OBJECTIVES: Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is an uncommon yet aggressive form of skin cancer.  In 2008, CMM was found to be the sixth most common cancer in the UK. The aim of this review was to identify the incidence of advanced CMM in the United Kingdom (UK). The definition of advanced CMM was stage IIIc and stage IV disease in affected patients. METHODS: Multiple sources including the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL were searched between December 2010 and March 2011. Searches were also conducted by scanning the websites of the Office of National Statistics, Cancer Research UK as well as the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. A narrative synthesis was undertaken due to heterogeneity in included studies. RESULTS: Of the three included studies, 2 were conducted in Scotland while one was undertaken in the East Anglia region of England. Although all patients had a confirmed diagnosis of CMM, variations in staging methods and unclear or insufficient reporting made it challenging to identify patients with stage IIIc and stage IV disease. Both studies undertaken in Scotland at different periods reported that 2% of all melanoma patients had advanced CMM at the time of diagnosis. However, the definitions of advanced CMM were not similar in each study. The incidence of stage IV CMM reported in 3,971 patients from East Anglia decreased from 0.42 to 0.13 per 100,000 population per year between 1991 and 2004. CONCLUSIONS: This review highlighted the lack of, and need for primary studies to estimate the incidence of advanced CMM in the UK. In order to examine trends across UK as well as identify patients for targeted treatment, we suggest that researchers must clearly define this sub-group in future studies.