Underbelly

I, yeah, no, caught up with a heap of ex-footballers and commentators.

Actually had a piss next to an actor that was on Neighbours and Underbelly.

Yeah.

He was Jason Moran on Underbelly.

Oh, the short one.

Les Hill.

So it was quite, it felt like it was, you were getting an insight into what had gone down on the streets of Melbourne.

And really, when we think about it, Eddie Maguire's tenure at Nine was short, and this is really the one big success that he pushed through and that he can claim credit for, because it wasn't just that first series of Underbelly.

You know, they did get sequels and prequels and telemovies out of it.

It kind of kept their drama quota content points going for years and years afterwards.

a bit like we spoke about with Blue Murder in New South Wales where that wasn't allowed to be seen.

It was the same situation here in in Victoria that it was but really it became the best marketing tool for the show ever because suddenly it was this you know it was this show you weren't allowed to see yeah so there were people you know going across the border to get dvds you know going across the murray to to pick some up or maybe some that fell off the back of the mark back off the back of the truck at the campbell markets you'd get it so it's kind of like it was became the show that everybody was able to you know talk about privately at you know dinner parties or catching up at work saying have you seen did you see this i've got a copy

And that first series of Underbelly was fantastic.

None of the sequels or the shows that followed ever reached the peak of what that first one.

Don't come for me, Mick Gatto.

This is all just from watching Underbelly, please.

Yeah, it's not libelous.

He's also 71.

He...

There was something...

I w- I remember watching the Underbelly ser- Underbelly series.

Mm

had his face down prone to the concrete and they put the handcuffs on he and his colleague who was sitting up back to the road and there were police cars, more police cars arrived after that and it was all over in about 15 minutes.

The Underbelly book and TV series gave the conflict a name.

The drama played out in 13 episodes, transforming it from news to history and eventually into mythology.

Shit, Tony, you look like crap, mate.

But the story is more about a succession of different eras rather than a clearly bounded war.

The corruption around Brisbane's Fitzgerald era, Perth's bikey conflicts, Adelaide's organised crime mysteries and the family murders all lack that single nationally recognised storyline.

That's why Underbelly on Channel 9 drew an average weekly audience of about 1.3 million viewers.

And the numbers for the later storylines have steadily shrunk.

You wrote and starred in the 2007 Australian film The Final Winter, drawing on your experience as a professional rugby league player.

You played a hit man in Mr Inbetween, a detective in Underbelly Badness, and Anthony Big Tony Stone in Last King of the Cross.

So I'm guessing you're drawn to the gritty end of town when it comes to storytelling.

Not necessarily, to be honest.

Recorded for violent assault towards his partner, who was also an actress, from home and away.

Last thing I saw him in, I think it was either season two or three of Underbelly.

He is one of the criminals working with the Italian mafia.

Clark, also known as Mr. Asia.

Yeah, you say with Newton's character, he's further distanced from what's going on.

So another one of those things.

Underbelly is definitely the Game of Thrones of Australian TV.

Oh, absolutely.

The shootout, despite its place in Australian criminal history, has so many more theories that it could go into, but I'll leave that for the true crime podcasts.

Whatever the case was, the Berkeley Street Shootout has seen significant popular cultural appeal across history, with multiple plays and songs being written about it, and Underbelly, the popular Australian crime drama series, featuring Taylor in two of its seasons, Underbelly Razor and Underbelly Squizzy.

And with that, we reach the notes section of our podcast.

February saw a cyclone land in northern Queensland near Cairns, affecting it and towns such as Innisfil, Ingham and Townsville with floods that killed 36 people, while the Collier-Galliver sank off the coast of Terrigal, New South Wales with a loss of seven.