Underbelly: articles


Underbelly DVD breaks sales records

THE popularity of gangland drama Underbelly has carried over into its DVD release, which has become the fastest selling Australian drama series of all time.

More than 70,000 copies of Underbelly Uncut, the DVD version of the Channel 9 show, have sold in its first week of release, despite it not being available in Victoria because of a court ban.

Many retail stores sold out on the first day, and sales are expected to top 100,000 by the end of the weekend.

Roadshow Entertainment originally intended to distribute just 30,000 copies, before upping it to 60,000 copies ahead of the release on May 8.

A total of 130,000 copies have now been shipped out to stores.

Paddy Bryans, marketing director at Roadshow Entertainment, said the demand was unprecedented.

"I've never experienced anything like this," Mr Bryans said.

"We sold our initial shipment within the first few days of release and have had to pull out all the stops to get more stock into stores by the weekend."

The DVD featuring all 13 episodes of the controversial series, as well as extended scenes that couldn't be shown on television.

May 16, 2008
AAP