Buy Humans

In the near future synths - synthetic humans - are robots who resemble people in every way beyond having emotions and are seen as an ideal workforce. Joe Hawkins buys one to help his busy wife Laura with their children and they call her Anita. She is a model of efficiency and little daughter Sophie loves her though the elder girl Matty is jealous of her and soon Laura starts to find her creepy. They are unaware that Anita is one of three synths with the potential to develop human feelings who are being tracked by a man called Leo with his synth Max after they were abducted. One, Niska, is now a sex worker whilst Fred is being examined for his human qualities. Elsewhere elderly widower George Millican seeks to protect Odi, the synth who has become like a son to him after Odi malfunctions in a store and George is ordered to dispose of him.
Hide description ▲

As Leo continues his search Fred is still captive in the facility owned by the sinister Hobbs - who scrutinizes his memory and sees an image of Anita. Anita herself continues to unnerve Laura and the spiteful Matty though she does, unwittingly, entice Matty's brother Toby. For Laura Anita's excellent rapport with Sophie poses the biggest threat and so she returns her synth. Keeping Odi in hiding George finds his officious new synth Vera exasperating whilst policeman Pete Drummond is also disturbed by the dependency his temporarily invalid wife Jill has on their synth Simon. After attacking an aggressive client Niska makes her escape from the brothel.
Hide description ▲

After Anita has saved Toby's life in a road accident and is commended by most of the family Laura is dissuaded from sending her back and even begins to warm to her, though she is baffled by the synth's unusually high intelligence and suspects illegal modification, which Anita denies. Meanwhile, to stop Odi from being taken away and recycled, George lets him loose in the woods. Hobb, still trying to find out from Fred the whereabouts of the other missing synths, arrives at the brothel where Niska has killed a punter and he is recognized as being a lawman. After rendezvousing with Leo who is appalled at her crime Niska picks up a single father in a bar. Leo himself receives a message which he believes to be from Anita though it is from the conniving Matty.
Hide description ▲

Laura begins to believe that Anita may be able to develop human traits after meeting a woman who claims her synth is also sentient though whilst she is out Joe has sex with Anita. Leo meets up with Matty but she refuses to admit knowing Anita . However Leo and Alex call on George, who worked on the original synth project with Leo's father and reveals that Leo's father imbued several synths with an alternative programme to give them consciousness. Leo then gets a call from Niska, who has infiltrated an undercover fight club where synths are systematically smashed up but where she has attacked the human punters before escaping. Meanwhile Laura and Joe are amazed to find that Anita is not the brand new model they were led to believe but a fourteen year old synth who has been reprogrammed.
Hide description ▲

Leo sends Niska to George for her own safety, though Vera is suspicious. George tells her that Hobb worked with him and Leo's father David in creating the synths and when Pete, still angry with his wife for her dependency on Simon, arrives to tell George that Odi has been sighted, he hides Niska. Mattie meets Leo to discover Anita's original identity but Anita is not forthcoming and Mattie returns home with her. Leo is bitterly disappointed as he needs all the original 'super' synths to come together to achieve advanced consciousness. He is unaware that Hobb's experiments on Fred make this unlikely. Back at the Hawkins' house Laura discovers that Joe had sex with Anita and throws him out.
Hide description ▲

As Laura admits to Mattie that, as a child she felt responsible for her little brother's death, she is overheard by Anita, who briefly recalls how, as Mia, she lost her son. Having supposedly destroyed Fred Hobb has actually hidden him, aware that the five Synths need to meet up for collective empowerment but Fred escapes and goes on the run. Meanwhile a damaged Odi returns to George who, helped by Niska, mends him whilst Mattie contacts Max and Leo. The latter, though injured, explains how the four Synths saved him after his mother's death and how he is part Synth himself. Mattie persuades her mother to help the group but, thanks to Joe, the police give chase and things do not end well. Pete finally gets round to having sex with Karen but is shocked to reveal what she really is.
Hide description ▲

As Anita explains to Laura that she was created as Mia to look after Leo the pair start to bond. Karen tracks down Niska, revealing that Dr Elster created her in his wife's image but Leo rejected her as a mother and she was presumed 'dead'. She opposes the Synths' plan and draws a gun, accidentally killing George. Niska escapes to the Hawkins' house, where she is joined by Fred, Max and Leo - along with a bewildered Joe, who is persuaded by his family to shelter the fugitives. Unfortunately Karen turns up on the door-step, accompanied by Hobb and a squad of armed police.
Hide description ▲

As protesters march against the increased use of domestic Synths Hobb prepares to experiment on the brains of his captives in his efforts to crack the secret of artificial intelligence. Now fully sympathetic to Anita/Mia and the others as sentient creatures the Hawkins family, assisted by Pete Drummond, threaten to expose Hobb's experiment to the press unless he releases the Synths - which he does though with a tracking device inside Fred. On the run the family and the Synths mingle with the protesters before taking refuge in a church crypt. Here Leo takes a gamble on Karen's loyalty to her kind in order to ensure their future survival.
Hide description ▲

Some months have passed. Niska, in Berlin, has a brief affair with a girl called Astrid before moving on, having sent an email to Global Synthetics boss Milo Khoury. In England. Mia is working in a cafe, restoring its run-down reputation for grateful owner Ed, and a synth names Hester flees from her job in a nuclear plant to meet Leo and Max, who are in hiding. She is pursued by humans claiming her malfunction needs correcting but the trio escape and are joined by Mia, who argues with Leo over his view that sentient synths should not be so high profile. In California Athena Morrow, a pioneer of synth technology, refuses Khoury's offer to join his company and the Hawkins family get a double shock - Joe being sacked and a visit from Niska.
Hide description ▲

Mattie tells Niska she knows she has uploaded the code to give synths more emotions before reading that George is dead and rescuing Odi from a scrap-yard in the hopes that he can tell her more. Laura tries to find Niska a lawyer to represent her for her murder charge, a positive result giving synths more rights. With boyfriend Pete Drummond keeping her secret Karen Voss returns to work to track down a special synth sold on the black market for a huge sum whilst Athena travels to England to locate Hobb. Mia commits a little forgery to help Ed save his café, making him realize she has human traits. She leaves him to join Leo and his group, who learn, after Hester has killed one of their pursuers that captured synths are taken to a place called the Silo.
Hide description ▲

Having said goodbye to her daughter, in a coma for three years , Athena comes to England, ostensibly to work at Qualia UK but secretly to visit Hobb, under surveillance and banned from discussing his work. He offers to help bring back her child for a price. Niska's consciousness assessment - to see if she is human enough to stand trial - begins with Laura as her advocate whilst at the Hawkins home Mattie reanimates Odi and her brother Toby falls for a synth, Renie, at school. Leo's group moves on but Mia stays behind and, having told him her secret, begins a romance with Ed, noted by his friend Danny. Karen and Pete follow up the theft of a Seraphim, a highly advanced synth, and Pete is pleased to think that if there are many of them around it makes Karen less isolated.
Hide description ▲

Khoury tells Athena he knows why she is in England but she surprises him by stating that Leo is still alive. Pete goes undercover as he and Karen uncover an insurance scam regarding the supposed theft of synths but is beaten up for his pains. Mia and Ed begin a romance and plan to go away together but their plan is thwarted by Danny whilst Joe discovers why he has been sacked and Laura brings Niska's lover Astrid from Germany to prove she has human qualities. Further problems for the Hawkins family arise when Sophie starts acting like a synth but there is worse to come as an unwelcome visitor arrives to warn Laura off Niska's case with Odi attacking him.
Hide description ▲

Ed is persuaded by Danny to betray Mia for money to fund his mother's nursing care but she turns the tables on them and escapes, as does Niska, having denounced the judges at her trial. Having split from Leo and Hester Max teams up with fugitive synth Flash with whom he goes into hiding whilst Hester and Leo locate the silo. Matty discovers the code to humanize every synth and is anxious to find Leo, as is Athena, whose daughter has just died. Despite Karen's pessimism about their future Pete locates the valuable stolen Seraph, who turns out to be a little boy, whilst at Qualia Athena also finds dozens of child synths ready for preparation.
Hide description ▲

Athena challenges Milo over his ethics and is shocked to learn the extent of the tycoon's ambitions. Max starts a new community of synths and takes matters into his own hands when he learns how far Leo is prepared to go to achieve his aims.
Hide description ▲

