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1. Bölüm Franny is one of those people who cannot admit defeat. Whatever he's up against, he'll keep going, until it breaks him in two. And if he decides that a course of action is right, then he pursues it, no turning aside, no consultation. No matter what the cost.
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2. Bölüm Tasha (Katie Blake) is a textile design student, doing work experience at Mackintosh. She's a posh girl from a leafy suburb and she doesn't fit in. She desperately wants to but she comes from another world. Mack (Philip Glenister) is feeling his age. Living alone in his suburban family house, his dissatisfaction with life is growing. This is not what he wants, surrounded by housewives driving 4 by 4s, spending his weekends at elderly neighbour's barbecues. There's got to be something more.
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3. Bölüm Sometimes the reality of who people are is so terrifying, even to themselves, that it must remain hidden. Mark Talbot (James Murray) is one of these people. Someone with darkness in his past and in himself, a darkness from which he cannot escape, however much he wishes that he could. He seems like a nice enough lad, excitedly getting ready for his first day at Mackintosh. He's fit, clean, nice to his Mum - ex-army, Parachute Regiment no less, if his tattoo is anything to go by. He approaches his new workmates with confidence, he's charming, friendly and obviously one for the ladies, as his instant rapport with resident babe Hannah Phillips (Katisha Kenyon) demonstrates. The other blokes can't believe how quickly he's in there!
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4. Bölüm Julie (Siobhan Finneran) is a Mackintosh old hand. She's a strange girl really - mid thirties, lives at home with her parents, popular, kind and generous but not truly close to anyone. As for a love life: non-existent. She feels a vague emptiness inside, but nothing she's ever dealt with. Life just goes on, day by day, same old thing. Its not as if she's actually unhappy.
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5. Bölüm Jenny (Sophie Okonedo) has a pretty good life. She drives a forklift at Mackintosh alongside her best mate, Suzie (Nicola Stephenson), so work is a real laugh. Their eight-year-old sons, Tom and Ryan, go to school together. And best of all, Jenny is marrying Suzie's brother Sam (Nicholas Sidi), who she loves big time. Perfect. Except Jenny has created this life, like a house of cards. It is a fiction, based on lies, and all it needs is for one card to get knocked out of place, and the whole thing falls...
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6. Bölüm Alan (Bob Pugh) is always the life and soul of the party. In his mid-forties, he's not quite one of the lads anymore but still sees life as a giggle. He has a wonderfully happy marriage to Sally (Lorriane Ashbourne), who although she's the much quieter, more sensible half of the partnership, watches all his shenanigans with fond amusement. They have two teenage sons, the oldest of whom Chris (Ciaran Griffiths) is about to go off to university, a cause of enormous pride for them both.
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7. Bölüm Gary (Marshall Lancaster), works in the off cuts department at Mackintosh, and has a beautiful, expensive home, full of costly antiques and erudite scientific tomes, everything just so. The only thing that doesn't fit is him. The problem is he's had a letter from a solicitor, informing him that he had been left a house and a substantial amount of money. In his father's will. All well and good, except that the only father Gary had ever known was still alive. Both Gary and his brother Stephen (Lee Ingleby) were adopted, only their adoptive parents never got round to telling them. A bit of a shock. Especially for Stephen who got the news without the financial bonus.
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8. Bölüm Mack has never exactly been a bundle of laughs but over the last few months, his bitter disappointment with life has been increasing, day-by-day. Is the factory with its big pressures and small triumphs, all there is? As crisis point looms, Mack needs to carve himself a future that makes him happy. On the surface, things seem surprisingly good. Mackintosh is on the brink of the most lucrative deal ever and despite his disillusion, Mack is still a sucker for the pull of success, big money. He's also got a nice looking woman on his arm, Miranda (Katie Carmichael). She's a posh girl, bit of a b. but classy. Makes him feel good. She's too quick to hear wedding bells, but that can always be dealt with later.