Underbelly sparks new probe

A 'hit' has been ordered on the Nine Network, with a watchdog to investigate whether controversial drama Underbelly has breached classification guidelines. However it's possible the broadcaster will beat the rap, with the investigation not likely to be completed until after the gritty gangland series has finished screening.

Christian group Festival of Light Australia says the screening of Underbelly, which traces the 1995-2004 gangland war between some of Melbourne's most notorious criminals, has breached industry code of practice classification guidelines on five separate occasions.

The group wants the show reclassified, saying there have been numerous occasions when scenes involving strong coarse language, drug use and nudity have been aired at an inappropriate time.

"I'm concerned that Channel Nine is really pushing the envelope, pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable at what time on TV," Festival of Light national research officer Roslyn Phillips said. "It seems to me as if they wanted the 8.30pm time because a lot more people are watching then ... but, of course, those numbers are swelled by young teenage children."

She said parents were lulled into a false sense of security because of Underbelly's M rating, and she wanted it reclassified. "It's quite clear if you read the guidelines that the sorts of things included in some of the scenes should be MA or AV. And if there are any scenes that are AV, and quite a few of the episodes do contain AV scenes, then ... it should be shown after 9.30pm."

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has confirmed the broadcaster is being investigated, but warns this may take several months. The 13-part mini-series began screening on February 13 in all states and territories except Victoria, meaning the show is likely to be off the air before ACMA has completed its investigation.

"It's not only a case of the horse has bolted, but really nothing happens," Ms Phillips said. "It means the guidelines don't mean anything anymore ... we've got to have a much better complaints system."

Meanwhile, Underbelly has been axed in New Zealand after it rated poorly. The Dominion Post newspaper reported the series, portraying Melbourne’s grisly underworld murders, had been taken off air from the TV3 station after screening only three episodes. “I can’t confirm at this stage when the show will return, only that it will be slightly later in the year in a different slot,” TV3 spokeswoman Jacqui Loates said. When the show first screened at 9.30pm on March 30, almost 225,000 watched the show according to AGB Nielsen Media Research, but by last week 188,600 tuned in.

Underbelly success leads to terrorism thriller

Bouyed by the success of Underbelly, the Nine Network is developing a second true crime series based on a high-profile legal case.

Nine's head of drama, Jo Horsburgh, confirmed it was talking to Screentime, the production company that created the critically claimed series on the Melbourne underworld, about the new series. While it will be made by members of the Underbelly production and writing team, including Des Monaghan, Peter Andrikidis and Greg Haddrick, the project is not related to the string of gangland murders.

"We are in discussion with Screentime to develop another true crime series but it's not Underbelly and it's not a prequel or a sequel," Horsburgh said.

The Sun-Herald understands the two-part series, False Witness, will focus on international terrorism. The Film Finance Corporation has approved funding for the series, which has already been sold to Britain. Its makers describe it as a "high-octane thriller based on the West's worst nightmare: a threat they do not see coming". The series will be set against "the heavily researched feature backdrop of bickering intelligence agencies, fallible police forces and international tensions".

Underbelly is a ratings hit with 1.2million viewers tuning in to Wednesday's episode that finished with the shooting of Jason Moran, played by Les Hill. Nine was prohibited from broadcasting the 13-part series in Victoria due to concerns it might prejudice the trial over the killing of gangland patriarch Lewis Moran, played by Kevin Harrington.

A number of people depicted in the series are involved in police investigations or matters before the courts, making it difficult for any network to make a sequel. Convicted drug trafficker Tony Mokbel, played by Robert Mammone in the series, is in Greece fighting extradition.

Meanwhile, after an impressive turnaround in ratings in the wake of flailing viewer numbers in 2007, Nine is hoping its new mystery-drama series Canal Road will live up to the unenviable task of following in Underbelly’s hugely successful footsteps when it premieres next week. If the credentials of Canal Road’s creators and cast are anything to go by, theory dictates the broadcaster will be in luck.

