This City is Ours: James Nelson-Joyce on the 'Scouse Sopranos'

The rising star, who has been mentioned as potential future James Bond, previously appeared opposite Sheffield actor Bean in another Merseyside crime drama, Time.

And he has featured alongside another Liverpudlian, Stephen Graham, in Time, Little Boy Blue, and the recent historical drama A Thousand Blows.

He says his latest character's respect for his partner in crime, Ronnie, was a mirror of his real life working relationship with Bean, who he describes as "a gift" of a co-star and a "kind human being".

Graham is "so supportive" of Nelson-Joyce's career too. The former's own headline-grabbing new show, Adolescence, also tackles toxic masculinity and its potentially deadly effects.

This City is Ours' Bafta-winning director Saul Dibb (The Sixth Commandment) notes how Nelson-Joyce has played "hard men" roles before but has not been able to demonstrate "all of the other qualities" he possesses, until now.

The Telegraph has awarded the show five stars, calling it a "superb crime thriller of betrayals and shifting loyalties". Critic Anita Singh noted that it "doesn't quite live up to" the Sopranos "but it comes close".

In a four-star review, the Independent said Nelson-Joyce's "conflicted gangster" and the show's "moral ambivalence" elevated it "above the average boilerplate crime drama".

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan awarded three stars, however, suggesting "the fantastic performances don't do enough to lift this Scouse Sopranos."

But the Sunday Times' Carol Midgley offered another four-star review, saying it "is as much about family dynamics and the human condition as it is about gangsters and violence".

The show's creator and writer Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom) tells us he is "happy" with comparisons to the "brilliant" New Jersey-based crime show "because that really is about a family".

"We haven't got as many cured meats," he jokes, of Mr Soprano's favourite food.

Another reference point was Shakespeare, he explains, to "explore those huge human emotions of your ambition and greed and love and betrayal."

"Once greed and secrets take hold, the fabric of any society, including a family, begins to fray," he adds.

Former engineer Butchard was keen to capture the "vibrancy" of his native Liverpool, which he describes as a "really handsome" and "friendly" modern world city.

Beautiful vistas of the city's skyline and glamorous waterfront are juxtaposed with life on its streets (along with shots of the gang's dealings in sunny Marbella and Malaga).

"I didn't want to show a Liverpool that has been seen previously on the television," he says.

"Because this story could be told in any city around the world, but then it's only when you come to the characters that you can give them that Liverpool inflection, bite and hopefully humour, and reflect the mood of the city."

He says he was was impressed with the "wonderful" Scouse accents perfected by the non-local members of the extended fictional crime family, including Onslow, Julie Graham and Laura Aikman, as well as Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson.