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Shooting
starts for second Underbelly series - 17th October
2008
(Credit:
The Australian)
A
second series of the acclaimed Underbelly TV drama
went into production today dogged by the question
of whether it would it be as good as the original.
Underbelly - A Tale of Two Cities will focus on
the illegal drug trade in the 1970s, a long way
from the more recent Melbourne drug wars portrayed
in the hit series which aired on Nine this year.
Instead of Carl and Roberta Williams the villains
will be Aussie “Bob” Trimbole and
Terry “Mr Asia” Clark.
Announcing
the start of start of production in Sydney and
Melbourne, the head of drama for the Nine Network
Jo Horsburgh said “the series is proving
to be as rich and exciting as the first series”.
Nine is desperate to make Underbelly 2 the hit
it was the first time around. Other Nine dramas
this year, including Canal Road and The Strip
have not fared so well. It wasn’t screened
in Victoria until recently because it may have
influenced the outcome of a trial.
Comparisons
between Underbelly 1 and 2 are inevitable. Producers
Screentime have been under pressure to come up
with a prequel or a sequel ever since Nine attracted
big audiences for Underbelly earlier this year.
Should it be a prequel looking at the same Melbourne
criminals when they were younger or a sequel now
they’re all dead or in jail?
Eventually,
producers decided to go right back to another
rich period in Australia’s criminal history
between 1976 and 1986 - but many younger viewers
were not alive when anti-drugs campaigner Donald
Mackay was a household name.
Screentime’s
executive producer Des Monaghan emphasised the
series would be an improvement and not a disappointment:
“We are very excited about Underbelly -
A Tale of Two Cities - which promises to be even
bigger and better than the first series”.
Actors
Roy Billing (Trimbole), Andrew McFarlane (anti-drugs
campaigner Donald Mackay) Matthew Newton (Terry
Clark) and Peter O’Brien (George Freeman)
have already been cast.
Greg
Tingle comment
I
think the second series is likely to be as good,
but not quite as popular as the original. There’s
only even one first and the massive media and
public buzz, fueled by then current criminal proceedings,
backed up by frequent reference to Network Nine
in the courts and the papers, all point to that
equation. David Gyngell at the team at Nine have
hit the jackpot with Underbelly, and let’s
hope it doesn’t get prostituted to Crocodile
Dundee III depths, where it makes money (again)
at expense to its legacy and overall high production
standards. Great to see Matthew Newton cast this
time around (as everyone knows its going to be
a winner, as opposed to an unknown quantity last
time the cattle call was done), and it would be
something to see Newton right there in the mix
with Reb, Gyton Grantly (Carl), Westaway (Gatto)
and the crew. I wonder if there’s going
to do much with the storyline on my old mate Bert
Wrout, who teases that he knows where a number
of the bodies are buried! Sometimes the real news
doesn’t make the news, as in some matters
revolving around Wrout, however Australia eagerly
awaits the next installments of prime time gangsters
and mobsters Aussie style down under. Not sure
what its going to do for Australia’s image
on the tourism front, but that’s another
story. I don’t foresee Baz getting dragged
into advertising or PR scenarios for this portray
of some of Australia’s society happenings.
Maybe we can expect to see a dash of product placement
re Packer’s Crown Casino, or maybe they
don’t want to get quite that real to the
true story of Melbourne’s underworld? If
this show doesn’t fire up James’ passion
for Australian television, nothing will. It’s
all good fodder for the papers and should keep
Nine out of the doldrums it was in a few years
ago.
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