Martina Cole

Just before Danny Cadogan's 14th birthday, his father leaves. Having drunkenly run up a gambling debt he cannot pay, Big Dan Cadogan takes the easy way out. Determined to protect his mother, brother and sister, something changes in Danny and, overnight, he turns into a young man set on making his way in a violent and dangerous world.

Patrick Brodie is on the way up. He's a chancer, but unlike his drunkard father, he wants to make sure that anything he accrues stays close by. He also knows exactly how far he's prepared to go to get what he wants. Before long, Patrick has taken out the old guard and become a legend in his own lifetime.

Aiden O'Hara has been head of the family since he was kid, and he's going to keep it that way. Jade Dixon is the one who watches his back. Mother of his son. The one who makes him invincible. But Jade's been in the game a lot longer than Aiden. She knows no one's indestructible. And when you're at the top, that's when you've got to watch the hardest. Especially the ones closest to you!

The Bailey brothers are gangsters determined to make their mark in the world. Peter and Daniel are chalk and cheese in many ways - Peter's calm exterior belies his ruthless nature, while Daniel's penchant for spectacular violence is legendary - but together they are unstoppable. From the late 70s they rule London's East End and, when their sons join the business, it seems that no one can touch the powerful Baileys. Although it's never easy at the...

To Phillip Murphy, family is everything. Christine has always understood this about her husband, but there is another side to Phillip, a side he never wanted his wife to see. Though, even if she did, could she do anything but stand by him? Once you're in the family, you're in it for life.

Michael Flynn is untouchable in a world of power, money and violence. He fights for what he wants and he takes it, whatever the cost. He learns the rules of the Life from the best and when his mentor, legendary Face Patrick Costello, is taken out, no one questions that Michael Flynn is his natural successor. For Michael, loyalty - and crime - pay. Michael rises to heights beyond anything the criminal underworld has seen. He owns everyone and he rules...

Imelda Dooley is really scared. She's played hard and fast and now she's been caught. She's pregnant and now she's on her own. Her father, not a man to mess with, will see that somebody pays for this, and it's not going to be her. So Imelda Dooley tells a lie - a lie that literally causes murders.

Cathy Connor has been running away all her life. So when she is sent to a remand centre for hitting her drunken father, her only choice is to run away. Living rough in Soho, she turns to prostitution. But Cathy finds that her past is never far behind.

Jackie Jackson is preparing a party to welcome home her husband Freddie, detained at Her Majesty's pleasure for the past six years. But after his years in jail, Freddie now thinks that he is Essex's answer to the Godfather - and he is going to make sure that everyone knows it.