Laila Morse

They have always been trouble and now they are in trouble. When three generations of the Slaters - Kat, Little Mo, Lynn, Zoe and Mo - go up town, it could only really end with a night in a police cell. But straight out of the disco, the fiery Slater girls - dressed in school uniforms - are far too hot for the local constabulary to handle. With time on their hands they have an opportunity to look back on their lives; Mo's bust-ups, Lynn's altercations at the altar, Kat's confrontation with her past, Little Mo's nightmare with evil Trevor and a cauldron of steamy romances. When not flirting with the night sergeant, they give the inside story on the Slater highs and lows; the passion, the heartbreak, the fights and laughter of a family that doesn't know the meaning of the phrase "The quiet life."

Jonny dreams of leaving his dead-end job as a courier. Through his childhood best friend, nephew of the notorious crime lord Ray Kreed, he wins his way into the toughest gang in North London. Hungry for action, Jonny sparks a feud between Ray's gang and a rival firm in South London headed by drug kingpin Sean and his lieutenant Matthew.

The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.