Mattie rushes unsuccessfully to stop Leo, Mia and Hester from infiltrating the silo, which they manage to do but many of the synths are killed as they try to escape and Max arrives too late to stop the devastation. Karen comes to see Athena, asking her to make her human, followed by Pete, but they too are caught up in the violence of the escape plan with fatalities resulting as Hester attempts to kill Athena. Niska goes on the run with Astrid whilst Renie, troubled by Sophie's desire to become a synth, reveals that she is a human who has taken on synth-like qualities for her own reasons.
Hide description ▲

Following media coverage of the massacre at the silo Joe suggests the family moves away but Laura refuses. Laura is visited by Hester, who takes her hostage in order to trap Leo, whom she believes has betrayed her. A rescue party comprising Mia, Niska and Leo rush to save her and Hester is overcome but at a cost. Consequently the synths reign triumphant with Karen realizing she has a future with Sam though Athena doubts the wisdom of her continuing experiment to revive her daughter and leaves Qualia.
Hide description ▲

Following a series of green-eyed synths malfunctions and human deaths a new, orange-eyed, breed is created with the likes of Mia and Max in an internment camp and in need of spare parts. The Hawkins family is shocked to learn that a bar welcoming both synths and humans is fire-bombed with Niska's girlfriend Astrid among the casualties. The news that the perpetrators were synths leads to reprisals against the green-eyed population and Joe walking out on the family when the female members champion the synths. Mattie visits the camp, where Leo lies in a coma, but it is attacked by armed police looking for the bombers. Meanwhile Karen Voss sends little Sam to school.
Hide description ▲

A police raid on the Railyard leaves Max dealing with the fall-out from his life-or-death decision. The situation worsens when rebel synth Agnes begins an anti-human campaign. Laura discovers an operation that could threaten synth survival.
Hide description ▲

As Leo struggles to come to terms with being human, Mattie takes him back to the Hawkins' home, where a surprise night out allows them to confront their feelings for each other. Laura is determined to uncover the truth about the too-secret Operation Basswood and tries to enlist Dr Neil Sommer's help, only for things to take an unexpected turn. Joe reluctantly decides to help Karen with Sam, and Niska receives a mysterious message.
Hide description ▲

Laura brings the Dryden commission to visit Max and his Synths to prove that they are harmless and gain support for them. It is a success, partly because Max has kept the embittered Agnes away from the visitors. Whilst Niska discovers and destroys one of the bombers Mia is saved from her persecutors by ex-employer and lover Ed but declines to go away with him. Meanwhile Mattie makes a confession to Leo and Joe's night out with Sam and Karen ends badly.
Hide description ▲

Helped by Neil Laura succeeds in getting the commission to criminalize assaults on green-eyed Synths and when Joe brings Sam to stay with the family after Karen's demise reluctantly agrees. Sophie attempts to humanize Sam but he is obsessed with trying to bring Karen back to life and the Hawkins discover him in a graveyard. Mia discovers an unexpected ally and media fame but Max is faced with a further rebellion and Leo has an announcement for Mattie - who has made a questionable new friend in fellow student Audrey.
Hide description ▲

Laura discovers a shocking truth that threatens her life and those around her. Leo and Mattie return to the Elster house where Leo comes to understand a painful truth. Niska continues her journey, where she must defy all her instincts to survive.
Hide description ▲

Max (Ivanno Jeremiah) must confront a friend turned foe. Laura (Katherine Parkinson) reels from her heartbreaking decision, but when Mattie (Lucy Carless) reveals her secret, she is spurred back into action. Niska's (Emily Berrington) journey takes an unexpected turn, while Leo (Colin Morgan) races to be by Max's side, but walks into danger.
Hide description ▲

It's a race against time to stop Basswood. Laura must put her reputation and life on the line if she is going to have any hope of saving the Synths, but is she willing to give up her family and her freedom? Niska has reached her journey's end, but when the source of the mystery is revealed, has her real journey only just begun? Mia, Leo and Max stand together in final battle, but will they make it out alive? When the world learns of the atrocities that are taking place, will the fate of Synths change forever?
Hide description ▲