The Liverpool-set drama centres on the power struggles of notorious crime family the Phelans

This City is Ours will return for a second series, following the green light from BBC One.

Left Bank Pictures filmed the eight-part drama in Liverpool from April last year, boosting the local economy by £9m; it has since become the BBC’s most-watched new drama launch of the year so far.

James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Onslow, Sean Bean and Jack McMullen starred in Series One that centred on the power struggle of a notorious crime family. The supporting cast included Laura Aikman, Julie Graham, Kevin Harvey, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Mike Noble, Bobby Schofield, Darci Shaw, and Stephen Walters.

Creator, lead writer and executive producer Stephen Butchard said of the recommission: “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!”

This City is Ours S2 will be produced by Left Bank Pictures for BBC One. It was commissioned for the BBC by Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama. The executive producers are writer Butchard, Andy Harries, Rebecca Hodgson and Sian McWilliams for Left Bank Pictures, and Jo McClellan and Sami El Hadi for the BBC. Sony Pictures Television will distribute the series internationally.

McWilliams commented: “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!”