BBC viewers praise gangland drama starring Sean Bean that's being compared to Kin

Look there’s no denying there are some banging things to watch at the moment.

And while you might be swept up in binging Stephen Graham’s Adolescence, there’s a show on the proper telly that could be worth your time that even stars some of his co-stars.

Being compared to fan favourite Kin, BBC viewers are praising a new gangland drama starring Sean Bean.

He’s not the only co-star of Graham in it though, as it also stars his close friend James Nelson-Joyce, who recently appeared with the scouser in his Disney+ series, A Thousand Blows.

Also featuring Benidorm star Julie Graham, Waterloo Road’s Jack McMullen and Derry Girls icon Saoirse-Monica Jackson, This City Is Ours premiered last night (23 March).

As some tip it as a ‘highly superior Scouse Dallas’ and a ‘Souse Kin with an element of Mad Dogs’, the show follows a longtime member of Michael (Nelson-Joyce) who falls in love with Diana (Hannah Onslow).

Having known nothing but crime, his new romance causes him to ‘reevaluate his life and contemplate a future beyond his criminal activities’.

Bean plays his right-hand man, the cocaine-smuggling patriarch, Ronnie Phelan, who is considering his retirement having reigned over Liverpool’s drug trade for decades.

Despite having only landed on BBC iPlayer yesterday, viewers on X have said they’ve already binged all eight episodes, calling it ‘fantastic’ as they hope for a second series.

“Binged watched This City is Ours on iPlayer… definitely worth a watch,” one wrote.

Many compared it to Kin, as another said it’s ‘dead good’ as fans ‘couldn’t stop watching it’.

Kin 👀 This City Is Ours pic.twitter.com/yaQYSLLfHs

— Tatenda Douglas Chagweda CISSP ITIL (@chagweda) March 23, 2025

“This City Is Ours is already as gripping as expected—the Scouse ‘Kin’ with an element of ‘Mad Dogs’ for whoever remembers that. And how good is James Nelson-Joyce, playing the clever, gritty, and likeable gangster?” another wrote.

An impressed viewer wrote: “Haven't seen anything decent on the beeb in forever, and then they drop #thiscityisours, and I remember how good they are. Just the first episode, but I'm hooked.”

Summing up the show in three words, Bean said in a press release: “Unique. Exciting. New… At the end of the day, it’s a love story - but not your normal romance, it’s a brand new love story for now. People watching are going to love it, too.”

And Nelson-Joyce said it was the unpredictability of the series that contributed to selling it to him.

“I like cliffhangers – I want to be kept in anticipation,” he explained. “When we were discussing scripts with fellow cast members, it was always the same with all of us – we were all wondering what would happen next. A guessing game between us all.”

You can watch This City Is Ours on BBC iPlayer with new episodes airing on BBC One on Sundays at 9pm.