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Copycat claim on Nine drama

A former policeman appearing in Gangs of Oz says Underbelly's orange grove scene was taken straight his book.

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ub-orangesMake up your own mind on this one.

A former policeman who appears in Seven’s Gangs of Oz story on the Griffith underworld has criticised Nine’s Underbelly.

Ex-policeman Damian Marrett, author of Undercover says the “orange grove” scene in Underbelly mirrored one between himself and Ross Trimbole, the nephew of the mafia boss, after he believed his cover had been blown. In the scene dramatised by Nine, Terry Clark was made to kneel down in the orange groves and about to be shot by Robert Trimbole.

“I was watching it and thought, ‘This is unbelievable’,” Marrett, 42, told News Limited.

“The orange grove scene was taken straight from my book, Undercover, and it really p****s me off.

“I emailed Screentime Australia last year to see if they wanted extra consultancy but I never heard a thing, and now they’ve blatantly taken this scene straight from my book because it’s powerful.”

But Screentime Australia executive director Des Monaghan said,”There’s a lot of evidence that Clark and Trimbole worked together.

“We go to great lengths to get it right.”

Last week the son of Donald Mackay also criticised factual inaccuracies in the premiere.

Source: Herald Sun

18 Responses

  5. This is really sad. I already didn’t like this show and now I find out they are stealing as well while inflicting this show upon us. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s Channel 9. 😛

  6. A couple of observations about Underbelly.

    For me, U1 was all about the strength of the characters and through them, the violence and mayhem they imposed on Melbourne.

    U2, for me, doesn’t have the same strength of characters. The story line is not as tight or compelling, especially when trying to tell a complex story. IMHO Blue Murder did a far better job in outlining the complexity of corruption that was NSW Inc.

    As for the sex scenes. We should all partake in the mood that the producers intended and skull a drink for each titty we see. There wouldn’t be a sober house in the country. To me the sex scenes add nothing to the storyline. I couldn’t help but sing “am I ever going to see your (tits) again” as the Angles closed the show.

    Finally, the sound mixers should be shot. Far too often the background noise levels are on par with the dialogs levels. This all makes it hard to hear what little constructive dialog it contains.

    Still, it is nice to see Aussie drama. Just don’t treat us all like mindless sex fiends!

  7. @ Kev, RSPCA Animal Rescue is actually a copy off Nine’s factual Animal Hospital which began in 2002 hosted by Georgie Parker but was renamed to Animal Emergency in 2008.

  8. Seven cashed in on the genre with Gangs of Oz!

    Whether Ramsay started on Seven, really it was Nine that made him the hit of ’08!

    And yes, there are tonnes of transformation shows, however The Outdoor Room was purely made thanks to the success of Domestic Blitz

    Enough said on that topic… I am no fanboy as mentioned above, however the list dragonchik listed was extremely biased, and I just wanted to look fairly at both sides…

  9. Maybe he should sue, ch9 must be be raking in the advertisers with the ratings they are getting for UB. They can afford a few law suits. 😉

    Editing out the ads in last night ep in the 2nd half there were more ads then program with breaks 4 minutes long!

  10. To be honest, I dont think Underbelly is very good. It lacks the intensity of the first series. I don’t feel like someone could get knocked off at any moment. Maybe i’ve watched too many soprano eps but I expected Robert Trimbole to be quieter, darker and nastier. He comes across as not such a bad bloke. Newton is a good actor but hard to seem him as nasty. The music is great. Too many nude scenes (can’t believe I just said that) but there just isn’t enough drama.

