The series is based on events in New Zealand from 2016, in which the largest ever drug bust in New Zealand, worth up to $150 million if sold in 1 kg lots, occurred in the town of Ahipara, at the base of Ninety Mile Beach where more than 500 kg of methamphetamine was discovered in a caravan and hidden in sand dunes.
The story is also documented in the non-fiction book Underbelly: Inside NZ’s Biggest Meth Bust by Jared Savage, which provided information about the subsequent trial in which eight people were sent to prison for decades, having been foiled by a regular Kiwi couple.
White moved to Ahipara while he wrote the screenplay, and spent time with the couple and in the community, walking their dogs on the beach.
[3] The cast features a mix of stellar New Zealand names Robyn Malcolm and Temuera Morrison with a cluster of screen newcomers.
[4] The cast also includes Demetrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, JP Foliaki, Xiao Hu, Xana Tang, Nikita Tu-Bryant, Fei Li and Louise Jiang.