Article - The North Shore Times, Wednesday 16th July, 2008

Underbelly man tells of new crime series
Ben Falkenmire
Wednesday 16 July, 2008 12:01am

WRITER Greg Haddrick's mantelpiece is starting to get a little crowded.

The former Home and Away writer has three Australian Writers' Guild awards, as well as two Australian Film Institute awards.

After this year's guild awards on August 15, Haddrick, of Gordon, could be adding two more.
As co-producer of the Underbelly miniseries that screened on Channel 9, Haddrick is hoping the show might win an open category, where the sole nominee is a surprise on the night.

"It's been quite phenomenal, the success of Underbelly," he said.

He is certainly in with a chance for his telemovie, The Informant, which stars William McInnes and will screen later this year on Channel 10.

The screenplay-length movie conceived solely for TV is about a man with extensive knowledge on international crime networks and money laundering who works with a government crime agency unsure about his background.

"You never really know if he is a goodie or a baddie or if he is going to turn on them," said Haddrick, 47. "It's good fun."

Haddrick has just started work on the production of the second series of Underbelly, and was hesitant about giving too much away.

"There's no great secret the second series will go backwards in time, as a sort of prequel," he said.

"We're hoping the second series will be just as big as the first."

In that case, Haddrick might want to look at buying a new mantelpiece.