Crime Pays: Underbelly, Homicide and Blue Murder

For half a century, Australian screens have been populated by fictionalised representations of police officers' dirty work and their skirmishes with criminals. Andrew Nette examines how Homicide, Blue Murder and Underbelly each channelled the prevailing concerns of their respective decades into true-crime dramas that were not only engaging but also successful.

Additional keywords: genre, reality, dramatisation, gang.