Channel 4 follows 'America's Fugitive Family' (wt)

Channel 4 has been granted unique and unprecedented access to one of America’s most reclusive and extraordinary familes in a 1x 60’ observational documentary from Firecracker films. Shunning the outside world for the last 14 years, The Grays live as modern-day outlaws, surviving off-grid in deliberate exile on a remote compound outside Gun Barrel City, Texas.

After an altercation with police on Christmas Eve 1999, the head of the family, John Joe Gray, was arrested and spent a fortnight in jail. Released, but refusing to give up his guns to meet his bail conditions, John Joe retreated to the compound with his extended family. There he declared that any attempt to apprehend him would be met with armed resistance. Fearing a bloody shoot-out, the local Sheriff decided not to enter the compound to enforce the arrest warrant.

Over a decade later the heavily-armed Gray Family, including several children, remain in the compound and are equipped for a siege. They subsist on a 47-acre homestead with no mains electricity, plumbing, telephone or means of refrigeration. Water is sourced from a natural spring, and the family hunt and farm to survive. Their way of life owes more to the first American settlers than the 21st century. Up until now contact with the outside world has been limited to occasional visits from loyal supporters.

Filmed over several months, and with exclusive access to the family compound, the documentary follows the lives of the Grays and observes how they have survived, cut-off from modern amenities for so long.

With additional contributions from local residents, law enforcement agencies, and the family’s supporters and friends, the film will question what the future holds for the Grays and whether the situation can ever be brought to a peaceful conclusion.

America’s Fugitive Family was commissioned for Channel 4 by Ian Dunkley, executive produced by Tom Barry , directed by  Mark Soldinger and Alex Stockley von Statzer with Exec Jes Wilkins for  Firecracker Films. It will air on Channel 4 later this year.

Of the commission Ian Dunkley said “The Grays are a completely fascinating case of a family taking things to the ultimate extreme for what they believe in.  The resulting film offers viewers a chance to observe their extraordinary life, and see what it really means to exist outside modern society. ”