December 2003 sees the characters introduce themselves.

* Keith is a lecherous drunkard;

* Cathy is fairly neurotic with a deep, dark past;

* Amanda Winters is full of herself (and of men), and is spending Christmas  away, but returning to take a room at the pub in the New Year;

* Billy is a nasty piece of work (who knows Cathy as Marie);

* Brian and Annette Parsons are having marital problems, resulting in Brian spending a lot of time in the pub with Keith;

* Juliette Parsons is fairly typical teenage girl;