The Fugitives is a British children's science fiction drama series. Its first seven-part series began airing on Thursdays at 4.25pm on CITV in 2005. It was not renewed for a second series.

Plot Twelve-year-old Jay Keaton's life is in grave danger, he stumbles across a shocking discovery at the company his father used to work at. He and his friend Mel are on the run, and are on a dangerous mission to stop corrupt cloning company EmbroGen and reveal them for what they really are.

Cast and characters Alex Roe as Jay Keaton, a typical twelve-year-old with a high IQ and a talent for numbers and science. With no real friends until Mel, he is on the run with his sister Fleecey after the exposure of a family secret. Hannah van der Westhuysen as Fleecey Keaton, Jay's bubbly nine-year-old sister. Ciara O'Connor as Melanie "Mel" Banks, Jay's fiery and outspoken friend who joins him on the run. Alex Roe as J2, one of Jay's first clones, used by EmbroGen to impersonate Jay. Alexander Hanson as Marshall Keaton, scientist and Father to Jay and Fleecey. Jack Ellis as Salko, the shadowy and sinister head of EmbroGen. Maggie Norris as Lorraine Keaton, Mother to Jay and Fleecey. Melanie Hill as Glenda Banks, Mother to Mel and Kelly. Maureen Lipman as Maggie Wych, an mysterious and eccentric woman who befriends Jay. Nick Rowe as Boyer, one of Salko's operatives at EmbroGen. Elizabeth Healey as Lomas, one of Salko's operatives at EmbroGen. Jonathan Wrather as Harry Keaton, Jay's uncle who Jay had not met until he received a mysterious email telling him all about EmbroGen and the Eden project. Lalage Lumley as Kelly Banks, Mel's younger sister, who befriends J2.

Episode guide

Episode 1 -- 12-year-old Jay Keaton's life is in danger. The gravest danger...ever since he discovered that thanks to a long forgotten family secret – he holds the key to human life in his hands.

Using a secret listening device, Jay overhears his Dad, Marshall, discussing him with two shadowy operatives from infamous Genetics Company EmbroGen. He sneaks out of his bedroom in time to see that one of the operatives, Lomas, is wearing a very distinctive ring. Fearing that he is about to become a subject of EmbroGen's experiments, Jay decides that the only option is to run. Later that night, he packs a bag and then sneaks downstairs into Marshall's office and copies his computer files onto a memory stick.

The following morning, Jay insists on riding into school with his Mum, Lorraine, and younger sister Fleecey. Giving Fleecey the homework he completed for her the night before, he tells her that she may not always be able to rely on him in the future. Meanwhile, back at the Keaton family home, Marshall finds that all of the files have been deleted from his computer. Lomas and Boyer realise that this must be Jay's work and set about tracking him down.

Jay dodges out of his physics A’level exam at the very last moment. He is intercepted in the corridor by Lomas who flashes a fake Police ID and tells him that Marshall has been involved in a car accident. Alarm bells start to ring in Jay's head when he remembers that Lorraine has the family car, and when he recognises Lomas's distinctive ring, he realises that it is time to start running.

By setting off a fire alarm, Jay manages to evade Boyer and Lomas. By the time the operatives arrive back at EmbroGen HQ to receive an ear-bashing from their boss, Salko, Jay is making good his escape on a bus. But then a Ticket Inspector climbs on board and fearing that this might be another EmbroGen trick, Jay gets off at the very next stop.

Now stranded in what looks like a very rough part of town, it's not long before Jay runs into serious trouble. His bag is stolen by a gang of bullies and with it the precious files. Just when it looks like all is lost, a girl called Mel steps in and saves the day. However, as soon as she returns Jay's bag to him, the gang return with reinforcements and the two are forced to take sanctuary in her home. After Jay tells her that he has nowhere else to go, Mel offers him a bed for the night...inside her wardrobe!

As Marshall and Lorraine start to worry, Jay sneaks out of the wardrobe and begins to tidy Mel's extremely messy bedroom. The following morning, Mel's Mum, Glenda is astonished when she walks into the now spotless room and praises Mel who is quick to assume the credit. But then the alarm starts to sound on Jay's phone and Glenda discovers his hiding place. Glenda is livid and, not only does she ground Mel, she threatens to confiscate her mobile phone. Fed up with taking orders, Mel decides to join Jay on his adventure.

Whilst Lorraine, Marshall and Glenda are busy making a police appeal for the kids’ safe return, EmbroGen's powerful boss, Salko is closing the net. As the two fugitives take refuge in a shed on an allotment, Jay tells Mel that they are being followed and that they must find the one person he can trust to help them – his Uncle Harry. For Mel it's still a game – though maybe Jay can convince her otherwise when he shows her a photo of ten identical boys, all of whom look exactly like him. Could he be a clone?

Episode 2 -- The disappearance of Mel Banks and Jay Keaton is headline news and their worried parents have made distressed television appeals for their safe return. Meanwhile, Mel isn't convinced by the photograph that Jay has shown her of the clones – her friend's little brother could do a better job on his computer, and anyway, if EmbroGen were going to clone anyone, surely they would have picked someone like David Beckham. Despite the fact that Mel is getting tired, Jay insists that they press on – they've got to find Uncle Harry.

