Overview
Underbelly is an Australian television true crime-drama series which first aired on the Nine Network between 13 February 2008 and 1 September 2013, before being revived on 3 April 2022. Each series is based on real-life events. There have been six full series, with season 7 being a miniseries. A 2014 series titled Fat Tony & Co is a sequel to the first series but is not branded under the Underbelly title.
Synopsis
The first series is based on the book Leadbelly: Inside Australia's Underworld, by journalists John Silvester and Andrew Rule. The series also borrows the title 'Underbelly' from a previously successful series of 12 true crime compilations by the same authors. Three direct tie-in novels, based on the first three seasons, were also later published by the same authors as part of this series, and a separate 16th book (Underbelly: The Golden Casket) was published in 2010. The fourth series is based on the book Razor by crime author Larry Writer, which was subsequently republished as a tie-in. A fifth tie-in novel, by Andy Muir, was published for the final series. Despite being part of the Underbelly series, the first 12 books have never been republished with the famous Underbelly logo, and the logo was only used from books 13 to 18 (including Golden Casket and the republishing of Razor).
The fifth series, Underbelly: Badness, is based on Sydney underworld figure Anthony "Rooster" Perish, his brother Andrew and their associates. It is set between 2001–2012, and broadcast from 13 August 2012. This is the only season that did not receive a 'tie-in' novel.
A sixth series titled Underbelly: Squizzy, based on the events surrounding Joseph "Squizzy" Taylor and set between 1915 and 1927, began airing on 28 July 2013.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).