Doreen Taylor

In the docklands of East London stands the Empire State, a nightclub full of magic and mystery. Designed like an ocean liner, it's become a battle ground where anything can happen. In the midst of the action, a young boy stows aboard to search for his friend who has disappeared in the entrails of the club.

Martin Urban, a young accountant, is gay but unwilling to own up to this fact because he desperately wants to be the ideal son for his parents. When he wins a fortune on the football pools, he decides to give half of it away to deserving people. But he neglects to include his friend Tim Sage, who filled in the coupon for him and really needs the money. Perhaps Martin doesn't acknowledge Tim because Martin is strongly sexually attracted to him. Tim's revenge upon Martin succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, setting in motion a chain of events leading to a tragic climax.

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.