This City Is Ours has returned for a second season, picking up nineteen months after the first series debuted to critical acclaim last March. The new episodes explore the fallout from the season one finale, which saw Banksey (Mike Noble) kill Ricardo Guzman (Daniel Cerqueira) by running him over in his car.
New Life in Spain
Episode one begins six days after the end of the first season, with Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce) and Diana Williams (Hannah Onslow) fleeing Liverpool for a new life in Spain. The couple are seen enjoying the peace and quiet of their new surroundings on a speedboat, with the continental scenes once again beautifully filmed.
Their stillness does not last long. After Michael keeps his word to Cheryl Crawford (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) by showing where they dumped her husband's body, their journey back is interrupted by a mysterious gang working for Ricardo's brother, who is looking for answers about who killed him in Liverpool.
Return to Liverpool
This inevitably leads Michael back to Liverpool, where the Phelan family are facing problems of their own. The level playing field of everyone having the same authority in the gang was never going to last, especially when Jamie Phelan (Jack McMullen) sees an opportunity to take the power his late dad Ronnie (Sean Bean) once held.
The Merseyside scenes continue in the same vein as the first season, with the city looking just as beautiful as those in Spain. A screening at FACT Picturehouse on Wednesday showed that This City Is Ours is at home on the big screen. Banksey's introduction to the series sees him pass in front of the ECHO's offices in St Paul's Square.
New Character Introduced
Creator Stephen Butchard has clearly understood the formula that people enjoyed about the first season, as all the same ingredients feature in episode one. But the new instalment is more than just a rehash, leaning on a formula perfected by The Sopranos to inject new life into the story.
Each season of The Sopranos introduced a new character who would cause issues for mob boss Tony. For This City Is Ours' version of Ralph Cifaretto and Richie Aprile, see Ozzie Thompson, played by Shaun Evans. Evans brings a magnetic intensity to the role in the few scenes he appears in episode one.
As soon as he greets Elaine at Ronnie's grave, it is apparent there is more to Ozzie than meets the eye. The glare he gave to Freddie at the door in his following scene teased that he is not a character to be messed with, and the late reveal when Banksey turned up at his house for help from the many threats closing on him was not one I saw coming.
All eight episodes of This City Is Ours season two arrive on iPlayer on Sunday, October 25. Episode one is broadcast on BBC One at 9pm.
