Underbelly (TV series)

Season 1 focuses on events in Melbourne which occurred between 1995 and 2004, referred to in the press as the Melbourne gangland killings, in which 36 criminal figures and others were killed, and the transformation of Carl Williams from harmless driver into one of Australia's most notorious drug kingpins.

Season 2 is a prequel to the first series and focuses on events that occurred in Sydney and Melbourne between the years 1976 to 1987. It was about Griffith NSW. The pot capital of Australia .p

Season 3 is the sequel to A Tale of Two Cities - and hence the prequel to the first series - and focuses on events that stemmed from the Kings Cross nightclub scene in Sydney between the years 1988 to 1999.

The activities of corrupt Kings Cross police officers – most notably Trevor Haken and "Chook" Fowler – and their actions are mainly depicted in the series, and some of these characters reprise their roles from the second season. The Wood Royal Commission into police corruption which occurred in 1995 is also prominently featured.

Season 4 is set in Sydney during the roaring 1920s, when organised crime in Australia began. It's the story of the bloody battle between the era's most feared vice queens, Tilly Devine and her rival Kate Leigh.[5] The series is based on the Ned Kelly Award-winning book Razor, by Larry Writer. The series includes an ensemble cast including actresses Chelsie Preston Crayford and Danielle Cormack portraying Devine and Leigh respectively.

Season 5 is set in modern-day Sydney between 2001–2012 and tells the story of underworld figure Anthony "Rooster" Perish and the efforts of the NSW Police Force's Strike Force Tuno to bring him to justice. The cast includes Jonathan LaPaglia as Anthony Perish, Jodi Gordon, Matt Nable, Josh Quong Tart, Aaron Jeffrey, Jason Montgomery, Hollie Andrew and Leeanna Walsman.[6]

Season 6 occurs between 1915–1927 in Melbourne and tells the story of one of the city's most notorious criminals, Squizzy Taylor, who made an appearance in Underbelly: Razor, which was set in 1920s Sydney. Justin Rosniak did not reprise his role as Squizzy as Jared Daperis took over the role.[7]

Tell Them Lucifer Was Here depicts the 1998 murders of Victorian police officers Gary Silk and Rod Miller. It shows the enormous efforts of the Lorimer Task Force in leading the manhunt for their killer or killers.

It stars Brett Climo, Jeremy Kewley, Todd Lasance, Greg Stone, Dimitri Baveas, Ditch Davey, Jane Allsop, Annie Jones, Paul O'Brien, Daniel Whyte, Chris Bunworth, James Taylor, Craig Blumeris, Jasmine Dare, Marshall Napier, Robert Taylor, Shanti Pezet and Lee Cormie, with a return guest appearance by Don Hany as Nik 'The Russian' Radev - the same character he played in the original Underbelly series (which was set a few years after the events that take place in this movie).

The movie had its premiere screening across Australia on the Nine and WIN Networks on Monday 7 February 2011, followed by an encore screening on GEM on Sunday 13 February 2011.

Late in 2010 this telemovie hit a legal snag as part of a pending court case in the NSW law courts, which resulted in a slightly altered version of Lucifer being broadcast in Sydney and NSW on Monday 7 February.[9] The version screened in NSW omitted one particular scene and changed the names of a number of individuals in the case (for example "Bandali Debs" changed to "Patrici Fabro"); however, in an oversight, the subtitles were not edited and showed the original names. When the DVD of the Underbelly Files telemovies were released, Tell Them Lucifer Was Here was omitted from the release in NSW only. Like the first series of Underbelly in Victoria, releases of the DVD that contained Tell Them Lucifer Was Here had a warning sticker banning the exhibition of the telemovie in NSW.

Infiltration is an adaptation for screen from an autobiographical novel written by ex-cop Colin McLaren. He and his police partner lived undercover in Griffith, New South Wales for a number of years, in order to infiltrate the very closed and deadly Mafia community there. For days, weeks, then months and years, Colin eats with them, sits in their homes and cuddles their kids, all the while climbing the N'Drangheta, finally befriending the Griffith Godfather, Antonio Romeo.[10]

The two-hour telemovie aired on 14 February 2011 and stars Sullivan Stapleton as Colin McLaren, Jessica Napier as Jude, Tottie Goldsmith as Sara, Kassandra Clementi as Chelsea McLaren, and co-stars Valentino del Toro, Buddy Dannoun, Glenda Linscott and Henry Nixon.[11]

The Man Who Got Away tells the story of David McMillan who was a British born Australian drug smuggler and the only westerner in history to escape from Klong Prem prison in Bangkok.

It stars Toby Schmitz as David McMillan and Claire van der Boom as McMillan's partner Clelia Vigano. The cast also features Jeremy Sims, Aaron Jeffery, Nicholas Eadie, Brendan Cowell, Freya Stafford, Josh Lawson, John Orcisk, William Zappa, Heather Mitchell and Deidre Rubenstein. It also features Anthony Tsingas as David's father.

The Man Who Got Away premiered on the Nine Network on Monday 21 February 2011.[9]

Chopper will be based on Australia's most notorious gangster, Mark "Chopper" Read, in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.[12]

The series Fat Tony & Co. was confirmed on 3 August 2013, and production for the series began on 5 August 2013. Based on Tony Mokbel, the series covered the manhunt for Mokbel that lasted 18 months and dismantled a drug empire and was also filmed in Greece. The series saw the return of Robert Mammone as Mokbel, Vince Colosimo as Alphonse Gangitano, Gyton Grantley as Carl Williams, Les Hill as Jason Moran, Madeleine West as Danielle McGuire, Simon Westaway as Mick Gatto, Gerard Kennedy as Graham Kinniburgh and Kevin Harrington as Lewis Moran.[18][19]

Informer 3838 is a television series focusing on criminal barrister-turned police informer Nicola Gobbo (code name informer 3838) and her involvement in the Melbourne gangland killings. Commissioned by the Nine Network and produced by Screentime, it aired in late April, 2020.[20][21][22] It follows Nicola Gobbo from her days studying law at Melbourne University in the mid-1990s, up to the very end of the deadly gangland war in 2010 following Carl Williams' death in Barwon Prison and the aftermath. Informer 3838 gives a new insight to the relationships Gobbo made in the criminal underworld with figures like Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel. The return of these characters to the Underbelly franchise also means the return of Gyton Grantley performing his previous role of Williams. Robert Mammone also resumes his casting as Mokbel. Jane Harber also returns as a policewoman this time to Underbelly, previously portraying Detective Steve Owen's partner in the first season. Rhys Muldoon plays ecstasy dealer and family man Terrence Hodson.

On 22 June 2010, it was announced that the channel Starz would remake the Underbelly series. It would not be based on the original series, but instead the writers would look for American gangs and rewrite situations in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, replacing character traits and outcomes.[23]

This six-part mini-series aired on TV3 in New Zealand from 17 August to 21 September 2011. Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud is set in New Zealand between 1972 and 1980. Events depicted include the origins of the Mr. Asia drug syndicate and its original leader, Marty Johnstone. Though not a part of the Australian series chronology, this series is partly a prequel and partly runs concurrently with events in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities. Main characters include Marty Johnstone, Andy Maher and Detective Constable Ben Charlton.