Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The new Liverpool-set crime drama This City is Ours has been billed as the “Scouse Sopranos”. A comparison to one of the greatest TV shows of all time just slightly oversells what is solid but unspectacular BBC fare. But the comparison speaks to the show’s interest in relationships and family dynamics, rather than spinning the gangster story into a Guy Ritchie-esque thriller.At the centre of this slow-burning story of blossoming love and simmering tensions is Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce) — a very modern gangster who eats granola and talks about his feelings with his new girlfriend Diana (Hannah Onslow). Michael insists that he’s not a thug at heart and that all he wants is to start a family but deflects every time Diana suggests he walk away from his nefarious life. Cheryl (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), the disillusioned wife of one of Michael’s crew, gives Diana similar advice. “There’s nothing good about our men,” she warns.This is all put to the test when mercurial gang patriarch Ronnie Phelan (Sean Bean) announces that he’s set to retire and will name a successor. As the dependable second-in-command, Michael seems a shoo-in until a lucrative drug shipment is hijacked from under his nose. In the midst of this chaos, Ronnie’s wayward son Jamie (Jack McMullen) tries to drive a wedge between his father and the heir apparent.What follows is a bitter fight between Michael and Jamie, who both want to take control of the crumbling criminal empire. But a conflict also brews within Michael himself, as he tries to reconcile his brutal actions with the person he wants to become.The setting lends some novelty to a very familiar premise. The idiosyncrasies of Liverpudilian speech, clothing and humour are not simply background details — they are made integral to the identity of a series created by and starring actors from the city.That search for authenticity can also be seen in how the show tries to balance the drug dealings, beatings, killings and cross-Europe corpse ferrying with the stuff of the everyday — holidays, parties, fertility concerns. Had there been more scenes devoted to the consumption of cured meats, parallels with The Sopranos might have even been compelling.★★★☆☆On BBC1 on March 23 at 9pm with new episodes airing weekly. On iPlayer from March 23
