No longer able to say "Please Sir!" when they have a problem, Form 5C from Fenn Street Secondary Modern are out in the cold hard world. But school friendships die hard and the mob determine to preserve their group identity.
Things are not going too smoothly for Eric and Sharon. While Eric is busy having a brush with the Law, Sharon realises that there are other fish in the sea. It is then that ace "tec" Frankie Abbott comes onto the scene - on his first case!
The Fenn Street Gang get a new member - Bernard Hedges
Dennis knows who his real friends are - or does he? Things come to a head when Maureen takes him to a party
Penny (Bernard's wife) decides that a woman's place is certainly not at home but the problem is keeping her job a secret from Bernard, who has rather old-fashioned views on women. Because, when at last he does get off the dole, his new job brings him into contact with all sorts of people.
The course of Duffy's and Sharon's true love never did run very smoothly, but as they grow older it becomes positively bumpy. When Sharon meets a sensitive student and Duffy gets his first taste of real competition, something just has to give . . .
Bernard still waits to start work at London University, while at home the bills keep on piling up. When a friend suggests a lucrative part-time job, he jumps at the chance but the kind of work involved makes him wished that he had looked before he leaped . . .
When the career of "Hank" Abbott, private detective come to an inglorious end, the British Army opens its arms to a new recruit. Had the Army realised what it was getting, the open arms might well have become clenched fists.
When Dennis leaves home he finds he's taken on more than he can handle. So has Eric. He's taken on Peter Craven in an optimistic attempt to contemplate a decorating job.
The final dust-up between Duffy and Sharon; Abbott in hospital with a stab wound; Dunstable's flat as a rendezvous . . .
Dennis falls into bad company and is introduced to Russian bitter. The result is an appearance in the Magistrate's Court. Bad enough, you may think, but when Duffy, Craven and Mr Smith (one of their old teachers) appear for the defence, things go from bad to worse.
Duffy is feeling the strain of separation from Sharon but is not above chatting up a bird - especially when her father is in a position to put a bit of business his way.
Maureen is a bundle of nerves as she waits for her "O" level results which will affect her nursing career. What better cure for the nerves than a nice date with a "nice chap"? So Duffy and Craven, with the best will in the world, pick the "nice chap". But where there is a will there is not always a way.
Until now, Frankie Abbott's mother has kept the awful secret of his father private. But Frankie is growing up - even if he is 10 years late about it - and his questions finally reveal the skeleton in mum's cupboard.
The happiest day of a girl's life is her wedding day - that is unless she's being married from the Duffy household! The whole affair of the wedding of Duffy's cousin, Deborah, however, is somewhat complicated by Maureen's kidnapping, and the assistance of Frankie "nurse" Abbott.
Eric and Sharon get back together and the gang have a day out at the seaside. When they decide to stay the night in a hotel, Eric and Sharon get themselves into all kinds of trouble.
With a bit of help from Craven, Dennis Dunstable tries to make his abusive alcoholic dad turn over a new leaf.
Dennis has to decide how to spend his birthday money, and spends it on a horse at an auction.
Frankie Abbott hits town looking for a new girlfriend.
A road accident means that the Fenn Street Gang become shop-keepers.
Sharon's job at the boutique is in jeopardy when she is blamed for not spotting a gang of shop-lifters. It seems things can't get any worse, and then Frankie gets the job of store detective . . .
Duffy discovers that running a small family business is not all beer and skittles. He can't even afford the beer!
Bowler, the local villain who "runs everything except London Transport", offers the out-of-work Craven a job. Craven's friends warn him about getting mixed up with Bowler, but he has never been one to listen to advice that didn't suit him.
The gang are delighted when the lonely Dennis Dunstable announces he has found a girlfriend. Then they meet the "girl" - battle-scarred and pushing 40. Sadly, it appears that Cupid may need a little correction . . .
Abbott's hypochondriac mother throws off her bandages when she falls for a man. Abbott's jealousy drives him from home, and he decides to inflict himself on Dennis. But Abbott and his mother deserve each other too much for the parting to be permanent.
