Alan Bleasdale's five-part series relates the further experiences of unemployed Liverpudlian tarmac layers Dixie, Chrissie, Loggo and Yosser, and their revered older friend, retired longshoreman and union leader, George Malone. As they struggle to make ends meet in a depressed economy, and to hold together their financially battered families, they are harrassed by the petty bureaucrats of the DHSS. But the lumbering investigational juggernaut is, both comically and tragically, guided by drivers with only a provisional license.

And the Beat Goes On was a drama serial of eight one-hour episodes set in Liverpool, England during the 1960s. It follows the members of two families as they struggle to cope with the social turmoil of this period. Mickey O'Rourke (Roy Brandon), his wife Mary Ann (Eileen O'Brien) and their son Ritchie (Danny McCall) must contend with Ritchie's girlfriend Cathy (Cathy Williams), who is pregnant by another man. Nick Spencer (Stephen Moore) and his wife Connie (Jenny Agutter) have a daughter Christine (Lisa Faulkner) who brings an unsuitable boyfriend home. Meanwhile, Connie is becoming dependent on tranquilizers and her brother tries to borrow money from Nick.

The ground-breaking soap set in a housing estate on the outskirts of Liverpool.