This City is Ours is a BBC One drama billed as the story of organised crime member Michael Kavanagh but, don't be fooled - it's as much about the female characters who "are 100 times more interesting than the men".

That's no offence to James Nelson-Joyce, who's a compelling lead as Michael. While Sean Bean, Jack McMullen, and Stephen Walters are all very watchable as Ronnie, Jamie, and Davey.

However, it's the women who are the powerhouses in the cast of This City is Ours...

***Warning: may contain mild spoilers from This City is Ours ahead***

The City is Ours review: Why the women steal the show

BBC One's This City is Ours is billed as a gangster crime drama, with three male leads. But anyone who's watched it will know that it's the female characters who are the most interesting by far.

The man are, largely, two-dimensional criminals who care about power, money and sex. The women are complex, richly-layered, and inspire our empathy.

While man-child Jamie is grappling with some of the biggest decisions he's faced since Wispa or Twix down his local shop, his fiancée Melissa Sullivan is bringing up their baby Alfie, and doing a sterling job of keeping his dummy in - that's Jamie we're talking about, not Alfie's.

And wasn't it Melissa who quietly suggested Jamie target Michael's girlfriend Diana when [bleep] hit the fan towards the end of the series? She'd do whatever it took to protect her family - apart from incriminating herself and getting her hand's dirty. Clever girl.

It's a cracking performance from actress Darci Shaw, who has only been on our screens for a few years. At just 22, she's a rising star we're sure we'll see a lot more of in the future.

Hannah Onslow holds her own as Michael's girlfriend Diana Williams

This City is Ours tells the story of Michael and Diana's love affair, set against the disintegration of Michael's crime gang.

The eight-parter explores what happens when Ronnie's son Jamie decides he wants to inherit their kingdom and that there is no longer a place for Michael at the table.

While they battle for control of the business, Michael's wants to save the woman he loves and the child he has always wanted.

And the character of "Princess Diana" as the gang jokingly call her is nuanced and heartbreakingly believable. While snake-eyed Michael simmers to boiling point, Diana quietly comes to her own conclusions about their future - even hiding her pregnancy from him.

Young actress Hannah Onslow, 26, nails her performance as Michael's girlfriend Diana Williams. A fledging actress compared to her co-stars including Julie Graham, Sean Bean, and James Nelson-Royce, she's only been on our screens since 2020.

Talking about the show and her character, Hannah said: "Diana has such depth, I really wanted to tell her story. She isn't like any other role I had read or seen on screen before.

"Diana has a dark history and what I love about her in particular, is that she hasn't had a 'normal' life, but any girl could be Diana and that is one of the things I think that is so clever about how Stephen has written her. Stephen writes with great depth and sensitivity. It's amazing to play someone so complex."

Derry Girls' Saoirse-Monica Jackson acts her socks off as Cheryl Crawford

However, without any doubt, it's actress Saoirse-Monica Jackson who blows us away in This City is Ours.

She's a scene stealer as alcoholic Cheryl Crawford, whose husband goes missing on 'holiday' with Ronnie and his family.

Those of you who only know her as Erin Quinn in the Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls might be hard pushed to recognise her as Cheryl. She's mesmerising in every scene and out-acts all of her co-stars. Saoirse-Monica is outstanding as the fragile, but somehow steely wife who is determined to find out the truth about her husband, even if doing so puts herself at great risk.

The character is multi-layered, vulnerable, and pitiable - so much more dimensional that any of the male leads.

Lastly, Julie Graham's Elaine is as brilliant as you'd expect from the actress who played the gin-swigging matriarch in The Hardacres, and convict Lou Harkness in Time. Frankly, she was born to play a gangster's wife.

Talking about the great female characters in This City is Ours, Julie said: "When I read the initial scripts, I realised just how well Stephen Butchard writes for women. Elaine is a very strong, self-assured character who has her own ambitions. She knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak."

Of course, special mention to Bobby's duplicitous wife Rachel, who double-crossed her own husband to wrestle her way to the front.

The City is Ours review: The female characters are '100 times more interesting' than the men

This is Our City fans were quick to praise the female characters, as well as the performances.

One wrote on X: "The female characters are 100 times more interesting than the men #thiscityisours."

Another said: "Classy start from BBC's #thiscityisours. Authentically Scouse, great direction and soundtrack and, like its gangster sibling #Kin, strong female roles."

Meanwhile, The Guardian reviewer Lucy Mangan said: "Perhaps if This City is Ours had followed the lives of the compromised women behind the bad men there might have been a richer experience here. [...] Julie Graham as Ronnie's wife, Elaine, toughened by years on the periphery of violent crime, nails the hard-bitten vibe the part requires."

The City is Ours airs every Sunday on BBC One across March and April at 9pm. The boxset is on BBC iPlayer.