My Parents Are Aliens

Mel thinks fashion models are all stupid hair-flicking bimbos - but she puts these negative feelings on hold when she gets a chance to work as assistant to a fashion photographer. She decides to skip school for the job interview and asks Sophie to cover for her by morphing into her. Only problem is, Sophie is a terrible morpher and makes a pretty ugly looking Mel. Added to which Sophie has a real problem acting normal, and ends up getting Mel referred to a child psychologist. And when Sophie tries to morph back she finds she can't, and decides to stick with her new red-headed look. Meanwhile Josh has a brilliant idea to free him and his friends from the tyranny of nightmare teacher Mr Whiteside once and for all. But his plan to rid them all of detention forever backfires on him terribly - and they all get detention!

Brian and Sophie are so bored that they get hooked on the trendy new trading card game that is all the rage at school. Unfortunately, they become so obsessed that they let the house - and themselves - go to wrack and ruin. They even end up stealing and selling Lucy's (or rather the school's) laptop computer to Andy the Freak. Because Sophie and Brian seem prepared to go to any lengths to feed their trading card addiction, Mel and Lucy have to teach them that crime doesn't pay. The only problem is, it looks like it's Mel and Lucy who will end up headed for trouble with the law. Lucy gets detention and Mel almost ends up having to go out with Andy The Freak on a date.

Lucy discovers that helping her friend Wendy at judo classes isn't quite as simple as she expects. In fact, Lucy discovers she has a fantastic natural ability and gets picked for the school Judo team. And as Lucy gets drawn into the world of martial arts, Brian discovers that the only way he can keep Lucy as his best buddy is to tag along too. Meanwhile, Sophie decides that she needs a best buddy as well. She studies Mel and Trent's friendship for clues and decides that people seem to like people who are just the same as themselves. So she goes all grungy and buddies up with Trent – much to Mel's disgust.

When Wendy boasts about being a bridesmaid at her auntie's wedding, Lucy decides to plan the biggest wedding ever. But whom can she find to persuade to get married? When she discovers that Brian and Sophie aren't actually married she sets about planning a grand ceremony. However, her big plans pale into insignificance in comparison to Sophie's, as Sophie turns into a control-freak monster. Meanwhile, Brian puzzles over whether Sophie is his ideal partner, and very soon the two of them not only break off the wedding plans but decide to split up altogether. It's only when they decide that they don't need to follow convention to think of themselves as a normal couple that the family is once again reunited – and celebrates its own form of a wedding, Aliens-style...

When Josh does badly in a test, he explains to Brian and Sophie why he failed: A teacher's job is to teach you things. If Josh doesn't know anything, it must be the teacher's fault for teaching him badly. So Brian decides to see if he can make a better job of Josh's education – by taking Josh out of school and teaching himself from home. At first Josh thinks this will be a real doss, but he soon finds out that Brian is a really strict teacher. But when a big test is looming Josh finds out that there's no alternative to hard work. Meanwhile, Mel stresses out over her final exam and Trent tries to teach her some relaxation techniques – but she finds the best way to relieve her stress ids to beat Trent up! And elsewhere in school, Lucy struggles to master the euphonium for the school brass band, but finds that this is one thing she isn't a genius at. But after sulking at her failure she makes the best of it and plays the triangle in the band.

It's Valentine's Day, and romance is in the air. Except that there's very little romantic spirit on show amongst the Barker kids - Lucy's only sending a card to Wendy, Josh has been bitten by Cupid once too often to try that again - and Mel doesn't believe in romance full stop. Trouble is, once Brian gets into the idea of romance he starts wafting about the place spouting such infectious romantic nonsense that Josh gets caught up in it. Josh even makes the foolish mistake of taking Brian's advice on matters of the heart and sends a Valentine's card to Tania Thomas – but of course that's a relationship that Fate refuses to smile upon... Meanwhile Sophie enjoys discovering all things romantic, and begins an affair – with the dishwasher! While Mel, who wants nothing to do with romance, is pursued by both Frankie and Andy The Freak.

It's Happy Heart Day at school, and all the kids are doing stuff to raise money for charity. Of course, charity begins at home as far as Josh is concerned, and he's got a money making scheme on the go that could earn him a fortune – or lose him one – selling alien-made flippers to the participants of the sponsored swim. Mel's contribution to the fundraising is to take part in the school sponsored-run. Only she's less interested in getting sponsors than she is in planning who she's going to run with. Trent thinks it's going to be him, only Mel decides to drop him for a boy she fancies. So Trent finds a fanciable partner of his own. Meanwhile, when Lucy wants Brian's help on her magic act, his ambitions don't stop at just being her assistant and things rapidly begin to get out of hand. He almost humiliates her in front of all her friends, but then saves the day with some clever morphing and makes her act a roaring success.

Strange events in the middle of the night mean that none the family can sleep. An alarm goes off signalling that there is a Valuxian rescue ship in the area, and that Brian and Sophie can go home. As the family debates the terrible thought that they may split up, they all cast their minds back to the very first day they all met in the Children's Home. We see the kids discover that they've been fostered by aliens and debate whether to tell the authorities. Eventually Brian and Sophie conclude that they have a new home and a new family, and that they aren't ready to go back to Valux quite yet.

It's Halloween, and scary thoughts are in the air. Josh plans a moneymaking ghost tour with the help of Pete and Frankie, and persuades Frankie to dress up as the ghost of a girl and haunt the school corridors. He even enlists Brian's help to appear as a scary rat and make creepy noises. Meanwhile, back at the house Lucy, Mel and Sophie are all forced to face their fears as things begin to get really frightening. Brian's involvement with Josh's ghost tour has made him fear that there really are ghosts out there, and when his zombie-eliminator gun goes wrong Brian manages to turn himself into the biggest monster in town, scaring all the guests at a Halloween party. And when all the lights in the house fuse Lucy has to confront her fear of the dark and save the family by venturing out alone into the scary dark attic.

Mrs Reece, the children's social worker, comes to the house to give Brian and Sophie their routine progress report. It's a nervous time for Mel, Josh and Lucy, as there's always a danger that their foster parents will give themselves away as aliens and they'll all get sent back into care. But instead of the awful disaster the whole family is expecting, Mrs Reece has a surprising suggestion for them all that could turn out much, much worse than anything they ever imagined. She has a new kid for them to foster – Howie. At first Mel, Josh and Lucy don't take too well to Howie – no one wants to share their parents with a stranger. But when they upset Howie so much that he runs away on a dark, stormy night, they all realise that he wasn't quite so bad, and wish more than anything that he's come back. Which is just as well, as he was hiding under Lucy's bed all along!