The BBC has commissioned a second series of its most-watched drama of the year so far, the Sean Bean-starring Liverpool crime drama This City is Ours.
Left Bank produced the eight-part series, which opened in March with 1.9m viewers, but has since almost quadrupled its audience to 6.6m according to the BBC’s figures.
The BBC also revealed that about 3m people streamed the series finale on iPlayer ahead of its linear transmission last night.
This City Is Ours follows a Liverpool drug smuggling gang as it deals with a power struggle to succeed outgoing boss Bean and rival gangs seek to muscle in on its turf.
The show also stars James Nelson-Joyce, Laura Aikman, Julie Graham, Kevin Harvey, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Mike Noble, Bobby Schofield, Darci Shaw, and Stephen Walters.
READ MORE: On set with the Manchester team behind gritty aesthetic of This City Is Ours
A second 8 x 60 series has now been ordered by BBC drama director Lindsay Salt. Executive producers are Andy Harries, Rebecca Hodgson and Sian McWilliams for Left Bank Pictures, Butchard, and Jo McClellan and Sami El-Hadi for the BBC. Sony Pictures Television will continue to handle international distribution for series two.
Creator, lead writer and executive producer Butchard said: “We have all been blown away by the incredibly positive response to This City is Ours, I can’t thank the audience enough for their time and emotional investment. My heartfelt thanks also to Lindsay Salt and her wonderful team at BBC Drama for their unflinching support and continued belief in the show, our story and our characters – and not least for this opportunity to do it all over again! See you soon!”
EP McWilliams said: “We are so delighted to be diving back into Stephen Butchard’s brilliant underworld of Liverpool crime with our wonderful collaborators at the BBC. It’s been a joy to watch audiences fall in love with these fantastically complex characters. After the tumultuous events of the season one finale, the gang rivalries and betrayals have escalated to new levels, new ones have just begun, and there is a lot of unfinished business!”
Salt added: “This City is Ours was one of our team’s first commissions when I joined the BBC, and I could not be happier with how Stephen, Saul and the Left Bank team have brought it to the screen so classily. The response from viewers has been a joy to see, with millions discovering its thrilling, character-driven drama for themselves to become gripped by the raging war of the Phelans. I’m delighted that we now get to build on this fantastic first run and show that things are only just getting started for this very special series.”
