Underbelly: Razor, the fourth series of the Australian Nine Network crime drama anthology series Underbelly, originally aired from 21 August 2011 to 6 November 2011. It is a thirteen-part series detailing real events that occurred in Sydney between 1927 and 1936. The series depicts the "razor gangs" who controlled the city's underworld during the era and the violent war between the two "vice queen" powers, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh. It is also the last season in the Underbelly franchise that contains 13 episodes. In contrast to the previous Underbelly instalments, which were based on books by John Silvester and Andrew Rule, Razor is based on the Ned Kelly Award-winning book of the same name, written by Larry Writer.
Contents
Synopsis
Razor is set during the "Roaring Twenties" and 1930s, mainly between 1927 and 1936 in Sydney, when organised crime in Australia became more prominent. The series details the story of the bloody battle between the era's most feared "vice queens", Tilly Devine and her rival Kate Leigh, plus the "razor gangs" which controlled the Sydney underworld during that time. Embroiled in the violence is the country's young police force and a young girl called Nellie Cameron, determined to lose her innocence and destined to become the most famous prostitute in the land.
Cast
Main cast
Danielle Cormack as Kate Leigh, rival of the Devines and sly grog queen
Chelsie Preston Crayford as Tilly Devine, brothel madam
Anna McGahan as Nellie Cameron, a notorious prostitute embroiled in the violence of the era
Jack Campbell as 'Big Jim' Devine, Tilly Devine's husband
John Batchelor as Wally Tomlinson, business associate and boyfriend of Kate Leigh
Khan Chittenden as Frank 'The Little Gunman' Green, notorious criminal and assassin
Richard Brancatisano as Guido Calletti, feared gangland figure and Nellie Cameron's first husband
Craig Hall as Detective Inspector Bill Mackay, part of the country's young police force
Lucy Wigmore as Lillian May Armfield, one of Australia's first policewomen
Steve Le Marquand as Sergeant Tom Wickham, a member of New South Wales' first drug 'squad'
Recurring and guest cast
Jeremy Lindsay Taylor as Norman Bruhn, the era's most feared standover man
Justin Rosniak as Leslie 'Squizzy' Taylor, Bruhn's Melbourne-based rival
Felix Williamson as Phil 'The Jew' Jeffs, infamous gangster
Lincoln Lewis as Bruce Higgs, associate and lover of Kate Leigh
Pippa Grandison as Mona Woods, singer at one of Kate Leigh's sly-grog shops
Catherine Glavicic as May Seckold, an employee of Kate Leigh.
Conrad Coleby as Constable Wharton 'Syd' Thompson, the other half of Sydney's first drug squad
Guy Edmonds as Greg 'The Gunman' Gaffney, an associate of vice-queen Kate Leigh
David Willis as Bill 'The Octopus' Flanagan, an associate of Kate Leigh
Rel Hunt as William Archer, bathhouse proprietor and part of the razor gangs
Matt Boesenberg as John "Snowy" Cutmore, standover man
Adam Tuominen as Frank 'Razor Jack' Hayes, member of Bruhn's gang
Pacharo Mzembe as 'Nigger', a gangster. (Redubbed 'Nugget' for the Underbelly: Razor – Uncut DVD release).
Jessica Mauboy as Gloria Starr, the Fifty-Fifty Club singer
Ratings
The premiere episode made Razor the highest rating drama in Australian history, surpassing the record set by Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.