‘What rubbish!’: Mark ‘Chopper’ Read’s widow slams Nine over its planned Underbelly miniseries

THE widow of Mark “Chopper” Read is furious about Nine’s planned Underbelly miniseries on her late husband, saying only she knows the untold story.

The widow of notorious crime figure Mark “Chopper” Read is furious about Channel Nine’s planned Underbelly series about her late husband.

EXCLUSIVE

A PLANNED miniseries about notorious gangland figure Mark “Chopper” Read has infuriated his widow, who says she put to rest the “Chopper character” long ago.

Margaret Read lashed out at Channel Nine’s Underbelly Files: Chopper series, announced last month and set to air in 2017, promising the “untold and uncut” story of the former stand-over man, who spent more than two decades behind bars.

“I’m not interested in a (miniseries) and certainly not one that’s part of the Underbelly series,” an emotional Mrs Read said.

“Where’s this ‘untold and uncut’ story coming from? They don’t have the rights to any material. If it’s based on media reports, stuff in the public domain, that’s not untold — that’s been done. We know that story.

“If it’s about my marriage and family, that’s not underbelly. I don’t want my life told through the lens of a producer. They don’t know me and they didn’t know Mark.”

TV producer Screentime is making the biopic without her authorisation, Mrs Read said.

They offered $10,000 for the rights to books penned by Read, which she holds copyright to, but she declined.

“I’m not a greedy person but fair’s fair,” Mrs Read said.

“They said to me there’s not much money in TV. If there’s no money in it, why are they doing it? For the love of the story? What rubbish.”

Eric Bana and Kate Beahan the in 2000 film Chopper, which Margaret Read says was heavily exaggerated. Picture: Supplied

Mrs Read, who works as a teacher’s aide with autistic children, said her late husband’s final years were devoted to living a decent and honest life, to make amends for his well-documented dark past.

The hit film Chopper starring Eric Bana was “about 10 per cent true” and took artistic liberties like “bringing people back from the dead and killing off others who were still alive”, she said.

The character of Chopper’s girlfriend was a heroin-abusing prostitute. The name was changed but “everyone knew it was meant to be me”, Mrs Read said.

“They trashed me. I’m not that person — I have never been that person. I’ve never engaged in criminal activity.”

Mark Read with his wife Margaret in happier times. Picture: Supplied

She wants to shield her son Roy, now 13, from similar exaggerated representations.

“I thought this was all over — I thought, great, the ‘Chopper’ mentions have stopped and now my son and I can live quietly.

“I’m not going to have strangers rehash and trash Mark’s memory. I don’t want to relive this. This just stirs the possums again.”

ANGLE NOT LOCKED IN

NINE declined to comment on Mrs Read’s concerns and Screentime insisted it was “very early days” in the production.

“The truth is we’ve only just had the commission from Nine and we haven’t firmed up what materials we’ll use and how we’ll approach it,” Screentime boss Bob Campbell said.

“In the end we want to make this as thoroughly researched and authentic as we can.”

Discussions with Mrs Read were “commercial in confidence” but ongoing, he insisted.

“The only thing I can comfortable say is that we don’t want to replicate the feature film,” Mr Campbell said. “The development process is just starting.”

Margaret Read worries her late husband’s memory will get the same dramatised mistreatment it did in the Chopper film.

Peter Banki, a partner Banki Haddock Fiora and an expert in intellectual property law, said the legalities were unclear until the show airs.

“If they use any material that (Mrs Read) has the rights to … she probably has a case,” Mr Banki said.

“But nobody owns his life story. There’s a lot about Read available via public material and anyone can put that into a film or dramatised series.

“Provided they don’t use visual or written material she owns the rights to … there’s probably nothing she can do.

“But if there’s information in the books that can’t be obtained anywhere else and it’s used, she probably has a case. Again, it all depends on the end product and you can’t say for sure until it airs.”

THE REAL MARK READ STORY

THERE are two versions of the Mark “Chopper” Read story, insists the person who knew him better than anyone.

Mrs Read said the infamous image people have of the rough, heavily tattooed and plain-talking man was heavily embellished.

The feature film Chopper that made him a household name was “almost entirely fiction”. Even accounts Read gave of his antics were mostly myth.

“I knew the real Mark,” Mrs Read said.

“We lived a normal, honest life. We were a married couple in love, raising a child. Mark went to work and he paid his taxes. He did the right thing and we were happy.

“When we got married, he turned his life around and he did it successfully. He reinvented himself … he turned his back on crime.”

Mark Read with his wife Margaret.

Many would assume the family was well off, given the film, multiple published books and endless speaking engagements.

But Read died penniless, declaring bankruptcy and leaving behind nothing.

“He was very trustworthy and there were a lot of people over the years that just chipped away at him, treating him like a financial piñata,” Mrs Read said.

“They kept bashing until there was nothing left. I tell you what, it bloody wore him down.”

Three years on from his passing, Mrs Read said she’s still grieving.

“Mark was everything to me,” she said.

She fears the memory she cherishes is going to be tarnished by a planned Underbelly series, digging up his dark past and dramatising it, ignoring his efforts to rehabilitate.

Mark “Chopper” Read had a difficult and dark past but turned his back on crime and tried to live a decent life in his later years, widow Margaret says

And Mrs Read worries she’ll receive the same treatment.

“When you’re married to a person like Mark, with his past, people make assumptions about you. They think, oh she must be a baddie. I’m far from it.”

Mrs Read works as a teacher’s aide with autistic children and volunteers. She raises her son Roy, 13, and lives a quiet life in Melbourne.

She wants it to stay that way.

“I’ve shielded my son for a long time,” she said.

“This (miniseries), I don’t believe for a moment they’re going to tell the true story. It’s going to be awful.”