Cathy Sharp

It's the 1950's and the orphans of Halfpenny Street have found a new home in the Essex countryside at Halfpenny House. Meanwhile, back among the slum clearances of Bethnal Green, St Saviour's has now been partially given over to a home for disturbed girls though it still serves as a reception centre for local children who are in desperate need. Amongst these are Archie and his sister June. They've been 'latch key' kids; fending for themselves while...

St Saviours children's home in London's East End has provided a safe refuge for local children for decades and Sister Beatrice and her team are as busy as ever. New staff member Jinny is glad to escape the lewd advances of her drunken and slovenly mother's rotten boyfriends, but can she prove she isn't a chip off the old block? As ever, the staff are tested when orphaned brother and sister Andy and Beth are brought to the home - they are clearly terrified...

All the Button Street children deserve a good home. Alone and on the streets after their mother ends up in hospital, Charlie has promised his little sister Maisie he'll never let her feel frightened again. That promise is hard to keep when Maisie falls ill. Hope comes in the shape of Susan and the other nurses at the local hospital. Times are tough and lately they've seen even more children come through their doors who need kindness and a loving home....

Thirteen-year-old Luke runs away to London, far away from the abusive orphanage where he grew up in northern England. Determined to prove he can survive on his own, Luke wanders the streets of pre-war London struggling to find honest employment and a scrap of food to fill his grumbling stomach. From the shadows, he observes the close-knit community of the East End docks. Missing companionship and conversation, he longs to be welcomed as one of them....

When Lucy and her siblings, Josh and Kitty, are orphaned, it falls to Joshua to provide for them all, but he is barely into his teens and in his naivety, falls prey to bad influences and drink. Lucy is desperate to avoid the workhouse, but when Joshua loses their meagre savings they are thrown out onto the street and, in dire poverty, it isn't long before Lucy finds herself at its gates - almost a fate worse than death. Inside the workhouse, Lucy...