Londoners Trilogy – serie

Magnolia Square in South London was a friendly and vibrant place to live, not least for Kate Voigt and her father. Carl Voigt had been a WWI prisoner of war who had married a cockney girl and never gone back. Now widowed, he and Kate were part of the London life of the square with all its rumbustious and colourful characters. Then came the war.Suddenly it seemed the Voigts were outcasts because of their German blood. When Carl was interned, Kate's only support was her best friend Carrie, and Toby, the R.A.F. pilot whom she loved. Finally, when Toby was killed, and even Carrie turned against her, she found herself pregnant and totally alone.Late one Christmas evening, during the Blitz, she was approached by a wounded sailor asking for lodgings. Leon Emmerson, like Kate, was also a lonely misfit because if his parentage. It was to be the beginning of a new friendship, of startling and dramatic events in Kate's life. And as the war progressed, as the Londoners fought to help each other while their city was bombed and burned, so the rifts in the community were healed, and Kate and those she loved became, once more, part of Magnolia Square.

1945: The war was over, and the families who lived in Magnolia Square could look forward to their men coming home and their lives returning to normal.But for some, the end of the war brought serious problems. Kate Voigt was at last able to marry Leon Emmerson, the man she loved, a Londoner like herself, but of mixed race. When old man Harvey, a powerful and wealthy figure in South London and great-grandfather to Kate's small son, heard of the match he was determined that young Matthew should not be raised by Leon. Slowly, insidiously, he began the fight to wrest Kate's son away from her.And for Jewish refugee Christina, who had married Jack Robson, a commando and the handsomest man in the Square, the end of the war brought its own special torment. She was convinced that her mother and grandmother had somehow escaped the holocaust and were alive. It seemed that her determination to find them could put everything, even her marriage, at risk.As Magnolia Square, scarred and battered, but still surviving, prepared to enjoy the 'Peace', so the inhabitants of the Square begin to try and rebuild their lives.

It is early summer in 1953, and the friends and neighbours of Magnolia Square are looking forward to celebrating the Coronation. The war has become a memory; the future seems rosy. Kate Emmerson looks on with pride at her growing family, including Matthew, whose father was killed during the war. But Matthew's wealthy relations have never really forgiven Kate for marrying Leon, a West Indian who works as a Thames lighterman, and when Matthew runs away from his smart boarding school in Somerset the tensions which exist between the two families come to a head. Meanwhile Zac, the wonderfully talented and handsome new signing at the local boxing club, is being eyed hopefully by all the young women of Magnolia Square. But he has eyes for only one woman - Carrie Collins, who has teenage children of her own and whose husband, Danny, seems more interested in the boxing club and his market stall than in her.In the weeks leading up to the Coronation festivities, drama and tragedy threaten to haunt Magnolia Square, but by the time the great day dawns, the bells ring out in celebration as the Londoners enjoy themselves as only they know how.

Magnolia Square in South London was a friendly and vibrant place to live, not least for Kate Voigt and her father. Carl Voigt had been a WWI prisoner of war who had married a cockney girl and never gone back. Now widowed, he and Kate were part of the London life of the square with all its rumbustious and colourful characters. Then came the war.Suddenly it seemed the Voigts were outcasts because of their German blood. When Carl was interned, Kate's only support was her best friend Carrie, and Toby, the R.A.F. pilot whom she loved. Finally, when Toby was killed, and even Carrie turned against her, she found herself pregnant and totally alone.Late one Christmas evening, during the Blitz, she was approached by a wounded sailor asking for lodgings. Leon Emmerson, like Kate, was also a lonely misfit because if his parentage. It was to be the beginning of a new friendship, of startling and dramatic events in Kate's life. And as the war progressed, as the Londoners fought to help each other while their city was bombed and burned, so the rifts in the community were healed, and Kate and those she loved became, once more, part of Magnolia Square.

1945: The war was over, and the families who lived in Magnolia Square could look forward to their men coming home and their lives returning to normal.But for some, the end of the war brought serious problems. Kate Voigt was at last able to marry Leon Emmerson, the man she loved, a Londoner like herself, but of mixed race. When old man Harvey, a powerful and wealthy figure in South London and great-grandfather to Kate's small son, heard of the match he was determined that young Matthew should not be raised by Leon. Slowly, insidiously, he began the fight to wrest Kate's son away from her.And for Jewish refugee Christina, who had married Jack Robson, a commando and the handsomest man in the Square, the end of the war brought its own special torment. She was convinced that her mother and grandmother had somehow escaped the holocaust and were alive. It seemed that her determination to find them could put everything, even her marriage, at risk.As Magnolia Square, scarred and battered, but still surviving, prepared to enjoy the 'Peace', so the inhabitants of the Square begin to try and rebuild their lives.