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Rumour: Underbelly: Squizzy Taylor

Whispers of a period piece for the next Underbelly are gathering momentum...

Whispers of a period piece for the next Underbelly are gathering momentum…

TV Tonight hears huge sets are being constructed for a series on Squizzy Taylor, who was was shot by a Sydney gangster in 1927.

Such a series would return the Underbelly brand to Melbourne, where it first began.

Wonder if they can get David Atkins (who played the role on film in 1982) to play a cameo? The byline for that movie was “The mob wanted to make him a corpse… The public wanted to make him a hero.” It’sreally not so far removed from some of the other crims who have featured in the brand.

At least it’s a good way to avoid legal cases getting in the way.

Nine also has three Underbelly telemovies to air in 2011.

Watch this space….

18 Responses

  1. Yes!!! When I heard of a period piece of Underbelly was coming out, I assumed it was going to be about Squizzy Taylor. I was so disappointed that it was going to be yet another Sydney story. Bring Underbelly back to Melbourne and do a series on Squizzy Taylor.

  2. The movie was terrible. Such a waste of a great story in the hands of midgets. Wonder where they got the idea from? Oh yeah, that’s right. Me. Hope the Underbelly treatment does it justice, so to speak.

  3. what about Underbelly: Kelly Era LOL how many do they want to make….

    perhaps the Underbelly: Postcard bandit would be alright! Brendan Abott can feature!

  4. Always thought that those stories about the next Underbelly being based on Qld pre Fitzgerald enquiry was just fodder for the Brisbane locals. No way that a production would ever feature events from Qld history – the network would think that Sydney siders and Melbournites wouldnt tune in cause apparently nothing ever happened in Australian history north of the border.

  5. Why should they show/remake Power Without Glory instead?

    Or are they going to make Underbelly: The Snoopy Tanner Years.

    Frank Hardy’s Power Without Glory was set in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Carringbush and was a mix of fact and fiction … oh … hang on … I get it now.

  6. They really are milking a franchise idea but It’s one telemovie, and it’s been done before. What are Nine going to do that’s contemporary and new?

  7. I think this is a bad idea…..the 1920’s story will just be really expensive and will drive the young audience away. I thought they were doing a Queensland story or one set on Strike Force Tuno? Both much better ideas I think.

  8. Andrew M, you’re right about us learning about our past. Squizzy was a drug dealer (cocaine) , a pimp , a stand-over man, etc. Very high class?
    I like the idea of this but I’m not too sure about how well it will rate. The strength of the 1st Underbelly was its contemporary history.

  9. Going historical is a good move. The lawyers don’t get paid and we learn a bit more about our past. Besides, there was a better class of criminal in those days compared to the lowlife drug lords of today.

    What to cover after Squizzy? I reckon the Painter & Docker wars of the 1960s and ’70s is a no-brainer.

  10. It would have to be very set oriented given the gentrification of Collingwood/Abbotsford which has destroyed much of the streetscapes this could be filmed in. This area was once warehouses and workers cottages. It is now trendy apartments and warehouse conversions.

    As I said recently, this topic would be interesting but was covered excellently by Power Without Glory 30 years ago.

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