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Underbelly's back: what's your verdict?

 10/02/2009 8:50:00 AM, Sam Next Midway through Monday night's Underbelly series return, a friend of mine texted me to say: "Loving the show, but did we really need to be exposed to Matthew Newton's bare bum?" Which perfectly sums up my reaction, too.

For those who missed the cheeky scene (click here to watch the first episode in full), here's what happened: while he wasn't importing nasty drugs into Australia, Newton's character Terry Clark revealed a fondness for painting in the nude. One such scene of Newton's unclad buttocks lasted an uncomfortably long 10 seconds (it felt like 10 hours — I wonder what Matthew's parents, Bert and Patti Newton, made of it?). Awkward!

“The fact that it's all based on true events makes the storylines all the more grim and gripping”

And, of course, there were loads of other pink bits wobbling about: boobs and bums appeared onscreen with clockwork regularity, hinting that season two will more than match the flesh-baring standard set by the notoriously raunchy first season.


Andrew McFarlane as Donald Mackay

But it's not just the gratuitous nudity that's returned: the dangerous, compelling drama is also back. My heart was pounding in the scenes where Clark and his partner-in-crime, "Aussie" Bob Trimbole (Roy Billing), arranged the grisly execution of Don Mackay (Andrew McFarlane), a Griffith politician threatening to shut down their drug trade.

The fact that it's all based on true events makes the storylines all the more grim and gripping.

Other highlights:

  • The 1970s touches. the groovy costumes and hairstyles felt spot-on without looking silly. And how neat was the old-school cash that the corrupt cops were throwing around?

  • Roy Billing as Bob Trimbole. Billing is a little typecast as a kindly, doddering old fool... who knew he'd be so good as playing a sociopathic, charming drug kingpin?


    • Dustin Clare as self-described "psycho" Chris Flannery, and Nathan Page as "Chuck" Bennett

  • And while the cast is uniformly good, I have to also single out Dustin Clare and Nathan Page for their respective work playing underworld figures Chris "Mr Rent-a-kill" Flannery and Ray "Chuck" Bennett. Their scenes together were electric.

    • But it wasn't 100 percent perfect. A couple of lowlights:

  • Matthew Newton's Kiwi accent is terrible. I wouldn't have known his character was supposed to be from New Zealand if the narrator (Caroline Craig, reprising her season one role) hadn't helpfully pointed it out. He sounds South African!


    • Finger-lickin' good?

  • Peter O'Brien is meant to be playing colourful racing identity George Freeman... but he looks like he's doing an impression of KFC's Colonel. I giggle every time he's onscreen!

    • But these are just minor quibbles. Overall it was a strong return for a series that will undoubtedly be one of the biggest Australian-made dramas of 2009.

    What did you think of Underbelly? Gripping? Scary? A letdown? Too much nudity? Not enough? Tell us your highlights and lowlights in the comments!

    Take a sneak peek at next week's episode at the official Underbelly site.
    User comments
    this is mixed with half truths and the rest has been made up, who really knows the real story???,These types are stand overs,organised crime, drug pay outs,Killers,why do women get so involved? cause they get dragged into things that they don't want to know about, and when they want to get away from all the drama, then they get threatened or worse murdered.Control freaks, what a joke, come on, let's clean them up and out. We don't need their type around, and they make mistakes and then someone else ends up wearing it,they need all this to be noturious, I think they are very mentally sick puppies.
    I found both season one and season two, extremely enjoyable to watch. Fingers crossed for a third season!
    I did not mind the first run of Underbelly and I thought Newtons NZ accent was acecptable however what was the idea of the Network broardcasting re-runs at the same time as new episodes ? They were all over the place with trailers, times and re-runs. I just got sick of it and watched something else.
    You know all these prudish people whining bout sex nd drugs nd nudity nd violence love it all or why watch it ? You give yourselveS away every time your all grubby lil perv's underneath it all
    if you morons watch something and then can not wait to write or email in and whinge about some show with all the vices (after you were warned at the start about the language, the drug use, the violence, the sex scenes and the nudity) WHY WATCH IT THEN? OH I KNOW! JUST SO YOU CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT IT! IN THAT CASE WHY DON'T YOU WATCH THE BLOODY WIGGLES, OR BILL AND BEN THE FLOWERPOT MEN? NO DOUBT YOU LOSERS WOULD FIND SOMETHING THERE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT! BLOODY SANCTIMONIOUS ***!
    I refuse to watch programmes like these which glorify such scum who are parasites in this country. The "Godfather" films were bad enough, now we have our own 'gangster porn' to idolise pathetic beings who barely qualify as human. I find the hype sickening, and how people can watch it, and even celebrate winning 'gold' awards for prurient stories set around recent events where real people were murdered is beyond me.
    Being a Qlder & having lived in NZ for 12 years the accent is very much like that of Sth African re Newtons accent comment!
    Why is nudity pointless yet gratuitous violence is accepatble?? From what I have read about the real facts alot of action happened at Georges strip nightclubs and where you have drugs there is always sex and prostitutes (certainly cant get enough of the Alison Dine character in the flesh but Matthew Newton...not so much )
    Im hooked. Its very enjoyable 2 c a aussie true story. Although, i hate violence1
    A male's *** isn't nudity, how about some meat and 2 veg for once.

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