Bert is a single parent who hasn't got a job. His days are filled with endless hours of daytime TV watching. Sometimes this gives him the impression that he's the expert on any subject a person could name.

The father of Ric and Joe, the domestic arts are a mystery to him and his culinary skills just about run to cooking frozen pizzas in the microwave. This in spite of the fact that he never misses any of the TV cookery programmes.

Just lately he has thought about getting married again.

Kevin is married to Sammy and is the father of Andy and Tessa. He spends most of his life feeling overwhelmed by everything around him. If it isn't his son being so much smarter than him, it's his daughter having a go because he's not recycling the bottles every week.

He regularly has the feeling that no one listens to anything he says, particularly Sammy who recently bought the family a new kitten in spite of Kevin's protestations.

Every so often Kevin likes to relax over a pint in the local pub.

Sammy has a kind heart - so kind that it regularly gets in the way of her better judgement, recently buying a kitten simply because it looked cute in the window of the pet shop.

She adores her children and pets and although she loves Kevin in the same way, he will often comment that he feels that he comes in a poor third in the pecking order.

Sammy took pity on Scout when he was only a kitten. Having lost an eye in an unknown incident, she fashioned a patch for him and was surprised when he kept it on.

Pat is married to Claire and they have twin daughters, Spit and Spot. The coach of the local football team, he's not very good and the team is currently on a losing streak that's been going for three seasons. He's constantly worried that he'll be fired one day. He's been known to fall asleep during matches because the team plays such unexciting football.

Hi lack of knowledge and expertise doesn't end with football and his daughters know they can't rely on him for help with homework.

Claire is very scatterbrained and because she couldn't remember her twin daughters' names she nicknamed them Spit and Spot.

She has been known to lose her train of thought more than once in the same sentence. Pat is convinced that she doesn't have a clue what he does for a living.

Claire writes herself notes for just about everything she does. More than once she didn't pick the girls up from school because she lost her notebook.

Karen is married to John and they are the parents of Toby and Sorcha.

Karen is the testing ground for Toby's jokes and because he has a tendency to tell them at the breakfast table she doesn't find them funny. She's not a morning person.

Knowing her husband very well, she has a habit of organising his tasks for him to the point where she will order paint and other decorating supplies without telling him.

John is a procrastinator. If it was left to him then nothing would get done around the house.

He has a passion for rugby that he tries to instil into Toby, but the boy simply hasn't the attention span to do well.

He has the firm belief that going to watch the match can only be done properly if there have been a couple of pints downed in the local hostelry first. A belief that Karen reluctantly puts up with.

Mrs Minton is a little old lady that everyone down Juniper Crescent seems to fear. Though she has a soft spot for Scout - something that he uses to make the others think he's tough by not running from her.

It's not known how old she is - no one has the courage to ask her, though it's rumoured that she could be in her nineties.

It's been said that she is the reason the crime rate is so low in the area.

Mick is a graphic designer by profession and is often to be found working from home. He often feels that he is simply earning money to pay for Denny's designer clothes.

He and Denny are the parents of Matt and Dane, though they aren't actually husband and wife. It's not something they give much thought to.

He can become very exasperated by the constant interruptions he gets when working from home, but he continues to do so anyway.

Denny is an English teacher at the school most of the kids from Juniper Crescent attend. The kids are rarely bothered by this.

She has an obsession with looking immaculate at all times and spends a small fortune on clothes. Even when she's gardening she wears designer clothes and only the best wellingtons.

Denny doesn't relate to her kids at all and only barely to Mick, though she wouldn't be without them, of course. After the birth of Dane and the way it spoilt her looks (her words) she vowed never to have another child. So Matt was a big surprise when he came along.

Melody makes jewellery at home and sells it at a couple of the local markets as well as one of the shops in the town centre.

Married to Luke they are the parents of J.J. Melody loves anything creative and regularly heads off to her workshop-cum-studio in the converted garage at the strangest of hours.

Melody works at the local charity shop two afternoons a week and is a firm believer in re-cycling everything possible. Weekends sees her sending Luke and J.J. off to the bottle bank.

Luke works in a bank and got to know Melody when she was looking for capital to start her own jewellery making business. With apparently little in common it even surprised them both when they hit it off so well.

Luke has an interest in the local football team, even though they don't do very well and can often be seen talking to Pat about the latest match.

Luke encourages his son's interest in sport but keeps trying to get J.J. to look further than the local team.

Other adult characters will crop up from time to time as required, but at the moment these are the only permanent ones I have planned.