Graham is a middle-aged man with a history of mild mental health problems, living with his mother in Leeds.
Irene Ruddock is not afraid to speak, or rather write, her mind: she writes letters to her MP, the police, the chemist - everyone she can, to remedy the social ills she sees around her.
Susan, an alcoholic, nervous vicar's wife, distracts herself from her ambitious, and, as she sees him, vainly insensitive husband and his doting parishioners by conducting an affair with a nearby grocer, Ramesh Ramesh, discovering something about herself and God in the process.
Muriel is a strong woman, and always has been — a pillar of the community, a regular charity worker, and a volunteer for Meals on Wheels; and looking after her mentally ill daughter, Margaret, has fortified her resolve — so, after the death of her husband, Muriel is well-prepared to cope with the crisis.
Lesley is an aspiring actress, who, after a series of unpromising extra roles on television programmes such as Crossroads, finds what she believes to be her big break as the adventurous Travis in a new film for the West German market.
Doris, aged seventy-five, is a tidy woman — and when she suffers a fall after trying to clear up after her considerably less thorough home help, Zulema, it becomes apparent that her constant nagging may have been responsible for her husband's early death.
Miss Fozzard is a lonely, middle-aged department store clerk in the Soft Furnishings Department whose free time is mostly spent caring for her brother after he suffers a stroke.
Celia is a covetous antiques dealer who brazenly aids elderly neighbours for the sole purpose of being in a good position to buy their treasures on the cheap when they die.
Wilfred is, we discover over time, a reformed paedophile living under a false identity and working as a much-praised maintenance man in a public park.
Clean freak Marjory gradually comes to realise that her partner, who works in a slaughterhouse, is using his employment to cover the fact that he's a particularly evil criminal.
Rosemary is a lonely woman who takes it upon herself to tend to a female neighbour's garden after the latter is arrested for murdering her abusive husband.
Violet is a confused, elderly woman in a nursing home who has been told by the excited staff she will soon be receiving a congratulatory telegram from the Queen in honour of her one hundredth birthday.