Bootleg

Every once in a while, a family drama comes along that really warms you up on a cold winter day, and 'Bootleg' is one of them. A simple story of two boys and their friends trying to get round a chocolate ban imposed on the country by the sinister Nazi-like 'Good-For-You' group. Wonderful performances by the cast, (and mouth-watering chocolate!!) makes this a real feast for the whole family. -I am a chocoholic myself, so was going to watch this lovely family programme from the start simply for that reason! Well done to all involved.

I can't seem to find anything that is good about this miniseries. Why the hell would you ban chocolate when u could ban something far more practical like smoking or alcohol? Also the fact that its an Australian program and its all set in england and everyone is faking british accents is stupid. Overall i think that this show is Unrealistic and cheap.

I was so impressed with Bootleg. I thought it started strong, but just got better and better as the show progressed. Episode three had me on the edge of my seat in parts, and in tears in other parts. The cast is very strong, although the Australian accents do shine through in places. I'm assuming it is supposed to be set in England and not Australia. The two leading kids (Steven Geller and Anthony Hammer) do a brilliant job of portraying Huntley and Smudger. Anthony is Australian and Steven is English. The two of them seemed to have so much energy ,and were genuinely believable as good friends. I wonder how they were off camera. My guess is that they got on really well. Anthony's robotic trance in episode 3 is faultless. You will recognise Anthony from his days as Leo Hancock in Neighbours. I was extremely impressed with Steven Geller's performance. His character takes longer to explain than Anthony's. But in Episode three, he went through all the emotions perfectly. His tearful and aggressive scenes were very believable, and the stare of disbelief at the end of episode 2 gave me goose pimples! You will recognise him from playing Mike in Mike and Angelo on CITV. Martin Jarvis played a lovely old book seller, and Gemma Jones was a warm and cuddly sweet shop owner.

Overall, Alex Shearer's novel was beautifully brought to life by Ian Gilmore's clever directing. It was a funny and light hearted tea-time drama which the BBC should be proud of. I'm not sure whether they are planning a sequel, but I would certainly watch it if they did. I look forward to the DVD or video release.

Congratulations to all involved.

9.5/10

I have only seen the first two episodes of this series so far, but one thing that has stuck in my mind is the similarities between this miniseries and the book '1984' by George Orwell. Since I enjoyed that book, I have found myself greatly enjoying this series.

The way I see it, the Good for You party (great name by the way) is like INGSOC in 1984, and the methods used against people who like chocolate are very much like the methods used by the Thought Police and the Ministry of Love. The preview shown for the third episode seems to confirm this.

However, Bootleg seems to be a lot more optimistic than 1984, although this may change later.

One thing that lets this series down is that it is supposed to be set in England, as shown by the use of pounds for money, but it is quite clearly filmed in Melbourne, Australia, and makes use of many Australian actors with obvious accents. This is really my only serious problem with this series.

Overall, this is a good series, and well worth a look if you have read 1984. If you enjoyed this series, I recommend obtaining a copy of the book 1984, so you can see where the writers got their ideas.

8/10

I thought this was a great little series, well made and relevant, it was very good family viewing. The central premise of the series is "What would happen if they banned chocolate?" It is an obvious analogy to the current prohibition of Cannabis, which makes just as little sense. Very good to spark intelligent debate with your children.

Reviewers have mentioned that this was filmed in Australia but set in the U.K. I have to admit that I hardly noticed this, I suppose we get so used to seeing Aussie T.V. programmes in the U.K. that they now feel as familiar as U.K. made programmes. Actually that made me start wondering just how many U.K. programmes get watched in Australia?