Billy Hopkins is thrilled to be released from the trials and tribulations of teaching when he takes early retirement. He's just buzzing with ideas for filling his time and making a spare buck - whether it's investing in apparently fail-safe business enterprises, starting up himself as an entrepreneur specialising in doll's houses or writing up the story of his life.

It's 1950, and when Laura and Billy Hopkins return to Manchester from their honeymoon, they're in seventh heaven. But the euphoria gradually evaporates and they settle into a penny-pinching existence. When Billy spots an advertisement for education officers in Kenya, it sounds like the answer to a prayer, despite worries about the Mau Mau rebellion and dangerous creatures. After much debate, the Hopkins set off to Nairobi and start on the biggest adventure of their lives.

Tommy Hopkins' early years aren't very promising. Born at the end of the 19th century in a slum district of Manchester, he's blessed with a loving mam and dad, but they don't have two ha'pennies to rub together. But Tommy is a survivor. At school he quickly makes lots of friends, and together they plot money-making schemes and play football.

It's 1945 and Billy Hopkins is off to London to train as a teacher. Billy survives two years in the Big City, and returns to take up a teaching job in Manchester on £300 a year! The catch is his first class, Senior Four, who bitterly resent the raising of the school-leaving age and are all set to take it out on their teacher. Luckily, Billy has some tricks of his own up his sleeve. And he's about to fall in love with the beautiful Laura. But is she, as his dad says, "too good for the likes of us"?

It's June 1897, and Kate is celebrating her 11th birthday on the day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Kate's joy is short-lived, as tragedy strikes, threatening her family with the loss of all they hold dear. Before long, they are evicted from their home in Ancoats, Manchester, and with no wages coming in and a mother unable to cope, Kate has to grow up fast. Her deepest desire is to keep her brothers and sisters together.

Meet Lady Toad, Mistress Badger, Miss Water Rat and Mrs Mole as they go about their adventures, messing around on the river, gallivanting in Lady Toad’s shiny new toy and fighting valiantly to save Toad Hall from unruly squatters. In this retelling by Dina Gregory, The Wind in the Willows becomes a story about a group of female animals to be admired for their close sisterhood and fierce independence. Featuring original music and songs by Rosabella Gregory and sound effects captured on location, put your headphones on, sit back and lose yourself in the British countryside.

John, Rick, and Derrick Underwood are the most handsome trio of brothers in town and it takes three exceptional women to convince them to settle down. For Jodie, marrying John seemed exciting and romantic at the time, but the reality of life is proving too much. Jodie loves her husband, but she doesn't know how much more she can take of his dishonest ways. Rick's marriage to Laraine is filled with love and adventure; their life is blissful - until one day it delivers a cruel blow. Everything begins to unravel and Laraine isn't sure she's strong enough to survive.

Your family are always there for you...aren't they? For Tara, Vee, Niall, and Damian, the children of the Shine family, their parents have seen them through thick and thin. In fact, Gus and Joan's lifetime of hard work has given their children a very comfortable start in life. But with the Irish economy in crisis - money is thin on the ground and perhaps it's time to for the younger generation to learn a few home truths. As the children are forced to live a life without the Bank of Mum and Dad.

On Christmas morning Kitty Doherty gives birth to her baby - who is immediately taken away for adoption in America. But Kitty's life is hanging by a thread, her only hope a dangerous journey through snow to Ballymara and her Irish family. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Sean and Alice try to set up a new life far away from the families they have deserted in Liverpool.

As Frank Kusy turns 27, he is unexpectedly put in charge of an old people's home in Clapham, South London. Driven to distraction by a crazy cast of characters, he seeks solace in Buddhism, only to find himself up to his ears in plasticine pigs and marathon chanting sessions. Will he make his mum happy by holding down a 'proper' job? Will he make her unhappy by becoming a writer? Will he get to share cheese sandwiches with Kevin in Kathmandu? And will he be forced to exchange his underpants in Japan?

Natasha Dawson is a lucky woman. Her career as a fashion photographer has taken off magnificently. After her imminent marriage, she will have a stable future to look forward to and a loving husband in the funny and generous Luke Stevens. Everything is very nearly perfect.

It is the heady 60s in Liverpool, and the Flowers, the Baileys, and the McDowds are three very different families bound together by music. The children are determined to be part of the glamour that surrounds the city, so when Sean, Lachlan, and Max form The Merseysiders and Jeannie and Rita become part of The Flower Girls, they put their hearts and souls into achieving success.

The First World War is almost over when nurse Olivia Jones meets dashing American soldier, Tom O'Hagan, and they propose to marry. But Tom is dead by the time Olivia finds herself pregnant. Just hours old, their daughter Ruby is brutally removed from Olivia by her disgusted father and secretly taken to be raised in a convent in north Wales. At fourteen, Ruby is beautiful, intelligent and wilful - and delighted to be chosen by the wealthy Emily Dangerfield, who lives in a grand house near Liverpool, as a companion.

Beginning in 1950s Liverpool, Violet's Children is a warm and nostalgic story of a young woman who must adopt her sister's children after tragedy strikes. 

After an absence of seven years, Greg Bowman returns home from America to find his father lying in a bamboo coffin, his estranged brother, Billy, stalking a woman with no feet, and his 79-year-old uncle, Frank, planning to rob a bank. While renovating the family house, he is unexpectedly visited by the presence of his dead father and charged with the task of 'fixing' the family.