Skip to content
Back to the daily read

Daily Read: Cinema

This City Is Ours Outshines Peaky Blinders

The BBC series This City Is Ours, released on March 23 2025, has been hailed as a modern‑day answer to Peaky Blinders. The show, starring Sean Bean, Ronnie Phelan, James Nelson‑Joyce and Michael Kavanagh, follows a group of London gangsters whose lives are marked by personal struggles rather than glamorous crime. Critics note that the series departs from the slick, stylised gangster aesthetic of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix shows The Gentlemen and MobLand, offering instead a gritty, kitchen‑sink realism. Unlike Peaky Blinders, which portrays its gang as a force for good, This City Is Ours presents its protagonists as fallible, dealing with fertility treatments, body disposal and everyday anxieties. The show’s dialogue is sharp and its pacing slower, allowing viewers to connect with the characters’ humanity. Reviewers compare the series favorably to The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, praising its realistic depiction of crime and its emotional depth. The BBC’s production has been praised for its grounded storytelling, contrasting with the cartoonish violence and outlandish plot twists of Ritchie’s work. As a result, the series has positioned itself as a compelling alternative to the six‑season Peaky Blinders saga, appealing to audiences seeking a more relatable gangster narrative.

· Screen Rant

The essential points

  1. 01BBC's This City Is Ours offers more grounded, human gangster characters compared to stylized Peaky Blinders.
  2. 02The series debuted March 23 2025 on BBC One, starring Sean Bean and Ronnie Phelan.
  3. 03Critics praise its realistic portrayal of fertility struggles and body disposal dilemmas, contrasting with Ritchie's cartoonish violence.
  4. 04Reviewers note the show’s slower pacing and sharp dialogue make it a compelling modern‑day alternative to Peaky Blinders.
The full brief

The BBC series This City Is Ours, released on March 23 2025, has been hailed as a modern‑day answer to Peaky Blinders. The show, starring Sean Bean, Ronnie Phelan, James Nelson‑Joyce and Michael Kavanagh, follows a group of London gangsters whose lives are marked by personal struggles rather than glamorous crime. Critics note that the series departs from the slick, stylised gangster aesthetic of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix shows The Gentlemen and MobLand, offering instead a gritty, kitchen‑sink realism.

Unlike Peaky Blinders, which portrays its gang as a force for good, This City Is Ours presents its protagonists as fallible, dealing with fertility treatments, body disposal and everyday anxieties. The show’s dialogue is sharp and its pacing slower, allowing viewers to connect with the characters’ humanity. Reviewers compare the series favorably to The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, praising its realistic depiction of crime and its emotional depth.

The BBC’s production has been praised for its grounded storytelling, contrasting with the cartoonish violence and outlandish plot twists of Ritchie’s work. As a result, the series has positioned itself as a compelling alternative to the six‑season Peaky Blinders saga, appealing to audiences seeking a more relatable gangster narrative.