The show’s architects, those behind McLeod’s Daughters, were not shy in their bid to break through what have until now been deemed socially acceptable limits for a mainstream television offering. The series, which revolves around a central Melbourne medical-legal centre, tantalises viewers with the promise of regular appearances by a high-class escort and a generous helping of steamy sex scenes. “It’s really exciting — when we had a cast screening (it) was just awesome, I don’t think any of us had any idea that the show was so different,” says Peta Sergeant, who plays parole officer Holly Chong in the series. “It’s not like anything that’s on TV at the moment.”

Although pre-screening critical responce has been luke warm, loyal followers of McLeod’s Daughters and Blue Heelers-style productions will at least find it inoffensive and watchable enough. And there are the odd head-turning moments, including a confronting rape scene involving Sergeant’s character in episode two. “That sort of stuff is so challenging, I’ve lost so much sleep over it,” Sergeant says of that and other “challenging” scenes. “But you do it, you get there and nail it and that’s so exciting, to work on something that really stretches you. It’s really exciting as an actor to get a script and go ‘whoa, OK, I have to match this and make it work’.”

Sergeant labels Canal Road “groundbreaking” and says audiences will relate to it. “If you look at the success of (Australian) shows like Secret Life of Us and Love My Way . . . they’re driven by the staple, core characters and people grow to become very attached to those characters,” says Sergeant, who is arguably one of the stand-outs of the series despite its impressive cast of established Australian actors. “I think that’s something Canal Road has managed to do — we’ve got something like nine or 10 people and the stories really revolve around the drama of those core characters.”

This core cast includes Brooke Satchwell (Neighbours, White Collar Blue), Alyssa McClelland (All Saints, Small Claims), Diana Glenn (Satisfaction), Grant Bowler (Wildside, Always Greener, All Saints) and Sibylla Budd (Secret Life of Us).

As with Underbelly, which was banned in Melbourne by a Victorian Supreme Court judge for fear of prejudicing gangland patriarch Lewis Moran’s murder trial, Canal Road did not come without its challenges — there were reports the series caused headaches for its production team last year after executives demanded late script rewrites to remove a lesbian tryst — and Nine will be hoping this investment pays dividends come ratings reporting time.

Despite the delay in its release (filming began in March last year), the debut episode is likely to draw as many viewers as its underworld sibling, if only thanks to cleverly packaged promos which have successfully piqued curiosity.

Time will tell whether this “groundbreaker” will do just that.



Canal Road premieres on Wednesday at 9.30pm on Nine and WIN.

Further reading: Canal Roads dark side

'I don't talk the way she does'

Former gangland wife Roberta Williams says she was moved to tears by the portrayal of her good friend, hitman Andrew Veniamin, in the controversial Nine series Underbelly. But the former wife of jailed gangster Carl Williams has little else positive to add about the controversial drama, saying it's so off the mark it's a comedy.

Williams told Sydney radio station 2Day FM she thought Damian Walshe-Howling gave an excellent performance as Veniamin. "The guy who plays Andrew ... he actually played him well," she told 2Day FM. "There were some parts in it where I had a little cry because he reminded me of him and we were really good friends and very, very close." She added that she felt like her "whole world crushed down on me" when Veniamin was killed.

Williams said she was initially furious when she heard the series was being made, but has since decided to treat it as a piece of humorous fiction. "I got into it and thought, this is a comedy, not reality, it's humorous," she said.

Williams has been very vocal in her criticism of actress Kat Stewart's portrayal of her. "I certainly don't talk the way she does," Williams said. "I sound like some real Aussie chick who comes from the slums of god knows where. Sometimes, yes, I swear, I yell and scream like the police would've heard on lots of listening devices in our home, but I don't conduct myself in the manner they're portraying on the show."

Williams also said she was more prudish than Underbelly made her appear and had never taken the drug ecstasy. "I'm not one of these chicks who spasmodically has sex wherever it's desired like they portray me on the show," she said. "I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to things like that."

Williams, who speaks to her ex-husband most days, said she never really feared for her life during the time of the gangland killings. "I fear more that my children are going to be run over standing on the side of the road than being killed in the, as they call it, Melbourne gangland war," she said.

