HBO To Remake Aussie Series In Romania

Australian crime comedy Small Time Gangster is being remade in Romania by HBO Europe.

Before you sprint to Google, Small Time Gangster was an overlooked eight-episode series from production house Boilermaker-Burberry Entertainment that screened on Foxtel's Movie Extra channel in 2011. It made its free-to-air debut on SBS One last year.

The Australian series starred "ohhh, that guy!" Steve Le Marquand as well as renowned local actors Samuel Johnson, Sacha Horler, Gary Sweet and Underbelly: Squizzy's Jared Daperis.

The series followed Tony Piccolo (Le Marquand), a married, suburban father of two who cleans carpets by day, and clocks by night. And by that we mean he moonlights as a mob enforcer. Cleaning people's clocks? Whatever, it's a valid euphemism. Either way, it's such a great concept, it seems a shame the original run apparently flew so far below the radar.

Known as Umbre in Romania, HBO Europe's show is set to start production in early June, and will replace the character of Tony with that of Reiu, a Budapest-based cab driver with a sideline in collecting debts for the local mob. When Reiu accidentally kills someone, he seeks to distance himself from his brutal employers, only to find himself out of his depth in the world of organised crime.

The Romanian version of Small Time Gangster will also run for a planned eight-episode season, and will be the third original series produced in Romania by HBO Europe.

Screenwriting duties are being handled by scripter and news editor Bogdan Mirica, with award-winning La Limita De Jos A Cerului director Igor Cobileanski pegged for the big chair. The series will air early next year.

In the interim, maybe chase down the original series if you haven't seen it already. Gary Sweet would probably appreciate it.