Beyond the Darklands is an Australian true crime television series that airs on the Seven Network

Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

. It is narrated by Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (actor)

Samuel Johnson is an Australian actor, radio presenter and voiceover artist.He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne and is best known for his role as Evan Wylde in the television series The Secret Life of Us.-Starting out:At the age of 14, Johnson performed in his first school play, cast in a...

, with each episode focusing on a certain criminal (usually a murderer or team of murderers), with commentary from clinical psychologist Dr Leah Giarratano

Leah Giarratano

Leah Giarratano is a clinical psychologist and author who specialises in a number of areas including psychopathology and trauma counselling.She has written a number of novels with themes which are related to her work experiences...

 providing insight into the minds of the criminal(s).
After screening the first four episodes in early 2009, the show was taken off the air, only to return later that year for a further four episodes.
Via a phone call on 11 November 2009 a Channel Seven spokesperson confirmed that the show will be returning in the New Year with new episodes.
Due to a court injunction Channel Seven was prevented from screening the episode featuring Peter Dupas

Peter Dupas

Peter Norris Dupas is an Australian serial killer, currently serving three consecutive life sentences for murder. His violent criminal history spans more than three decades, and with every release from prison has been known to commit further crimes against women with increasing levels of violence...

 in Victoria.

Beyond the Darklands Australia is based on the original TVNZ series and book created by the New Zealand clinical psychologist Nigel Latta

Nigel Latta

Nigel Latta is a New Zealand psychologist. He is also the host of the television show Beyond The Darklands, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Teenagers and The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show....

. The TVNZ series has been shown in Australia on the ci channel on Foxtel.

Tagline

What turns a person into a monster? In this new, insightful documentary series, one of Australia's leading clinical psychologists, Leah Giarratano, explores the dark side of human behaviour as she delves into the minds of some of Australia's most notorious criminals.
Interviews with those who knew them - family members, schoolmates and colleagues among them - reveal the lives and psychology of those who have committed shocking crimes.

