Pill-pushing mum's life unravels

The tale of Underbelly's Danielle, played by Madeleine West, is fleshed out in Fat Tony & Co.

Underbelly moll’s back story is rich and riveting, says Dominic Corry

Nostalgic Neighbours fans may well forever associate actress Madeleine West with Dee, the blonde bombshell who drew out Toadie's burgeoning romantic side in the early 2000s, but in the decade since she left the show, West has become one of Australia's most prominent leading ladies.

Now she is the female lead in the new true-crime miniseries, Fat Tony & Co, which premieres on TV One on Tuesday at 9.40pm.

Although it doesn't technically come under the Underbelly banner (for boring rights-related reasons), Fat Tony & Co is in fact a direct follow-up to the first Underbelly series and reunites much of the cast, including West as Danielle McGuire, moll to notorious drug trafficker Tony Mokbel (Robert Mammone).

These two originally had a much larger role to play in the first season of Underbelly, but most of their story was culled for legal issues.

"Tony Mokbel was still in court and any portrayal we put together could have been seen as prejudicial to his criminal case," West explains. "So, unfortunately, we lost a lot of the content and the story was never fleshed out. Finally being able to tell their story in all its gruesome glory was an absolute delight."

Did West have unresolved matters with Danielle McGuire? "Absolutely. Her story hasn't been told and it's such a rich and interesting story. Out of all the characters we've met in the Underbelly series, she's the only who's still out there and still causing mischief. There is this woman, an attractive woman and a mother at that, and she was out there pushing pills and doing this, that and the other. I'm not saying what she did was right, but it's a great story. And that's one thing that Australians do well and love - a good story."

"Underbelly changed the landscape of what was possible on Australian TV. In the past there would be the occasional series that tried to push the boundaries, but Underbelly went for it full throttle. It can be very stark, quite horrifying, or very amusing. I think that's why it was so successful. It challenged the audience."

Does West buy into any of the hand-wringing about the Underbelly series glamorising its subjects?

"Anything that depicts something that is in any way taboo is accused of glamourising it. For three years, I played a high-end escort in a show about prostitutes called Satisfaction. And we were met with the same response. But these stories are out there and they're happening every day.

"We're all quite happy to watch a show about a serial killer. But when we create characters who could essentially be the girl-next-door or the guy down the pub and we insert taboo issues, suddenly people are jumping up and down."

Fat Tony & Co premieres on TV One at 9.40pm on Tuesday