Image legend
| Left-hand column | Centre | Right-hand column |
| The Bailey Household | Velyien and Gertrude Henderson | Mr. and Mrs. Khan |
| Leonard Johnson | The Empey Household | |
| Solomon and Reeka Sklar | Frances and Emma Engels | |
| Ernie Fletcher | Dr. Garfield Williams |
Household 1: The Hendersons
Gertrude and Velyien Henderson are a young married couple. Gertrude is originally from Dublin, Ireland, and Velyien is from Toronto, Canada. He is working for the Department of Biology at the University of Manchester, and assisting in research into the use of nematodes to boost agricultural production. She is teaching at the Manchester High School for Girls. They are both university educated and share newspapers with a close circle of friends. They are being visited by Gertrude’s brother Harold and her cousin Jeannie. They are friendly with their landlady Mrs. Davies.
Household 2: The Empeys
A multi-generational working class Irish-English family. The parents, Thomas and Hilda Empey, emigrated from Ireland after they married to make a better life for themselves and their children. They have two daughters: Rita and Elaine. Rita is married to a serviceman and Elaine is finishing school. Both Thomas and Rita work at the Victoria Hotel and Hilda is a housewife. Emma Empey is Thomas’s mother and she joined the household after her husband died. The family keeps in touch with relatives in Ireland and Canada.
Household 3: The Engels
Frances and Josef Engels live with their young daughter, Emma, as well as Frances’s sister and nephew. Josef moved to Manchester in the id 1930s because he opposed the policies of the National Socialist state in Germany. He is a photographer and met Frances at a local photography shop where she was working. Doreen is Frances’s older sister. Her husband is fighting overseas and she works at the Victoria Hotel to support her son Richard, who is attending science classes at the University of Manchester.
Household 4: The Sklars
The Sklars household consists of Solomon and Reeka, a married couple, as well as Solomon’s parents and younger brother. Solomon works at a local raincoat factory while Reeka volunteers as a first aider for the war effort. His father, Morris, is a retired decorator, and his mother Shayla helps with the household housework. His younger brother, Jakob, is a medical student at the University of Manchester.
Household 5: The Baileys
Martha Bailey is originally from Jamaica and lives in Cheetham Hill with her five children: Robert Junior, Stephen, Mary, Adam, and Sheila. Robert Junior is a student at the University of Manchester, Stephen is a stock boy at Greenep’s, the local tobacco and sweet shop, Mary works at the Victoria Hotel, while Adam attends the local grammar school and Sheila is a pupil at the Manchester High School for Girls.
Community members
Dr. Garfield Williams, the dean of Manchester Cathedral
Ernest Fletcher, a Canadian teenager living in Liverpool, who operates a ham radio
Mr. Leonard Johnson, a well-known boxer from Manchester and an air warden
Mr. and Mrs. Khan, patrons of Greenep’s Tobacco and Sweet Shop