At the Banks's house, Glenda comforts her younger daughter, Kelly, who is desperately missing Mel. Over at the Keaton's Fleecey is in a similar state, refusing to go to school and insisting that she be allowed to go looking for Jay. Boyer and Lomas are still on the hunt for the two fugitives – they know that Jay has stolen vital documents from his father Marshall's laboratory and they want them – and him – back. They speak to Marshall and offer him a deal – if he returns to work for EmbroGen, they will call off the hunt for Jay. Marshall refuses.

Mel and Jay find themselves in a shopping centre. Jay finds a cyber-café and goes to try and contact Uncle Harry, before leaving; he gives Mel all of the money that Uncle Harry sent to him so that she can buy a newspaper. But on the way to buy a newspaper, Mel is sidetracked by a skirt and a top she sees in a clothes shop and uses all of Jay's money to buy them. Jay is angry when he finds out what Mel has done, but when he takes the clothes back to the shop, the sales assistant refuses to refund his money unless he can show her the receipt.

Jay leaves the shop in search of Mel and the receipt, but when he returns to the place where he left her, she's nowhere to be found. While Jay was in the shop, she saw her mum, Glenda, appealing for her return on the television and decided to return home. However, she used her mobile phone – the one thing that Jay made her promise she wouldn't do – to call home first. Back at EmbroGen, Salko has successfully tracked Mel's call and sends Lomas to pick her up.

Jay is alone once again – his only hope to save them both is to reach Uncle Harry before Boyer and Lomas find him.

Glenda is over the moon when she receives a call from the police to tell her that she can collect Mel from the police station. However, the call is just a trick to get her out of the house for long enough for Lomas to intercept Mel. When she arrives home, Mel is surprised to find the house empty but for Lomas who pretends to be a police detective. Lomas is carrying an official looking badge and so Mel has no reason but to agree when she offers to take her to her grandma's to be reunited with her mum and her younger sister. But then when the EmbroGen operative drives straight past the road that her grandma lives on, Mel realises that she is in serious trouble.

Lomas drives Mel straight to EmbroGen's HQ. As she is led through the dark vaults of their creepy laboratory, she is shocked to see Jay's face peering out of one of the cell windows. Then she sees him again, and again, and again...Mel has just stumbled on the results of human cloning!

Episode 3 -- Jay is saved from the shadowy figure by a strange old woman called Maggie Wych and her scruffy dog, Nash. Maggie seems kind and trustworthy, but what sort of woman lives in a rundown old car parked up on a pile of bricks? Meanwhile, Mel has been imprisoned in the depths of the EmbroGen laboratory. She is terrified when Boyer and Lomas take her into a small room for questioning – what are they planning to do with her?

Back at home, poor little Fleecey is unhappy. She starts to suspect that her father, Marshall, is more involved in Jay's disappearances than he admits and sets about proving it. After bedtime, she sneaks out of her room and breaks into Marshall's briefcase where she finds many secret papers belonging to EmbroGen. The following morning, she asks her mother, Lorraine, what EmbroGen is. Marshall has no choice but to admit that he has gone back to work for them. Lorraine is very angry and tells Marshall that if he does go back to work at EmbroGen, she wants nothing more to do with him.

Jay begins to relax in Maggie's company and even manages to start up her car radio. But when he hears a news report about his and Mel's disappearance, he realises that Mel never made it home safely. She must have been caught and taken to EmbroGen. Jay has the biggest decision of his life to make. He holds the secret files that could change the world forever in one hand – and his new comrade Mel's life in the other. Maggie however, seems sure that Jay will make the right choice. For a moment, it seems that Jay is on the verge of asking Maggie to look after his precious memory stick for him, but does he really trust her that much? Before leaving, he does give her his mobile phone and asks her to use it to set up a decoy.

Now christened ‘M1’, Mel is led to a large room where she and the Jay clones are forced to undergo gruelling bio-metric tests to assess their intelligence. But as Mel begins to fear that she may never be able to leave EmbroGen in one piece, Jay, with the aid of a video camera and a laptop, has managed to breach the lab's security and is already tip-toeing his way down the maze of underground corridors in search of her. Looking for somewhere to hide, Jay finds himself in a storage room full of clothes...this gives him an idea.

Lomas arrives at the Keaton home to collect Marshall. Lorraine can't believe that he could desert the family during such a terrible time. But things are about to get much worse – Fleecey has managed to hide herself in the boot of Lomas's car! Lorraine now has to cope with the fact that both of her children are missing.

Mel is beginning to give up hope when one of the Jay clones arrives with her dinner. Although she is even more depressed when she realises that the plate contains a very boring looking stew and not the chips that she had been hoping for, she soon cheers up when she realises that the clone is in fact the real Jay! But then the alarms begin to sound. Realising that they only have a limited amount of time to get out of the EmbroGen building, Jay leads Mel on a dash down the corridors until they reach the storage room. Quickly, they change back into their own clothes and make their way out of the building.

Still with Fleecey in the boot of their car, Boyer and Lomas set off in search of Mel and the clone they are sure helped her escape. At EmbroGen, Salko and another of his operatives review the video footage taken from the security cameras in the underground laboratory. They realise that the boy couldn't have been a clone because both of his eyes were the same colour...the boy must have been Jay!