Unemployed Harry Morgan from Tyneside takes over the duties of Conservative MP Matthew Parris for a week, in a sequel to the programme in which Parris lived on unemployment benefit for a week.
Georgia Benfield, at her wit's end, loses control and begins physically abusing her elderly mother, just as Georgia had been abused herself as a child.
The weekly brass band rehearsal is an enjoyable, light-hearted occasion. Then Mathew, the conductor, introduces James, a newcomer to the village, who is an enthusiastic bandsman from the north, where they do these things properly.
Beate Klarsfeld, a German Protestant housewife, who, with the help of her Jewish law-student husband, Serge, begins an unrelenting campaign after World War II to bring Nazi war criminals to justice.
Jessica's promising debut as a young artist is shattered by a sudden and violent death. She escapes into a restless succession of journeys whose encounters along the way bring humour, some comfort, but also danger.