Episode guide

	Air date	Plot synopsis
Episode 1	18 March 2009	In 1986 David and Catherine Birnie David and Catherine Birnie David John Birnie and Catherine Margaret Birnie were an Australian couple who were serial killers. They murdered four women ranging in age from 15 to 31 in their home in the 1980s, and attempted to murder a fifth... went on a five week rampage of sexual violence - abducting, raping and murdering four Perth women. As teenage lovers the Birnies formed an intense bond of sex, devotion and crime. Reuniting in their 30's, their relationship spiraled into depravity. Cruising the streets together, they abducted young women to satisfy David Birnie's sexual desires. The Birnies are Australia's serial killing couple.
Episode 2	25 March 2009	Andrew "Benji" Veniamin Andrew Veniamin Andrew "Benji" Veniamin was an Australian criminal, convicted car thief, murderer accused of killing 7 underworld figures and was one of the key figures involved in the Melbourne underworld killings... : Between 1999 and 2004, Benji was Melbourne's most feared underworld executioner. Too small to make it as a boxer he was determined to make the big time in crime. He was sometimes charming, often violent, always fearless, and convinced he would not live past thirty. He was right. By the time he was shot dead by Mick Gatto, police believe he had killed seven men, some of them senior underworld figures, some of them his close friends, but the Victorian police never managed to bring a single murder charge against him. Gain unprecedented insight into his world through an exclusive interview with former gangland wife Roberta Williams, who held vigil over Veniamin's body after he was gunned down in Melbourne in 2004.
Episode 3	1 April 2009	In late 2003, William Matheson The Body in the Sports Bag murder In December 2005 William Harold Matheson was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Lyndsay van Blanken in Sydney, Australia in a case titled "The Body in the Sports Bag" murder. He is currently serving a life sentence with a non-parole period of 18 years.... brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend, Lyndsay Van Blanken. He strangled the pretty 18-year-old with cable ties before dumping her body in an abandoned storeroom. That same night he calmly played the cello in front of an audience of thousands. He showed no emotion. Known for his bizarre behaviour, Matheson would spend nights wandering city streets scavenging for dead animals or sifting through rubbish.
Episode 4	19 April 2009	Leslie Camilleri and Lindsay Beckett: The master and his apprentice. Together, and fuelled by injecting each other with amphetamines, Leslie Camilleri and Lindsay Beckett abducted teenagers Nichole Collins and Lauren Barry from their camp site in Bega, NSW and took them on a hell of a road trip. Along the way the girls were subjected to degrading and repeated sexual abuse. After 10 hours of torture, at their final stop, Camilleri ordered Beckett to kill the girls after they washed themselves in a creek to get rid of evidence. Lauren was drowned and stabbed. Nichole's throat was slashed while she was tied to a tree. At the time, the men were well known to police and the judicial system as a double act responsible for other violent crimes and sexual abuse. When months later a jury found Camilleri guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison never to be released, all he did was yawn. The case came to be known as the Bega Schoolgirl Murders Bega schoolgirl murders The Bega schoolgirl murders refers to the abduction, rape and murder of New South Wales schoolgirls, 14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega, New South Wales on 6 October 1997.... .
Episode 5	17 August 2009	As a career criminal, Neddy Smith Neddy Smith Arthur Stanley "Neddy" Smith is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of rape, armed robbery and murder.Smith has been serving a life sentence since 1989 and is presently imprisoned in Long Bay Correctional Centre after being moved from Lithgow Correctional Centre in New South Wales,... enjoyed the protection of corrupt NSW police during the 1970s and 80s, most notably from disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson Roger Rogerson Roger Caleb Rogerson is a controversial former detective-sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force. Rogerson was convicted of perverting the course of justice and lying to the 1999 Police Integrity Commission... . He was given the "greenlight" to commit any crimes he wanted in return for giving favourable evidence about a police shooting. He rode a wave of criminal success organising armed robberies and dealing heroin that earned him millions of dollars and a lifestyle that matched. When the police protection deal fell apart, Neddy blew the whistle on a decade of police corruption, sparking a Royal Commission.
Episode 6	24 August 2009	Bilal Skaf Bilal Skaf Bilal Skaf is a serial gang rapist who led groups of Lebanese Australian men who committed gang rape attacks against women in 2000.... orchestrated attacks that would shake public confidence in the justice system, ignite racial tension and leave behind scores of women whose lives are damaged forever. In 2000, a series of brutal gang rapes took place in Sydney. The gang leader was 18-year-old Bilal Skaf, who with his brother Mohammed, organised the abduction and rape of four girls in three separate attacks, one of them lasting more than six hours. Up to 14 men were involved, with the youngest just 13. Even after they were caught, the rapists continued to harass the victims, knowing that without key testimony from a victim, police wouldn't have a case. According to police these were the worst rapes they had ever investigated. The judge agreed, giving Bilal Skaf the longest jail term for an offence that wasn't murder. At no stage did Skaf show any remorse or compassion for the girls whose lives he had ruined. Today Bilal Skaf is locked away in the NSW Supermax prison, a fate reserved for the worst of the worst.
Episode 7	31 August 2009	When Peter Dupas Peter Dupas Peter Norris Dupas is an Australian serial killer, currently serving three consecutive life sentences for murder. His violent criminal history spans more than three decades, and with every release from prison has been known to commit further crimes against women with increasing levels of violence... attacked his next door neighbour with a knife at the young age of 15, no-one suspected he might go on to be one of Australia's worst serial killers. He had always been described as a tubby, shy boy, one who simply looked too weak to even stick up for himself at school. But it was under that unassuming, baby-faced guise that Peter Dupas got away with brutal sexual crimes against women throughout Melbourne for more than 30 years until he was finally apprehended in 1999. He proved anyone can be a Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde.
Episode 8	7 September 2009	Katherine Knight Katherine Knight Katherine Mary Knight was the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She was convicted of the murder of her partner, John Charles Thomas Price in October 2001, and is currently detained in Mulawa Correctional Centre now known as Silverwater women's... committed a murder that's almost incomprehensible. In February 2000, the former abattoir worker stabbed her de facto husband to death, skinned him and then cooked his body parts in a pot on the stove. She then proceeded to set the table for his children's arrival, complete with vindictive letters. This appalling murder shows the darkest reaches of the human mind. Katherine Knight is Australia's first and only woman to be jailed for the remainder of her life without parole.
Episode 9	14 September 2009	Take a look into the sinister mind of drug king and killer Terry Clark Terry Clark Terry Clark , born Terrance John Clark in Gisborne, New Zealand was also known as Terry Sinclair, Tony Bennetti and Mr Big, was a head of the "Mr Asia" drug syndicate which imported heroin into New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom in the 1970s.-Career:Clark was well known for his... , head of the Mr. Asia drug syndicate in the late '70's. Full name Terrance John Clark. His story is one of a bad boy gone worse - as a boy he was cruel and manipulative and as a man he extended his repertoire to include torture and murder.