Underbelly Season 2 (A Tale of Two Cities) is based on real life, true crimes that occurred in Australia, The Land Down Under, over an eleven year time frame starting in 1976 and ending in 1987. 

The show opens with the introduction of furniture store owner and political figure, Don Mackay (Andrew McFarlane, Blue Heelers) who is holding a political rally to promote the ban of marijuana. His wife, Barbara (Diane Craig, Home and Away) instantly becomes concerned about Don’s welfare and as well she should.

Terrance John Clark, Kiwi Terry (Matthew Newton) approach the illegal bookmaker, George Freeman (Peter O’Brien, The Killing Field), to entice him to become partners with him in the heroin trade, but Terry finds out real quick that George has no interest in him or his heroin.

Terry, being of high intellect, was prepared for George’s reaction, to his offer, already had plan 2 devised. Bob Trimbole, Aussie Bob (Roy Billing, Blue Heelers) was nowhere near prepared for what Terry had planned. He first rejected Terry’s offer, but later agreed to it after much dexterous persuasion from Terry, himself.

Terry meets the beautiful Allison Dine (Anna Hutchinson, Spartacus) and they form a love relationship and drug partnership. Getting involved with Allison would prove to be the biggest mistake of his career. 

Douglas (Gareth Reeves) and Isabelle Wilson (Simone Kessell) worked alongside Terry to smuggle heroin from Asia back to Australia, by using a clever strategy that was designed by no other than Terry, himself. Bob schemed a deal with dirty cop that gave him prove that the Wilson’s had dishonored Terry. This along with their reckless, out of control drug use would lead to their demise.

Will this be the downfall of Kiwi Terry or will his new found relationship with the criminal lawyer, Karen Soich (Katie Wall, Introducing the Dwights) keep him out of prison and give him one more chance to inflate his riches? Will Aussie Bob escape a terrible fate or will Chris Flannery (Dustin Clare, Spartacus, Anzac Girls), AKA Mr. Rent-A-Kill murder them all? To discover the true fate of these entralling characters be sure to watch the factual Underbelly-A Tale Of Two Cities. 

Review

The writers of the Underbelly-A Tale Of Two Cities have done a great job transforming the true story of Mr. Asia to the small screen. While some of the information was changed to add entertainment value, the show was overall fairly factual. In terms of entertainment, A Tale Of Two Cities is one heck of a ride. It will keep you entertained and glued to your seat, throughout. Matthew Newton and Roy Billing did an excellent job impersonating Clark and Trimbole. It is probably Dustin Clare’s role that brings the fun an excitement to the series. Underbelly Season 2 deserves a 9 out of 10.