Bootleg: episode guide


Episode 1

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UK: late 2002 (CBBC)
Australia: August 25, 2003 (ABC)

School children Huntley and Smudger love chocolate and are stunned with everything that is happening around them. They simply cannot believe that anyone caught breaking the law will be fined £6,000 and face up to five years imprisonment. Something is seriously wrong…

Reeling from events, they run to the sweet shop owned by Mrs Bubby — a veritable Aladdin’s cave of sweets. Every treat imaginable and a lot more can be found on her shelves. When they tell her of the ban, she declares her determination to fight. But what can one shopkeeper do against the powers of the special police?

It seems however that nowhere is safe from the new chocolate edict. Nearby, Mr Blades runs the local bookshop — a bibliophile’s paradise. When visited by the secret police, the mild-mannered bookshop owner claims to be allergic to chocolate and convinces the errant law enforcers that he would not dream of breaking the prohibition order by keeping books on chocolate. But is there more to Mr Blades than meets the eye?

And Smudger’s own family feel the full force of the new law when his parents’ café is raided and his magnificent cakes are taken away. Even Huntley’s family are nonplused by the sudden developments. Huntley’s mother — a doctor — knows that chocolate in moderation will not do any harm.

Oblivious to his own family’s fate and returning home from Mrs Buddy’s shop, Smudger and his best friend have a lucky escape when troopers catch them eating chocolates in the street. They make good their getaway, but only just. Smudger returns home to find his family distraught and frantically removing any trace of chocolate from their own home before the special police raid.

But what can anyone do? The GoodforYou Party is setting the rules and the rules say no chocolate. At school they preach against confectionery abuse and young GoodforYou party pioneers sing the benefits of broccoli. Special police with chocolate detection dogs hunts down any law breakers who are then taken away for re-education.

Suddenly, doctors’ surgeries are filled with people claiming ailments that can only be cured with a chocolate bar and suddenly there is a flourishing black market for chocolates at exorbitant prices. Despite warnings, their love for chocolate is too much for Huntley and Smudger, who have a near miss when a black marketeer is arrested. Material promoting the benefits of chocolate is mysteriously disappearing. A sense of paranoia and fear is beginning to grip everyone — no one knows who they can trust.

The boys can’t abide the ban and when Mrs Bubby shows them what is stored in her cellar they have an idea. The boys will make chocolate — and not just for themselves. They will make chocolate for justice and freedom!

Episode 2

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Huntley and Smudger are keen to move into the chocolate making business, but have no idea where to begin. The ingredients are secreted in Mrs Bubby’s cellar, but what they need is a recipe. Their search takes them first to the school library, but not only have all books on chocolate been removed, but even all traces on the Internet.

In desparation, the boys go to Mr Blades’ bookshop. A chocolate wrapper sticking out of his cardigan pocket reveals Mr Blades’ true passion for anything sweet and he reveals his own resistance to the new laws — a hidden room revealing a cache of books on chocolate.

Armed with a recipe the boys are now ready to make chocolate. Cooking up a storm in the cellar, the boys and Mrs Bubby conceal the smell of their delicious concoction by burning toast.

However, while Huntley and Smudger make their plans, the government is plotting as well. The boys haven’t been as careful as they thought and have been identified from a botched attempt to buy black market chocolates. They are under surveillance and the chocolate detection vans are roaming the streets to uncover what they are doing.

Huntley and Smudger’s chocolate is heavenly — and everyone — children and adults alike — are keen to sink their teeth into some. Indeed, their biggest fan is Mr Blades who cannot believe the taste sensation when he samples the first batch.

Meanwhle, at school Dave Hoosan returns from his ‘re-education’. When Huntley and Smudger show him their chocolate he cowers in terror and the frightening reality of the new world dawns on the two boys. As the secret police continue to recruit young helpers for the GoodforYou pioneers, it becomes clear that they are keeping tabs on Huntley and Smudger, trying to find out what they are up to. Suddenly their work makes life dangerous, but it steels the boys in their determination to continue their work.

Now they have the chocolate, Huntley and Smudger know there is more to be done. Their aim is simple — to rid the country of the GoodforYou Party and they are joined by others prepared to take the risk of capture and ‘re-education’. The revolution has begun.

Getting away from their parents, Smudger and Huntley attend a meeting of the underground movement with Mrs Bubby. All three are surprised when no less than Mr Blades is revealed as the leader of the resistance, leading the aptly named Chocolate and Freedom Party.

The underground chocolate factory is proving a huge success, but the boys are only selling the chocolate bars for £1 each. When they are encouraged to put their prices up ten fold their actions do not endear them to their friends. To make amends, they decide to throw a chocolate party.

But plans go awry and things go terribly wrong with the special police catching Mrs Bubby and Smudger

Episode 3

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For Smudger and Mrs Bubby the good times are over. In the hands of the special police, their ‘re-education’ is about to begin. But before they are brainwashed the police want answers — they want to know about the Chocolate and Freedom Party. Mrs Bubby and Smudger will not be threatened and refuse to reveal the secrets of the freedom movement.

Smudger’s parents are distraught when Huntley breaks the bad news. They knew their son was up to something but they had no idea he was part of a revolution and making contraband chocolate. In shock, they believe their son was set up and their suspicions point to Huntley.

Huntley’s mum thinks the family should go away for a while by Huntley refuses to desert his friend. Someone must have known about the party at Mrs Bubby’s and told the police, but Huntley doesn’t know who but in his quest to find the culprit, he finds help from the most unexpected quarter.

The GoodforYou Party continues to use every means to strengthen its position. Friends spy on friends and families spy on families. When Myrtle realises she has been used by her father to get information on the underground chocolate industry, she joins the resistance movement to help Huntley and the Chocolate and Freedom Party.

While the special police try to break Smudger and Mrs Bubby, the Prime Minister is caught out showing his true colours — breaking all his own rules. The Prime Minister and his cabinet are caught on video enjoying chocolate!

When Myrtle gives the videotape of the Prime Minister to Huntley, it is the beginning of the end for the GoodforYou Party. Mr Blades and his revolutionaries know the tape is dynamite and could bring down the government but the question is, ‘how do they screen it in every living room?

While the planning begins Smudger is released from ‘re-education’ seeminlgy a changed boy. He no longer loves chocolate. He recoils in horror when he sees a chocolate bar. He doesn’t event want to see his old friend Huntley — but it is all an act. Smudger is smarter than the special police and now he’s free he can join the revolution.

The revolutionary Huntley, Smudger and Mr Blades go undercover with the GoodforYou Pioneers to bring the government down. Using the pioneers as a cover, they get inside the television station and show the videotape of the chocolate eating Prime Minister on the news.

The nation is stunned and the Prime Minister’s days of power are over. The special police and troopers refuse arrest Blades and the boys feeling betrayed by their own leader’s exploits.

The resistance movement has won. The Prime Minister has resigned and new elections are announced. Mr Blades is standing for parliament and Mrs Bubby is back in business selling every chocolate and sweet imaginable.

All is right with the world — at last!