie’s best friend Michael (James Nelson-Joyce) be better? There is a lot of wrangling. Did the scouse accent come naturally to you? It’s a place with strong working-class traditions, just like Glasgow, Belfast and Newcastle. The accents are passed on through each generation.

These accents reflect strong identities. I am very fond of Liverpool, so much so that I have worked in the city six times now. I know that you get a real welcome in Liverpool, and if the locals can help you then they go out of their way.

It is always a joy to film there, and of course the drama is called This City is Ours – a very Liverpudlian trait. I love the architecture there, too. We filmed in a little church in Toxteth called St Philip Neri with so much history, a hidden gem, and the city is full of them.

The Phelans have a nice lifestyle, don’t they? The Phelans live in a beautiful house, as you would expect, in the Wirral. There you see what wealth Ronnie has. We also had five weeks filming in an opulent villa in Spain.

You see the life they don’t want to lose. It was such a wonderful cast and crew that, in Spain especially, I’d forgotten we were working. We had an absolute ball, you had to pinch yourself that you were not on holiday.

Just as you have the metropolis of Liverpool, you then have the contrasting picturesque scenery and climate of Spain. You say the casting could not have been better. Was it a dream team? Sean Bean is a big star and such a lovely, quiet man, too.

He had time for everyone, and I know how much he rates this drama. The cast is made up of young stars and older names. It’s a perfect balance because you have different ages and backgrounds who clicked from the beginning.

You will know a lot of faces from stage, TV and film and we all gelled from day one. Filming in Spain (the first scenes to be filmed) was the real icebreaker, it was a lovely way to get to know each other and our characters. It was the most wonderful bonding experience to be honest.

And we danced a lot. I know the series will reflect that chemistry. (Image: Image: BBC/Left Bank Pictures/James Stack) Do you think This City is Ours is one of those dramas that you will want to stay with from episode one? I have been impressed at how everyone has a description for it.

Someone said it’s ’a roller coaster ride’ and I like that. Someone else said it’s a ‘Scouse Sopranos.’ It becomes quite addictive, and if you watch episode one you will want to see it through to episode eight.

You will soon become addicted to these characters, there are no weak links. I nterview with Stephen Butchard (Creator, Writer and Executive Producer) A drama series set in Liverpool is something you have had on a back burner for many years and it has finally made it onto the screen. A key factor is the city of Liverpool.

Would you agree it is a supporting star in its own right? Yes. It is a metropolis. It is a cinematic, international, good-looking city.

A beautiful place in the daylight and at night. I would be quite happy to say on the credits: ‘And starring . .

. Liverpool. ‘ The idea for the drama is something I thought about five years ago, and the series eventually fell into place.

Liverpool is a location that will lend itself to any genre. There is a ‘can do’ attitude in everyone. The Liverpool Film Office have that attitude.

Nothing is too much trouble - we talk to them, and they listen. They say ‘Yes’ – now that is always good to hear. People in the street come up and ask the cast and crew ‘What are you are making?’ They are curious for the right reasons, asking ‘Who is it by and who is starring in it’ They are proud of their city.

You say one simple three letter word sums up the attitude of Liverpool people have when film crews come to the city. Yes. That word is YES.

The people are happy to help. Nothing is too much trouble for them when their city is on show. It reminds me of John Lennon’s first encounter with Yoko Ono.

John went along to an exhibition in London and there was a ladder leading to a ceiling. John cautiously climbed it and when he got up there it simply said ‘YES.’ It was that ideology that impressed him.

John might have expected the word ‘NO’. John once sang about having no problems - just solutions. Well, that collective ‘yes’ from the city of Liverpool and the people who live and work there says it all.

They are proud. I feel the same pride when I see the city portrayed on screen. You have written many historical dramas and award-winning period pieces.

How different is it writing contemporary TV screenplays set in the modern day? It is down to the characters, no matter where something is set. You must make sure people can buy into them otherwise it just becomes a series of events. Whether they are in a cloak or wearing a cape or a suit.

It is the character that you should care about and invest in. Betrayal, greed, life and death. All are dominant themes in the series.

It sounds like the prologue for a Shakespearean classic drama. You can add to that some more words such as ambition, failure, pride and envy. You will find a lot of it in Shakespeare – just look at Macbeth.

This drama is very much about people chasing dreams. I want viewers to spend time with these people to get to know them and fall in love with them. Yes, fall in love - even if they do some terrifying, brutal, shocking things throughout.

When you start out on any project, do you write with the idea that it could become a long-running series or do you write to what you were originally commissioned for? I was commissioned to do eight episodes. I did not call it ‘Series One.’ This City is Ours could never have been, say, a film because I would not have had the chance to develop the characters, and they are all important to me.

I don’t sit there saying, ‘Oh this plot will be developed further in series two or three and so on.’ In This City is Ours I set out to write a fantastic story from episode one to episode eight – a tale of real life and real emotions where families are dragged deeper and deeper into confrontation. I have set it a real world, a chilling mostly unseen universe of organised crime.

It is a love story. A story of love and what people will do to seize and hold on to power. Dramas set in the dark underworld tend to have a lot of dark humour.

This City is Ours is set in a place known for its sense of humour. With such a gritty storyline, how do you manage to weave it into the scripts? Well, people do not go around cracking jokes. Comments and observations are made by the various characters and delivered in a way each of them would naturally say them.

You get to know the diverse personalities and how they talk and how they see and joke about things. We see christenings, weddings and funerals and it’s at these occasions you will hear the humour. Sometimes when people are saying something funny it is the release of a safety valve – to alleviate tension.

Gangsters tend to have a glint in their eye when they say ‘Don’t mess with me’, so you don’t. There are plenty of considered pauses and nuances. And the Liverpool accent has a very poetic quality.

We have a smart Scouse cast who understand where the humour is - you do not need to tell them. Drug trafficking, the underworld and the brutality and violence of gang life, yet you maintain This City is Ours is ultimately a love story? It is a love story between drug dealer Michael (James Nelson-Joyce) and Diana (Hannah Onslow) who are desperately in love with each other, and they want a baby to seal that love. But how can he leave the drug world behind him? Is the deadline he has set himself of three years to get out enough time? We look at how they plan to overcome the hurdles in front of them.

It is a battle of a different kind for him. It has a crime drama backdrop but there are no lengthy police procedure scenes – no red herrings, it is not a cop drama. There are people looking over their shoulders because the police could come knocking any time.

I am interested in what motivates our characters, what makes them do what they do and justify their actions. Love is a motivating, powerful force, too. If you had to sum up the series in one word what would it be? It’s a story that I believe people have not seen before, and the way we have done it is like nothing else on TV.

The way we have approached it from casting to locations is something new for TV. So, the word for me is ‘Freshness.’ But I do like that word ‘Epic’, too, because it is set in a kingdom.

It just happens to be of the modern day, menacing, lucrative and dangerous drug kind..