98 minSeason 1 • Episode 2
LatestDetective Sergeant Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson got fame because he knew how to take care of most dangerous and violent criminals. His success was, however, also due to the sinister alliance with violent underworld figures like Neddy Smith who got police protection in exchange for tips and money.
Set in the 1970s and 1980s in Sydney, the miniseries concerns the relationship between controversial former Detective Roger "the Dodger" Rogerson and notorious criminal Arthur "Neddy" Smith. Rogerson and his colleagues were accused of giving Smith a "green light" to commit crimes without Police interference, with the relationship fraying when Rogerson orders hitman Christopher "Mr. Rent-a-Kill" Flannery to murder Police Officer Michael Drury.
Acting
Richard Roxburgh's Rogerson: charm that curdles into menace.
Direction
Jenkins lets corruption feel dangerously, boringly normal.
Production
Sydney locations that reek ofauthentic period squalor.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Rogerson was still alive when this aired; he sued unsuccessfully. The real Neddy Smith died in prison in 2021.
This essentially ended Roxburgh's leading-man innocence—he'd play creeps and villains for the next decade. The real Drury murder remains officially unsolved, though Flannery disappeared (presumed killed) in 1985.
AU
