This action-packed children’s drama from New Zealand introduced four street-smart kids – Mick (Anthony Samuels), Megan (Sarah Ford), Chrissie (Jessica Cardiff-Smith) and wee Billy (Clayton Spence) – who lived in a foster home with the kind-hearted but financially strained Betty Quinter (Maggie Kirkpatrick, better known as the corrupt prison guard Joan “The Freak” Ferguson in the Australian drama series Prisoner).
Betty’s criminal brother, Arthur “The Con” (Paul Chubb), escaped from prison after hiding stolen payroll loot with her a few years earlier.
The Con teamed up with a theatrical, Fagin-like villain known as The Charmer (Ken Blackburn), who – believing Betty held the key to the fortune – had his gang kidnap Betty.
For the remainder of the series, the foster children were thrust into a high-stakes race against time, having to piece together clues to rescue Betty from her captors – navigating the urban backstreets of Auckland (and avoiding rival rough kids, the Blake Street Boys) – all while evading well-meaning social workers who were actively trying to separate the children and place them in different homes.
The kids discovered that Betty was being held in a remote destination called White Hickey Island (nicknamed “Shackpoint”), surrounded by old military mine shafts, disused secret underground defence bunkers, and decaying wartime tunnels where The Charmer had set up his hideout.
The final showdown came deep within the underground bunkers when the kids confronted the villains to rescue Betty.
The ultimate fate of the hidden payroll cash (“the lolly”) was revealed, the villains brought to justice, and the bunch successfully saved their foster mother – proving to social services that they belonged together as a real family.
Betty Quinter
Maggie Kirkpatrick Megan
Sarah Ford Mick
Anthony Samuels Chrissie
Jessica Cardiff-Smith Billy
Clayton Spence Arthur Quinter (The Con)
Paul Chubb The Charmer
Ken Blackburn
Episodes
No Dough | Stalled | Stake Out | Uncle Chas | Billy Does a Runner | Gotcha | Ghosts | Happy Families | The Incredible Journey | The Weirdest Show on Earth | To the Island | Down to the Centre of the Earth | The Lolly
Video
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Betty’s criminal brother, Arthur “The Con” (Paul Chubb), escaped from prison after hiding stolen payroll loot with her a few years earlier.
For the remainder of the series, the foster children were thrust into a high-stakes race against time, having to piece together clues to rescue Betty from her captors – navigating the urban backstreets of Auckland (and avoiding rival rough kids, the Blake Street Boys) – all while evading well-meaning social workers who were actively trying to separate the children and place them in different homes.
The kids discovered that Betty was being held in a remote destination called White Hickey Island (nicknamed “Shackpoint”), surrounded by old military mine shafts, disused secret underground defence bunkers, and decaying wartime tunnels where The Charmer had set up his hideout.
The ultimate fate of the hidden payroll cash (“the lolly”) was revealed, the villains brought to justice, and the bunch successfully saved their foster mother – proving to social services that they belonged together as a real family.
Betty Quinter 
