Ten years ago when Underbelly premiered, it was the crime drama that had everyone talking.
And now that the latest in the series, Underbelly Files: Chopper , is set to be screened this year, Australia’s passion for the show has been reignited.
Some claimed the original was the best Aussie TV drama of all time. Others called it, “searing, brave and unrelenting”. Many, however, slammed it, claiming it presented a highly stylised, even glamorised, version of crime and violence.
No matter what the reaction, Underbelly quickly became the hottest TV series in the country, as it explored the dark and brutal side of Melbourne’s underworld gangland war that lasted for a decade from 1995.
Underbelly wove together…
