Small Time Gangster is a comedy drama television series that airs on the Movie Extra channel. Tony Piccolo (Steve Le Marquand) is trying to lead a normal life by running his own business legally, being a good husband to his wife, Cathy (Sacha Horler), and a father to his two children, Mathew (Sean Rees-Wemyss), and Melanie (Nicole Gulasekharam).

Tony’s legitimate carpet cleaning business is doing great, but his side job, not so well. Tony hires a couple of young guys to clean carpets while he is busy doing Barry Donald’s (Gary Sweet, Househusbands) dirty work. Barry is a loan shark that hires Tony to collect unpaid debts from unwilling participants. Barry makes a very special request of Tony that will turn his world upside down.

Tony’s new sidekick, Charlie Donald (Jared Daperis, Underbelly: Squizzy), idolizes Tony because he is a “bad guy”, but later on down the road, he begins to see a significant change in Tony’s behavior. Cathy has also been paying some extra special attention to Tony’s odd behavior. She begins to question his commitment to their marriage and as the old proverb goes, “if mama isn’t happy, nobody is happy”.

Tony is forced to make a very important decision that could change his life forever, one that he finds difficult to turn down, especially now that it involves the sexy temptress and pub owner, Darlene (Gia Carides). 

Tony continues to hide his secret profession from his family, while Charlie invites himself into Tony’s personal life and becomes extra close with Melanie. Will Tony be forced to leave his small time gangster life behind or he turn into the reincarnation of “the baby face killer”?

Review

I love this Australian television series because it is so comically criminal. Steve Le Marquand’s acting is dead on, as well as, Gary Sweet and Jared Daperis. This is definitely a show that the entire family can enjoy. The writers have not used any type of shock factors to grab the viewer’s attention because it is truly not needed. You will sit back and laugh your butt off throughout the entire first season. Hey! Australia where is Small Time Gangster season two. The show deserves an 8.5 out of 10.