On 21st April 1976, gunmen held up more than 50 members of Melbourne's venerable Victorian club, escaping with several million dollars in untraceable cash.The robbery had been so brilliantly planned and executed that police were left without a single clue - and so strict was the robbers' code of silence that not even the underworld was aware of their identities. The robbery was so daring, so clean, that it earned the admiration of law-abiding Australians...and compliments from the victims themselves.THE GREAT BOOKIE ROBBERY is a compelling essay in crime, violence and robbery. It's a story of cunning, loyalty, fear, brutality and death. Boasting a cast that includes John Bach, Gary Sweet, Bruno Lawrence, Gary Day, Rebecca Gibney, Candy Raymond and Ray Meagher, it is also the toughest of crime dramas - boasting a drive, grittiness and ferocity seldom seen on Australian screens.The Melbourne landscape of wet suburban streets, city skyscrapers, passing trams, cobbled lane ways and sleazy shopfronts has never looked better - and the impression of a mean, tough, merciless universe is more than reinforced by the driving complex narrative and the excellent playing of the principals. MORAN'S GUIDE TO AUSTRALIAN TV SERIES