Struggling to stay in business, Duffy needs, but cannot afford, some new ladders. Sharon enters a beauty contest to try to get enough money to buy them, but Duffy has strong views on beauty contests and Maureen has strong views on men who have strong views on beauty contests.
Working for the crooked Mr Bowler has brought Craven a flash car and flash clothes. Working for himself has brought Duffy packed lunches and overalls. Craven cannot resist showing off, but showing off with Bowler's money is not only silly, but also very dangerous.
At last Maureen passes her O-levels and begins a new career as a "real" nurse. Little do the patients and the staff realise what they are in for with the arrival of a modern-day Florence Nightingale gone berserk!
Dennis and Frankie find contact with the opposite sex difficult. With advice from Craven and Sharon, Dennis feels that dancing lessons might be a way of making friends. Abbott, of course, has a much better idea, an idea that could lead to disaster . . .
Mr. Dunstable has his last drunken row with his wife - who leaves him. So he decides to move in with Dennis. But Dennis, now making sweet, if slow, progress with his girlfriend, has other ideas.
Mr, Bowler likes Peter Craven working for him because he has "style". He very much wants Duffy on his payroll, too, because he has even more "style". Duffy says no, but Mr Bowler is a determined man who thinks anyone will change their mind - with a little persuasion . . .
Craven moves away from home and gets himself a flat - which he regards as a potential "come up for coffee and do you have to go home?" set-up. Then he gives a lift to a heavily-pregnant hitch-hiker, and his love-nest begins to look like a nursing home.
Sharon has been Eric Duffy's girlfriend since the Third Form at fenn Street School, and she is beginning to think that she will only be his girlfriend when they are drawing their pensions. This leads Sharon to take drastic steps. Eric only takes one step - but it's a big one.
Frankie Abbott is enjoying life on the dole, spending his days in bed and only waking occasionally to play with his new camera. This his mother meets private investigator Mr Drew and persuades him to re-employ her son.
When Dennis is persuaded to take a holiday by the sea, his father goes too and takes the cure. but, much to the horror of elderly residents of a certain hotel, the sea air revives the spirits in both father and son!
The gang go other-worldly when Maureen gets them interested in spiritualism. At a meeting held by Mr Grout, a local medium, he tells them that one of them could easily turn out to be a medium too. Abbott immediately assumes that he has psychic powers, but a surprise is in store for Maureen!
The relationship between Craven's parents consists of Mrs Craven yelling and Mr Craven obeying. So he decides to incite his father to rebellion, and succeeds - in splitting them up!
The writing is on the wall for Eric Duffy. What he needs to get his decorating business more firmly established is to put the whole thing on a more formal footing.
Duffy and Sharon's engagement is made official at last - so, of course, there has to be a party. What better time than now for the happy couple to have all their old school friends around them? Or is it?
Duffy and Sharon are engaged and looking for a home of their own. They think they've found one but Frankie Abbott loses them the chance to buy it. Full of remorse, Abbott sets out to try and make amends.
Taking a girlfriend home for the first time is always a nerve-racking experience. But whenh you have a mother like Frankie has, the confrontation is particularly difficult!
Wedding bells are finally ringing for Duffy and Sharon and after all the traditional marriage day hang-ups, all they want is to be alone. But fate has yet one more trick in store.
Honeymoons should be unforgettable. Well, Duffy and Sharon will always remember their honeymoon in Majorca - but not for the usual reasons!
Craven has been walking the tightrope of life too long, and naturally it is the idiot Abbott who makes him lose his balance. The question is - can Duffy provide the safety net?
Duffy has taken Craven on as first assistant painter, but their industrial relationship is soon put under strain. Something has to give, and it looks as though the result might be a rise in the unemployment figures.
Mrs Abbott exerts her authority over Frankie once too often. It changes him into a latter-day "Red Shadow" and he gallops off with Celeste (his new girlfriend) to the registry office . . .
Sharon has a little secret. Unfortunately it is somewhat difficult to share with Eric when they are not even talking . . .