The Runaway is a 6 episode drama TV series on Sky1 and Sky1 HD based upon the 1997 Martina Cole

Martina Cole

Martina Cole is a British crime writer. She was brought up in Aveley, and has released seventeen novels about crime some of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, Dangerous Lady, The Jump, The Take and The Runaway have been adapted into high-rating television dramas...

 novel of the same name. Shooting for the show took place in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 where the production team recreated London's Soho.

The show premiered on Thursday 31 March 2011 and stars Alan Cumming, Jack O'Connell, Keith Allen, Joanna Vanderham and Ken Stott .

Plot

Set in the sleazy, gritty world of 60s and 70s London, The Runaway focuses on the doomed romance of East London kids Cathy Connor (Vanderham) and Eamonn Docherty (O'Connell). While unrelated by blood, they live as brother and sister growing up and embark on an illicit secret relationship. The couple are torn apart when Cathy is sent into care, but she manages to escape and finds her way onto the streets of Soho. Befriended by colourful transvestite Desrae (Cumming), Cathy grows up in the heart of London's underworld, while Eamonn is drawn into a life of crime and ultimately flees to New York. The pair are finally drawn back together in the midst of the nation's impending future, but their future is far from safe.

Cast

• Jack O'Connell
  Jack O'Connell (actor)
  Jack O'Connell , is a British actor, from Alvaston, Derby, England. He went to St Benedict Catholic School and Performing Arts College...
  
   as Eamonn Doherty
• Burn Gorman
  Burn Gorman
  Burn Hugh Gorman is an American-born English actor and musician. Burn is best known for his roles as Owen Harper in Torchwood and as William Guppy in Bleak House.-Personal life:...
  
   as Richard Gates
• Joanna Vanderham
  Joanna Vanderham
  Joanna Vanderham is a 20 year old Scottish actress from Scone, Perth. She plays Cathy in Sky's six-parter The Runaway, adapted from Martina Cole's novel, which started on 31 March 2011...
  
   as Cathy Connor
• Alan Cumming
  Alan Cumming
  Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
  
   as Desrae
• Kierston Wareing
  Kierston Wareing
  Kierston Wareing is an English actress. She starred in Ken Loach's film It's a Free World... as Angie. She has also played in Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank and Martina Cole's The Take. She has been nominated for one BAFTA award and two British Independent Film Awards...
  
   as Madge
• Keith Allen as Danny Dixon
• Ken Stott
  Ken Stott
  Kenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:...
  
   as Joey Pasqualino
• Max Irons
  Max Irons
  Maximilian Paul Diarmuid "Max" Irons is an English film actor and model. He is perhaps most noted for his leading role in Red Riding Hood....
  
   as Tommy Pasqualino
• Mark Womack
  Mark Womack (British actor)
  Mark Edward Womack is an English actor, best known for starring in Liverpool 1, Sorted and Willy Russell's Dancin thru' The Dark.Womack was born in Liverpool in 1961, eldest son of Frances and Tom Womack...
  
   as Eamonn Doherty Senior
• Nora-Jane Noone as Caitlin
• Sam Spruell
  Sam Spruell
  Sam Spruell is a British actor. His film credits include Defiance , Elizabeth: The Golden Age , London to Brighton , To Kill a King and K-19: The Widowmaker...
  
   as Jim Harvey
• Max Irons
  Max Irons
  Maximilian Paul Diarmuid "Max" Irons is an English film actor and model. He is perhaps most noted for his leading role in Red Riding Hood....
  
   as Tommy
• Emily Beecham
  Emily Beecham
  Emily Beecham is an English film, television and stage actress who, since the start of her career in 2006, has amassed over thirty credits, including the leading role of a postulant nun entering an unconventional convent depicted in The Calling, a film which, following its premiere in June 2009 at...
  
   as Caroline
• Dominika Jablonska as Maureen
• Grant Swanby as Sean Carty
• David Westhead
  David Westhead
  David Westhead is a British actor. He is notable as having been a member of the regular cast of Criminal Justice, Life Begins, The Lakes and The Time of Your Life...
  
  as Ron

Episodes

Episode 1: Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are childhood sweethearts who are desperate to escape their East End roots. When Cathy murders her Mum's pimp in self defense it changes their lives forever.

Episode 2: Cathy and Eamonn struggle with their enforced separation. Whilst Eamonn plays a dangerous game by undermining his boss, Cathy finds herself in an oppressive reform school. When Cathy is abused, she runs away and ends up in Soho.

Episode 3: With Desrae's help, Cathy reinvents herself in Soho. Cathy and Eamonn are reunited but it ends in disaster and Eamonn is forced to flee the country.

Episode 4: Eamonn and Cathy rekindle their romance but when Eamonn is forced to return to America, ; a pregnant Cathy seduces Tommy and they get married.

Episode 5: Cathy and Tommy's marriage is on the rocks which is further exacerbated when Eamonn returns to London. When Tommy's drug deal goes wrong, Kitty's life is left hanging in the balance.

Episode 6: Eamonn plays a dangerous game by informing on the IRA to Special Branch. He and Cathy are desperate to get away and start a new life together but will they make it without being caught?