Her main concern these days is finding somewhere to live. The ex-wife of Melbourne's most notorious gangland killer revealed she was having trouble getting a rental property in her name. "My name, I don't know whether they think a house full of gangsters coming over or whatever it may be that narrow minded people think in their stupid little worlds," she said. "It's been an emotional rollercoaster, there are days where I smile and laugh and I guess people don't see me at night crying about what life was and what's ahead of me."

Further reading: full transcript of the interview between Roberta Williams - wife of jailed drug lord and killer Carl Williams - and the 2Day FM hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O.

Underbelly goes global

Controversial Melbourne gangland drama Underbelly will be seen by audiences around the world in Europe, Asia and Africa after the Nine Network signed an international distribution deal.

Nine on Tuesday announced it had signed a deal with Fox International Channels and UK based distributor Portman Film & Television to broadcast the 13-episode series. Underbelly will be screened across the majority of Fox International Channel feeds, including the UK, Italy, Balkans, Korea, Pan-Asia, Portugal, Russia, South Africa and Turkey.

Nine's chief executive David Gyngell said the deal was testament to the production quality of Underbelly. "To say we are pleased is an understatement - we are delighted that the series will gain international audiences and global recognition."

Underbelly focuses on the story behind Melbourne's infamous gangland killings - a 10-year war between rival factions of the city's criminal underworld. The program has still not been shown in Victoria because of a court order suppressing its broadcast in that state. Nine's head of drama, Jo Horsburgh said the series had been a "terrific creative challenge". "We are hugely proud of this outcome," Horsburgh said.

The show's premiere was the most successful Australian drama launch in Sydney, and nationally in the 25-54 year old demographic, since the OzTam ratings system was introduced.Underbelly was also the number one program on its premiere night for all people in all the markets that it aired - Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Court warns Victorians not to watch Underbelly

The Victorian Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by the Nine Network to show the gangland crime series, Underbelly, in Victoria. Nine appealed late last month against a suppression order placed on the series by Supreme Court Justice Betty King on February 15, which included the transmission, publishing, broadcasting and exhibiting of Underbelly in Victoria. The series, a graphic account of Melbourne’s deadly gangland war, is being broadcast in other states.

While thousands of Victorians have seen the series through bootleg DVDs or internet downloads, the Victorian Court of Appeal today dismissed Nine’s appeal against the suppression order banning the drama. But the court said Nine may be able to show the series once an upcoming gangland murder trial, the verdict and any subsequent appeal period is over.

Justice King ordered the ban because of concerns by the Director of Public Prosecutions that the series would prejudice the trial of a man, who can only be identified as A, and which is due to start next week. While upholding Justice King's ban, Chief Justice Marilyn Warren and Justices Frank Vincent and Murray Kellam found the order was too wide. “It purported to bind every person in Victoria,” they ruled. “In our view, an order made against the applicant not to publish the program Underbelly in Victoria until after the completion of the trial was all that was necessary.”

But the judges warned the reworked order did not give the public the right to publish any part of the series, however they obtained it. DPP Jeremy Rapke QC backed the warning. “It is extremely important that nothing is done which could affect A’s ability to receive a fair trial,” Mr Rapke said in a statement. “I urge all Victorians to heed the stern warning contained in the judgment of the Court of Appeal and to refrain from publishing or exhibiting the series or any part of it, until the completion of A’s trial.”

Rejecting the appeal, the three judges found that if Nine had been able to broadcast Underbelly in Victoria, the 13-part series would have been up to episode eight by the time the jury was empanelled for A’s trial. "Had a jury been empanelled, the trial would have commenced with the prosecution case effectively being supported every Wednesday evening by the weekly docu-drama,” the appeal judges ruled. “In our view taking into account the proximity of the trial and that fact, the judge (Betty King) rightly considered that the dramatic portrayal of matters of mixed fact and fiction which directly relates to the trial of A was a matter of most serious concern.”

The court ruled that Nine be prohibited from broadcasting Underbelly or any part of the series in Victoria until after the trial of A and any subsequent appeal. It also ruled that Nine be prohibited from publishing on the internet in Victoria the ‘Family Tree website - inside Underbelly’, which looks at the evolving relationships between the key characters, until after the trial. A Nine spokeswoman said the network hoped to show Victorians the series, which has been a major ratings winner in other states, as soon as it could.