65 minSeason 1 • Episode 2
LatestAustralia's most notorious gangster, Mark 'Chopper' Read, juggles his need for revenge with his growing fame and desire to be a loving husband and father.
Mark "Chopper" Read established a reputation of infamy by becoming one of the toughest criminals in Australian history. But in order to secure the affections of the woman he loves, Chopper fights to go straight. Yet the sins of his past, his ego and an ongoing feud with Syd Collins will make his hopes of a straight life a dangerous and near-impossible enterprise. Underbelly Files: Chopper explores the collision of Chopper's two competing identities — the myth and the man.
Acting
Aaron Jeffery somehow makes this cartoon human. Terrifying and pathetic.
Production
Two episodes, zero fat. Australian TV remembers brevity exists.
Aaron Jeffery
Mark 'Chopper' Read
Ella Scott Lynch
Margaret Cassar
Todd Lasance
Syd Collins
Reef Ireland
Trent Anthony
Michael Caton
Keith Read
Vince Colosimo
Alphonse Gangitano
Jane Allsop
Detective Martin
Alex Andreas
Detective Hendry
Marny Kennedy
Constable Jassic
Rhys Mitchell
Constable Smiley
Septimus Caton
Young Keith Read
Kevin Harrington
Lewis Moran
Debra Byrne
Judy Moran
James O'Connell
Kane Donovan
Alex Williams
Jared Hamill
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This aired after the 2000 film made Chopper a folk hero; the series deliberately punctures that myth. Australians love their criminals until they actually have to live with them.
Aaron Jeffery based his performance on extensive Chopper interviews—he noted the real Read would switch between charming and terrifying mid-sentence, which the two-episode structure mirrors brutally.
AU
