Underbelly: Feature Planning
LEAD:
Underbelly’s use of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, to expose the underhanded activities of Gangland Melbourne’s most notorious “hoodlums and thugs,” was supposed to be “a cautionary tale.” Instead it served as a “disgraceful glamorisation(s)” of the behaviours and lifestyles of these criminals, according to former Supreme Court judge, James Wood.
The first series of Underbelly, attracted just over 1.3 million viewers. This almost doubled by the premier of the third series, with a reported 2.2 million people tuning in.
“There is nothing honourable or admirable in relation to the people who are depicted in these programs,” Mr. Wood says, “You’ve got a high chance of ending up in prison for 20 to 30 years. These shows don’t show that.”
STORY PLAN:
- Gather ratings of all the programs in the same time-slot as and including Underbelly. Also look at audience demographics.
- Look at comparisons between Underbelly and other Australian crime shows, and also international crime shows.
- Look into interviewing police and/or a legal team on their insight about what the show illustrates and its real-life implications.
- Interview a relative of someone whose life has been directly connected to someone involved in ‘gang-banging’ activities and how this has affected them?
- If possible, also interview someone from the shows network to see why they chose to broadcast such a show and why they think it is such a success.
- Look into censorship laws and whether this program has crossed any of them and if so why is still being broadcasted?
