The eldest—office worker Jess Gathercole—becomes the family matriarch, making every effort to keep her schoolchild sister and brothers at home with her.

At the start of the second series, the Gathercole mother has died and Jess is only able to keep the family together after battling with social services, who continue to keep a watchful eye.

Jess was played by Christine McKenna, her bookish sister Binny by Gaynor Hodgson and her brothers—football-mad Willy and primary schoolboy George—by Nigel Greaves and Russell Lewis, respectively.

Christine McKenna would later star in the TV adaptation of Flambards and is now a television producer in the US, while Russell Lewis went on to become a successful screenwriter.

Nigel Greaves has had roles in Tenko and Kenneth Branagh's cinema adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V. Writers for the series included Lynda La Plante, Gail Renard and Phil Redmond.