Happy Families - Season 1

As a child, Mel always dreamed of being a mum – dressing up in grown up shoes and pushing her dolls' pram down the street. Her children are the centre of her world and she's determined to give them the childhood she didn't have. She's saving up to take them to The World of Beatrix Potter, and has instigated a reward system for good behaviour, good reading and eating all your dinner. Whilst juggling five kids, Mel's got her dream underway and has started her own online business. But the pressure is on for this Blackburn mum. Husband Kris is out of work and he's at home looking after the kids while she's out earning the money. As Mel contends with five young children and five jobs to make ends meet, she tries to balance following her own career and still being the devoted mum she always wanted to be.

Mum and step-mum to eight children, Carole can't remember not being a mother. In fact she thrives on the stress that motherhood brings. But as one of her eldest prepares to leave home, Carole struggles to let go.

In Kent, parents Keith and Carole are old hands at parenting. They have been practising for the last 22 years and now they have their hands full with a house of eight children, six over the age of 18. Despite the fact that the kids are grown up, Keith and Carole are still parenting. But it's no longer mopping up after grazed knees or arguing about homework. Instead they are making a stand – to get them to grow up and pay up. The ‘kids' however have other priorities.

Kris is just starting out in the parenting game. Eighteen months ago he was a single bachelor in Blackburn before he met mum of four, Mel. Now he's swapped nights at the pub for nappies and his life is about navigating the challenging role of step dad and dad. His intentions are good but he's a beginner, and wife Mel gets protective when he brings his version of rules and authority to the table.

In Nottingham, T and Tahmina are just entering the treacherous territory of teenage daughters. They have laid down rules about the importance of a good work ethic, respect for your family and yourself. Fourteen-year-old daughter, Rashiqa thinks they are ‘old school' and don't really understand what it is to be a teenager today.

In Blackburn, 31-year-old Kris has had his life turned upside down. Within the last year Kris has married Mel and taken on her four children, and now they have a baby of their own. Eight months ago the realities of the recession hit the family when Kris lost his job. Now he's a stay at home dad of five while Mel has become the sole breadwinner, a role reversal that he struggles with and one that brings stress to this lively and determined family.

While in Nottingham, super dad T is provider for not just his own two daughters, but three additional families back home in Pakistan. He also sees himself as a father figure to the whole community. Being responsible for so many people is starting to have an effect on his health. His greatest strength, but biggest flaw, is that he simply cannot say no. Wife Tahmina is determined to save him from himself, but in doing so T finds himself caught between the demands of his wife and mother.

In Kent, Keith rules the roost in a house bursting at the seams. He and his wife Carole have eight children between them, six over the age of eighteen, and all still live at home. Keith is a strong advocate for further education, but only his son Ben has followed in his footsteps to university. Ben, however, is finding it hard to give up the comforts of home and is hanging around the house. Keith, who ‘didn't so much as phone home during his first term', has to step in with some fatherly words.

In the final episode of this innovative series about what it means to be a family in Britain today, our four families reveal their different ways of making marriage work. From breaking up to making up , from new flames to old romance - this is the couples' tale .

This week Mel and Kris lead the way as they prepare to renew their vows in front of family and friends, but it's a celebration on a shoestring. Five kids, two cats, five part time jobs and a limited budget do not make for a calm week. As the ceremony looms, tensions run high. Is love enough to get them down the aisle?

There are lessons to be learned from our other couples. The Chalks have been together since they were teenagers; they've weathered plenty of storms and twenty years on they're still in love. The Othen-Alexanders are experts at the challenges couples face second time round. For the Tahirs, the bone of contention is the mother-in-law.