Underbelly
FX UK
Interesting spin on the suburban gangster story, looking at ten years in the life of an Australian mob family: think Neighbours meets the Sopranos. Lots of leisurewear, barbies, and E-pressing machines running all night in houses you could imagine Kath and Kim living next door to.
With a high incidence of death for characters throughout the series, it's something of a hard sell - you don't know who's going to stay the distance, so you can't get as attached as we could with the Bada Bing crew. But after a few episodes it takes on its own flavour, showing the loose connections between the mobsters, and their volatile, casual flip between life and death. The cops chasing them emerge too - with a grizzly by-the-book chief (who likes to bake his own shortbread).
For fans of recent Aussie shows, the cast have been in everything from The Secret Life Of Us, Heartbreak High and yes, Home And Away and Neighbours...
When it was shown in Australia, some of the court cases involving the real gang members were still pending, so they banned it in the state of Victoria, which all sounds pretty unworkable.
NIce to see FX - home of The Wire, Breaking Bad and Burn Notice etc - spreading their reach to bring us other shows worth watching from around the world. Can't help thinking they've really made the terrestrials in the UK look lazy in the last few years.
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10th Nov 2008 - Tumblr
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