[1] When author Tracy Beaker is arrested for using her adoptive mother Cam's credit card to publish her autobiography, she seeks refuge at Elmtree House, a care home nicknamed "The Dumping Ground" where she used to live as a child.

Wanting to pay Cam back, Tracy asks the head care worker, Mike (Connor Byrne), for a job.

Set designers revamped buildings of the former La Sagesse convent school in the Jesmond area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne into the children's home, retaining the Elm Tree House name from series 5 of The Story of Tracy Beaker, despite the original series being filmed in Cardiff.

Classroom buildings and the Jesmond Towers were also used for scenes, as well as local landmarks such as the MetroCentre shopping centre.

The recognisable exterior of Elm Tree House was demolished in mid-2013 though the building used for interior scenes partially remains intact.

[9] The series was filmed in the old La Sagesse School in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne in the summer of 2009, and directed by Neasa Hardiman, Craig Lines and Michael Davies.