‘A suitable job for a woman’: women, work and the television crime drama

Abstract

The first series of the Channel Nine crime drama series, Underbelly, is the starting point for a reflection on the relationship between women, work, crime and feminism. Following a brief description of the episode ‘Wise Monkeys’ written by Felicity \\Packard which features three of the ‘real’ women involved in Melbourne's gangland murders, the essay considers the significant role women have played in the depiction of crime on television as creators, writers and actors. In the end, it all comes down to power and control, who wins and who loses in what Gregg and Wilson (2010) have identified as the ‘cultural economy of infamy’ where the playing field is still far from level, either in the television industry or on the ‘mean streets’ of crime.