Notorious gang boss Ronnie (Sean Bean) steps back from his criminal empire, triggering a violent power struggle between his volatile son Jamie (Jack McMullen) and trusted lieutenant Michael (James Nelson Joyce), who sees his chance to seize control. As rivalries ignite and loyalties fracture, the family behind the city’s cocaine trade descends into open war.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.2/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 71
TMDB: 7.3/10
Production
Left Bank Pictures, BBC
Cast
James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Onslow, Julie Graham, Mike Noble, Laura Aikman
Where to watch
AMC+, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A solid, propulsive British crime drama with strong atmosphere, family betrayal, and a familiar but effective rise-to-power structure. It is most appealing if you like tense gangland stories that prioritize loyalty tests, shifting alliances, and escalating violence over procedural plotting.
Best for
Viewers who enjoy British gangster dramas
Fans of family power-struggle stories
People looking for a tense, bingeable crime series
Audiences who like morally gray characters and escalating betrayals
Skip if
You want a fresh or highly original crime premise
You prefer lighter, more character-comforting dramas
You are looking for a case-of-the-week procedural
You dislike violent underworld stories centered on cocaine trafficking
Overview
This City Is Ours delivers exactly what its premise promises: a ruthless succession battle inside a criminal family business, with enough betrayal and pressure-cooker tension to keep the momentum moving. The appeal is less in surprise and more in execution, and the show benefits from a strong British crime-drama sensibility that keeps the stakes grounded and ugly rather than glossy.
Worth noting
The series is at its best when it leans into the emotional damage behind the power grab: fathers, sons, lieutenants, and partners all trying to survive a collapsing order. That gives it more texture than a simple gang-war thriller, even if some of the beats will feel familiar to anyone who has seen enough organized-crime TV.
Bottom line
If you like your crime dramas tense, efficient, and built for bingeing, this is easy to recommend. It is not a reinvention of the genre, but it is a confident, watchable entry with enough grit and momentum to satisfy fans of modern British underworld stories.
2016 · Curator 5.6/10 (57.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix Standard with Ads, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads
A family crime drama built on inheritance, manipulation, and the danger of being trapped inside a violent clan.