UNDERBELLY BADNESS A SCREENTIME production for the NINE NETWORK Des Monaghan, Greg Haddrick Jo Rooney & Andy Ryan EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Peter Gawler & Elisa Argenzio PRODUCERS Peter Gawler, Felicity Packard, Jeff Truman & Niki Aken SERIES WRITERS Tony Tilse, David Caesar & Ian Watson SERIES DIRECTORS MEDIA ENQUIRIES Amanda Poulos: NINE NETWORK T: 02 9965 2489 / M: 0414 503 418 / E: [email protected] © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd UNDERBELLY BADNESS PLEASE NOTE: By order of the Court the identity of some individuals and the circumstances surrounding certain events have been obscured. Table of Contents Synopsis Page 3 and 4 The Crook Page 5 The Cop Page 6 Production Information Pages 7 to 8 Production Interviews Pages 9 to 18 Select Cast Interviews Pages 19 to 37 Key Crew Biographies Pages 38 to 46 Principal & Select Supporting Cast List Page 47 Select Cast Biographies Pages 48 to 58 © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 2 UNDERBELLY BADNESS BRIEF SYNOPSIS One of the most dangerous crooks in Australia would never have been caught if it wasn’t for a cop who wouldn’t quit. From the western suburbs to the bush, from three-hatted restaurants to the strip clubs of Surfers Paradise, riding Harleys, helicopters and muscle cars, their battle raged for a decade. SYNOPSIS ANTHONY JOHN MICHAEL PERISH lived according to his own rules. He was both charismatic and utterly ruthless. He had bikies terrified, women entranced, family beholden. Yet, while crims, crooks and ex-cons spoke Perish’s name with fear, no-one in the legitimate world knew he even existed. He was so clever that despite his five star lifestyle and criminal reputation, he slipped completely under the radar. He left no trace. He had no identity. He was invisible. A ghost. Anthony Perish only made one mistake in his criminal career - and it was just his bad luck a remarkable cop called GARY JUBELIN was watching… © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 3 UNDERBELLY BADNESS ONE LINE SYNOPSES Episode 1 Thy Will Be Done When a prisoner is abducted and murdered while on day-release, police embark on a massive man-hunt to find the killers. The 10-year investigation leads them to a ruthless underworld boss who is totally invisible to the police and the legitimate world. Episode 2 Cut Snake & Crazy F*** Taskforce Tuno cultivates a dangerous and unpredictable informant in their hunt for Terry Falconer's killers. Episode 3 The Loaded Dog The police get their first major break on locating Anthony Perish, after Frank agrees to go undercover. Perish arranges a chilling summit meeting with a bikie boss. One of Perish’s henchmen gets a lesson in obedience. Gary Jubelin’s obsession with catching Perish starts to affect his private life. Episode 4 Year of The Rooster When Strikeforce Tuno is disbanded, Gary devises a new strategy solve the Falconer murder. The police finally track down Anthony Perish and arrest him, but Rooster proves more elusive than ever. Pam is stretched to breaking point in her relationship with Gary. Episode 5 Troubleshooting A car dealer’s life becomes a nightmare when he befriends a charming new customer, Anthony Perish. Decker goes to extreme lengths to prove his loyalty to The Company. Camille comes face-to-face with Perish while undercover at the Mudgee vineyards. Episode 6 Road To Nowhere Gary and Tim travel to Queensland in an attempt to stop an underworld execution. ‘Undies’ goes into business for himself, with disastrous consequences. Newlywed Decker is drawn back into working for Anthony Perish. Gary’s new girlfriend gets a surprise introduction to life with a busy detective. Episode 7 Bang, Bang, Kill, Kill Unaware he is under police surveillance - Decker juggles two different hitman contracts with the impending birth of his baby. Police get a crucial breakthrough in the hunt for Anthony Perish when they catch the killer of a Melbourne underworld figure. Determined to capture Perish, police analyst Camille hides a major health problem from her colleagues. Episode 8 Strike Force Tuno Nine years after the death of Terry Falconer, the case against the Perish brothers appears doomed when Decker refuses to co-operate. Frank O’Rourke risks his life to testify against Anthony Perish. Gary and his team are even more determined to get justice when they learn Camille is suffering from a terminal illness. © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 4 UNDERBELLY BADNESS THE CROOK Early 1990s. A young bloke from the outer western suburbs of Sydney gets bitten by the private enterprise bug, cooking amphetamines in the family shed and selling to bikies and low level dealers. One of the dealers, however, turns out to be an undercover cop working with the local detectives. Police set up a sting to trap the young man but his fine-tuned instincts for trouble kick in at the last moment and he manages to make a fast getaway on his chopped down Harley. And that’s the last the cops see of him. One brush