Happy Families

In Blackburn, 31-year-old Kris has had his life turned upside down. Within the last year Kris has married Mel and taken on her four children, and now they have a baby of their own. Eight months ago the realities of the recession hit the family when Kris lost his job. Now he's a stay at home dad of five while Mel has become the sole breadwinner, a role reversal that he struggles with and one that brings stress to this lively and determined family.

While in Nottingham, super dad T is provider for not just his own two daughters, but three additional families back home in Pakistan. He also sees himself as a father figure to the whole community. Being responsible for so many people is starting to have an effect on his health. His greatest strength, but biggest flaw, is that he simply cannot say no. Wife Tahmina is determined to save him from himself, but in doing so T finds himself caught between the demands of his wife and mother.

In Kent, Keith rules the roost in a house bursting at the seams. He and his wife Carole have eight children between them, six over the age of eighteen, and all still live at home. Keith is a strong advocate for further education, but only his son Ben has followed in his footsteps to university. Ben, however, is finding it hard to give up the comforts of home and is hanging around the house. Keith, who ‘didn't so much as phone home during his first term', has to step in with some fatherly words.