Manchester, 1922. Belinda Layton is a surplus girl. One of the many women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, with the death of her beloved fiance Ben. After four years of mourning, she finally feels ready to face whatever her future holds without him. But Ben's family can't countenance her putting him to rest, while her own family - well, all they care about is getting hold of her meagre factory wages. When Belinda joins a secretarial...

When Lizzie moves with her mother and her brothers to No.9 Coronation Street at the end of the Second World War, it's a new start for all of them after the loses and heartache they've endured. Their new neighbour, Elsie Tanner, tells them that the house is said to have bad luck, but things look up for Lizzie when she lands a job as a barmaid in a local pub, the Pride of Weatherfield. There she makes friends with the young and giddy Hilda Ogden, still...

It is 1950 and Kitty Longthorne is now a Sister at Manchester's Park Hospital, and as busy as ever. With dizzying numbers of children with polio being admitted to the children's ward, a sharp uptick of major trauma from road accidents and growing political and racial conflict affecting her patients and staff, there's no shortage of drama at the hospital. But Kitty is determined that everyone will be treated with respect. Outside of the hospital, Kitty...

Manchester, 1923: Jess Mason is determined to make her own way in the world. When she's appointed manager for Holly Lodge, a new home for old soldiers, she must convince the owner that she can run things just as well as any man - if not better. To everyone around him, Tom Watson seems a cheerful and sociable man, but he has secretly vowed to go through life alone. However, when he takes on the renovation of Holly Lodge and meets Jess, the walls he...

For Renee Rushmore, the arrival of war brings some much-needed freedom. Her father rules the house with an iron fist and, lately, his attentions towards her have turned more sinister. Desperate to escape him, and with men leaving for battle in their droves, she finds work on an understaffed farm, where she meets kindly lad Jimmy. She soon finds that her feelings for Jimmy go beyond friendship, but when he is called up to war, and she's thrown off...

Maria Conti leads a full, vibrant life in 1960s Manchester, spending her time at her widowed father's Italian restaurant. But when Leo is tragically killed, Maria finds herself in the middle of a war between her Italian and her Irish relatives.

After losing her family in the Great War, Nell is grateful to marry Stan Hibbert, believing she can recapture a sense of family with him. But five years on, she is just another back-street housewife, performing miracles with scrag-end. When she discovers that Stan is leading a double-life, she runs away to make a fresh start. Two years later, in 1924, Nell has carved out a fulfilling new life for herself and her young children in Manchester, where...

It's 1942 and Annie Walker is the landlady of the Rovers Return on Coronation Street. With her husband Jack away fighting for King and Country, Annie must juggle lone motherhood with keeping the regulars happy. Gracie Ashton works behind the bar at the Rovers and scoffs at the daft girls talking to the American soldiers, until she finds herself thrown together with the handsome GI, Chuck Dawson. With rationing, air raids and blackouts, the women of...