with the law is enough. He goes underground, ceasing to exist as a normal citizen. He doesn’t vote, doesn’t pay tax, doesn’t pay a parking fine, never owns a single thing in his own name ever again. Nine years later. ANTHONY JOHN MICHAEL PERISH has earned himself a reputation as an utterly fearless enemy. And yet the NSW police of 2001 (post Wood Royal Commission) have never even heard of him. Perish is truly master of his universe. Except for one thing. Some years earlier his grandparents, honest, hard-working migrants from Yugoslavia, were murdered and no one has ever been charged. Their deaths are a permanent burr under his saddle. More than that, they’re a cancer eating at him. And then one day a snitch passes on a tidbit of information that changes Anthony Perish’s life. He learns a low-life crim called TERRY FALCONER has been named as the hot suspect in the murders and is about to be questioned over the matter by the state coroner. Perish directs three of his men to dress up as cops and “arrest” Terry Falconer so he can ask him a few questions of his own about his grandparents’ killings. Sadly Falconer doesn’t survive the interrogation. Perish cuts up his body and disposes of the pieces in garbage bags in a river. But he forgets to puncture those bags and a few days later Terry Falconer’s dismembered corpse floats to the surface in instalments … It’s the first mistake Anthony Perish has made in a decade. It will eventually bring him undone. But not before he’s spent another decade inflicting his own particular type of BADNESS on the world. © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 5 UNDERBELLY BADNESS THE COP DETECTIVE SERGEANT GARY JUBELIN of Homicide feels personally offended when he hears about the Terry Falconer murder. That the poor bastard was abducted by men masquerading as cops really gets his blood boiling. He’s delighted when he’s made Officer in Charge of the investigation, and then the computer spits out a name for his new team – “Strikeforce Tuno”. “Tuno”? “Tuna”? Whatever – you can’t argue with a computer. Though, truth be told, Gary argues with just about everybody… Gary Jubelin is no ordinary copper. On the one hand, he’s a practising Buddhist who drinks green tea instead of coffee, who meditates regularly, and who stands on his head for fifteen minutes at a time to relieve stress (in his office!); while on the other, he’s a tightly coiled spring of passion and energy who runs marathons for the sheer pleasure of putting himself through the agony, who drives his team and himself relentlessly, who never backs down in a fight, who never gives up on a promise. Nicknamed “Crazy Fuck”, Gary has always been a square peg in a round hole, adored by his juniors, respected by his equals, loathed by his bosses. But one thing everyone agrees on, Gary Jubelin is like a dog with a bone when it comes to difficult cases, and the Falconer murder will prove to be just that and more. When Anthony Perish’s name comes up as the prime suspect, Gary is nonplussed. How can this Perish bloke have flown under the radar for so many years? Who is he? Where is he? Why are so many tough men so fearful of him? And most importantly, how does Tuno catch him? The hunt for Anthony Perish occupies the best part of ten years of Gary’s life. It’s a different sort of marathon. A normal policeman would give up. But no-one ever accused Gary Jubelin of being normal. © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 6 UNDERBELLY BADNESS PRODUCTION INFORMATION Title Underbelly: BADNESS Format 8 X 1 Hour Drama Series Production Company Screentime Pty Ltd Broadcaster Nine Network Australia Worldwide Distribution Digital Rights Group Limited 62 - 65 Chandos Place London WC2N 4HG United Kingdom (excluding Australia &New Zealand) Principal Cast (in alphabetical order) Hollie Andrew Luke Bovino Joshua Brennan Angie Diaz Michael Dorman Jodi Gordon Michael Gorman Douglas Hansell Aaron Jeffery Sophie Katinis Jody Kennedy Goran D. Kleut P.J. Lane Jonathan LaPaglia J.R. Laveta Ella Scott Lynch Zara Michales James Monarski Jason Montgomery Matt Nable Luke Pegler Geordie Robinson Terry Serio Justin Smith Josh Quong Tart Steven Vidler Benedict Wall Leeanna Walsman Sophie Webb Rory Williamson Ben Winspear © 2012 Screentime Pty Ltd and Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd 7 UNDERBELLY BADNESS Executive Producers Des Monaghan Greg Haddrick Jo Rooney Andy Ryan Producers Peter Gawler Elisa Argenzio Series Writers Felicity Packard (Episodes 1 & 2) Peter Gawler (Episodes 3 & 4) Jeff Truman (Episodes 6 & 7) Niki Aken (Episodes 5 & 8) Directors Tony Tilse (Episodes 1, 2, 7 & 8) David Caesar (Episodes 3 & 4) Ian Watson (Episodes 5 & 6) Director of Photography Joe Pickering Production Designer Paddy Reardon Costume Designer Louise Wakefield Hair & Make-up Designer Angela Conte Composer Burkhard Dallwitz Nine Network Publicity Amanda Poulos Nine Network Australia T: 02 9965 2489 / M 0414 503 418 E: [email protected] Unit Publicist Annette Smith Ned & Co.