MUMBAI: Within weeks of a new movie hitting cinema screens across the UK a BBC Inside Out West investigation discovered pirate DVDs of the new animated film Wallace And Gromit are being sold for as little as £5. The DVDs are poor quality copies of the film. The special on piracy aired a couple of nights ago.

Reacting to the discovery of counterfeit DVDs, Aardman Animations' Sean Clarke says: "They do not show the film in its full glory - and that is a huge kick in the teeth for everybody at Aardman who put all their effort into making this film. I think something needs to be done pretty quickly. DVD has grown recently and so has the piracy issue. The quickest way to get on top of the problem is to make it illegal to buy it."

June Vickery who, until recently ran a video library does not think of dodgy DVDs as a victimless crime. Her business has just closed down, partly because of the easy availability of cheap pirated DVDs.

She says: "We have been here 23 years now and we've enjoyed it. It's not for not loving the business any more, but it’s getting harder. Piracy is a big part of that. I fear with piracy, it takes away that diversity. It'll give you whatever the latest blockbuster is at the cinema. But you can't go to a pirate and get Hamlet, Great Expectations, Gone with the Wind, or any of the classics. It greatly diminishes film as a source of entertainment and inspiration."

The special which aired on BBC One discovered that the fake DVDs are part of a much wider problem in the UK which also involves counterfeit clothing.