EXCLUSIVE: Viewers are gripped by the gritty drama in gangster smash hit This City is Ours, but actors were caught up in their own brush with crime whilst cameras were rolling
BBC gangster smash This City Is Ours was struck by real life criminals on location in Spain. The hugely popular show about a Liverpudlian crime boss, starring Sean Bean, was rocked after a member of the production crew was targeted by burglars.
A source told the Daily Star Sunday that the series worker had his personal belongings stolen when a thief broke into his apartment near filming in Marbella. A show insider confirmed the crime but said no equipment or property used for filming was stolen in the raid.
A source, said: “It was certainly the talk of the town. It was a shock that as filming for a major crime show was filming one of those working on it also became a victim of crime.
“The irony was not lost on anyone,” they added. The incident happened last month during filming of the second series of the critically acclaimed drama.
The show, which is set in and around Liverpool and also in Spain, has been dubbed by some reviewers as the “Scouse Sopranos” with reference to the multi-award winning American crime drama. The cast of the show include Liverpool actor James Nelson-Joyce, who is returning as leading gang member Michael Kavanagh, alongside Hannah Onslow, who returns as his partner, Diana Williams.
Series one launched on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in March and was the BBC’s most watched new drama launch of the year so far, attracting an average 5.8 million viewers, a BBC spokesperson said. The series chronicles the battle for control over a cocaine-trafficking gang, with gangster Kavanagh seen struggling to balance his criminal activities with family life as he and his partner consider fertility treatment.
It won viewers’ hearts with lighter moments including Sean Bean, as Ronnie Phelan, leading a charge of golf buggies to Ride of The Valkyries, the theme from the film Apocalypse Now. The cast also went viral with a scene featuring them line-dancing, external to the 1950s song The House of Bamboo.
The new series, created by Stephen Butchard, would be picking up from where things were left at the end of series one, a BBC spokesperson said. Producers of the show were approached for comment.
It comes as new figures showed that many viewers are turning away from the likes of gritty crime dramas in favur of something much more wholesome. Forget the likes of Adolescence, Brits are now getting hooked on the likes of Murder She Wrote.
Over a third (37%) of TV viewers said graphic violence and True Crime programmes were a turn-off while four in ten (43%) would rather the dastardly deed was implied or went unseen. Six in ten (60%) Brits believe modern crime shows are too violent, while four in ten (43%) believe there is generally too much graphic content on television already.
Instead, the likes of Luther and Diagnosis, Murder were more comforting to watch, thanks to their easy ability to watch. Many respondents also admitted they feel the shows appeal to a wider audience, thanks to their relative family-friendliness.
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