Television series
Underbelly
Underbelly is a sprawling crime drama that chronicles real Australian underworld figures across different eras and cities, told from both criminal and police perspectives. It's visceral, darkly funny, and propulsive—less interested in moral complexity than momentum. For people who love true crime with style and don't need their criminals to be sympathetic.
If you liked this
The Sopranos1999
The template for prestige crime drama: morally murky characters, family dysfunction tangled with business, and a willingness to let violence genuinely disturb rather than entertain. HBO's definitive work.
But Slower than Underbelly, more introspective. Some seasons sag. The ending divides people sharply.
The Wire2002
The definitive American crime epic: cops, dealers, politicians, and port workers in Baltimore. Vast in scope, unsentimental, and structured like a novel. Changes everything.
But Takes commitment—five seasons, ensemble cast, slow first stretch. Contemporary Baltimore, not stylised crime history.
Homicide: Life on the Street1993
Baltimore detectives solving murders in real time, mixing procedural rigour with dark humour and genuine character depth. Pioneering in treating police work as unglamorous.
But Dated '90s aesthetic and some tonal unevenness. Less cinematic than contemporary shows.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Once Upon a Time in America1984
Both trace underworld rise and fall across years, following particular men through shifting power structures. Leone's meditation on loyalty mirrors Underbelly's interest in how crews fracture.
Sergio Leone's three-hour epic about Jewish gangsters in New York across decades: friendship, betrayal, and the American dream corroded by violence. Formally audacious and heartbreaking.
But Deliberately paced. The non-linear structure demands attention. It feels like an opera, not a thriller.
More like this (7)
MINDHUNTER2017
FBI agents develop criminal psychology during the 1970s serial killer boom. Meticulous, tense, and fascinating—less about action than the logic of getting inside a killer's head.
But Methodical and slow. Cancelled before its intended end, leaving threads unresolved. Not for the impatient.
McMafia2018
Organized crime across Europe and Russia: money laundering, corruption, and family obligation. Slick, international, and genuinely tense. Hides intelligence beneath style.
But Cancelled after one season. The plot sometimes prioritizes breadth over clarity, which frustrates.
Gomorra: La Serie2014
Naples mafia drama in Italian, unflinching about corruption at every level. Operatic in scale, savage in tone, and absolutely committed to its world.
But Subtitled. Relentlessly grim. Multiple plotlines spread across seasons make it dense to track.
Ozark2017
Accountant money laundering for cartels in the Midwest. Propulsive plotting, genuine stakes, and a protagonist family that fractures under pressure rather than bonding.
But Increasingly absurd plotting in later seasons. Characters repeat arcs. Finale divides viewers.
Line of Duty2012
Corruption within British police investigated by an elite unit. Intricate plotting and dialogue-heavy scenes that crackle with tension. Utterly addictive.
But Heavily dependent on twist revelations that sometimes feel engineered. The accent-heavy dialogue takes adjustment.
In Fabric2018
Both use real 1980s Australia/Britain as a character. Where Underbelly's era is nostalgic backdrop, Fabric makes its period genuinely uncanny—an inversion of tone.
A haunted red dress moves between owners in 1980s Britain; a crime film disguised as a surreal psychological horror. Gorgeously strange, formally inventive, darkly funny.
But Not a conventional crime story—it's dreamlike and oblique. The horror elements will alienate straight-drama viewers.
Z1969
Both dramatize real crimes within corrupt systems where police and criminals are entangled. Z predates Underbelly's structure but shares its interest in institutional complicity.
Costa-Gavras' political thriller about a assassination in a fictionalized Greece. Taut, contemporary, and structured as urgent procedural—investigating a crime to expose systemic rot.
But Overtly political; subtitled; 1960s filmmaking feels distant. It's patient and dialectical, not visceral.
People
Cast
Production
- Des MonaghanExecutive Producer
- Jo HorsburghExecutive Producer