  11. can we please not go into the long in depth discussion of copying again. it’s always the same: fanboys making lists, then opposite fanboys discussing why they don’t count as copying and one upping the others

    we all know that all the networks do it, if something makes money they want it.

    as for this Marrett guy, i do feel for him because it was his personal work, but someone should have warned him that it would probably happen so that he wouldn’t be so “p****d off”

  12. @irishbabe, i was the one that wrote the list, we could talk about who copies who till were blue in the face so i’ll cut down

    that list was just from the 2008/’09 season and you seem to have listed every show that 7 has ever copied, if my list was the same i would never finish. that said you’re list is:

    9) 60 Minutes – 7) Sunday Night
    9) Underbelly – 7) Gangs of Oz
    ^^ which are completely different shows IMO, GOO is a doco UB is a drama
    9) Kitchen Nightmares and Hell Kitchen – 7) Boiling Point
    ^^ you are aware that ramsay started on 7?
    9) Domestic Blitz – 7) The Outdoor Room
    ^^ they are transformation shows. do you have any idea how many there have been on all 5 networks how do you know who copied who?

  13. To be fair (even though you’re clearly biased) both sides should be looked at:

    9) 60 Minutes – 7) Sunday Night
    9) Today – 7) Sunrise
    9) A Current Affair – 7) Today Tonight
    9) Mornings with Kerri Anne – 7) The Morning Show
    9) Underbelly – 7) Gangs of Oz
    9) Kitchen Nightmares and Hell Kitchen – 7) Boiling Point
    9) Getaway – 7) The Great Outdoors
    9) Backyard Blitz / Domestic Blitz – 7) The Outdoor Room

    Copying and repackaging / relabelling is not right, and I’m not saying Nine isn’t a copier, but excluding Seven from the copy cat list isn’t true, because Seven copy of Nine, Ten and many other networks just as every network does! You so rightly put it “welcome to the TV world mate” – No network is better or more above board than another!

    P.S. Bottom line is whether Seven do news / current affairs better than Nine, the point is Seven copied off Nine!

  14. OK Kev, it can be said that Nine’s ‘Missing Pieces’ is a copy of ‘Find My Family’, and that ‘Animal Emergency’ is a copy of Seven’s ‘RSPCA Animal Rescue’, however, if ‘Tody On Sunday’ is considered to be a copy off ‘Weekend Sunrise’, it must be said ‘Sunrise’ was a copy off ‘Today’ in the first place! Customs is a British series repackaged, so to a lesser extent it’s not really a copy of Border Security. Crime Investigation Australia is produced by Foxtel, so really Nine can’t be considered to have been the copiers of Seven’s ‘Forensic Investigatiors Australia’, as with Ladette to Lady, the ABC were the first to air Ladette to Lady, and even when Nine aired Ladette to Lady, it was the British version before it became enough of a hit for Nine to produce their own Aussie series – Either the producers of Ladette to Lady (UK) stole the idea from Australian Princess, or the producers of Australian Princess stole the idea from the UK! So really, not all of them can be considered clones!

  15. “The orange grove scene was taken straight from my book, Undercover, and it really p****s me off.”

    welcome to the TV world mate. one scene isn’t as bad as a whole show.

    need we bring out the list. cheers to dragonchik for writing this up in another post
    ch7) find my family / ch9) missing pieces
    ch7) weekend sunrise / ch9) today on Sunday
    ch7) RSPCA animal rescue / ch9) animal emergency
    ch7) border security / ch9) customs
    ch7) triple zero heroes / ch9) everyday heroes
    ch7) medical emergency / ch9) emergency
    ch10) rush / ch9) rescue
    ch10) surf patrol/ bondi rescue / ch9) deadly surf
    ch7) undercover angels / ch9) random acts of kindness
    ch7) forensic investigators australa / ch9) crime investigation australia
    ch10) australian princess / ch9) ladette to lady

  16. To Neon Kitten – you didn’t miss much from not watching the first episode – except the horriffic shot of Matthew Newtons bare bottom – it’s still giving me nightmares.

  17. I missed the first episode because Nine’s lawsuit against IceTV resulted, as it so often does, in the EPG’s timeslot for the encore being listed as “N/A Channel Nine”.

    Can’t be arsed watching the rest now, since I missed the start. Nice work Nine, great way to promote your show 🙂

    Marrett, meanwhile, should sue Nine and Screentime immediately. After all, Nine takes copying of “intellectual property” so seriously they’ll take the defence of what they claim to be theirs to the High Court…

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