Claire Storey

Blackpool, summer 1942.  Meet the Ballroom Girls: Sylvia, Pearl and Joy. Three girls dancing through the turbulence of WWII. Sylvia is the spoiled only child of an ambitious mother, Lorna Ellis, who runs a dancing school in Blackpool. Approaching 21, Sylvia is under pressure to scoop up prizes by fair means or foul. Pearl is the oldest daughter in a large, chaotic family who all work at the Pleasure Beach. She often sneaks away to watch ballroom contestants in their glittery finery. She dreams of joining them, but will she ever be anything other than an outsider looking in?

Joy is an evacuee who lost her parents to the Blitz. Now she lives and works in a shabby boarding house and works as a cleaner. Though shy and modest, she falls in love with the newest dance craze - the American Jitterbug. When Lorna's rival dance school spots her talent, Joy is given a chance to break away from boarding house drudgery and enter the glamorous world of professional ballroom dancing. Through blackouts and air raids, the excitement of the ballroom never dims. But competition is fierce. Will the Ballroom Girls find what they're looking for in the joy of the dance?

Blackpool, November 1942. Wartime worries fail to dampen the glitz and glamour of the ballroom in the run-up to Christmas. After all, life is for living.

Newlywed Pearl's bliss is cut short when her beloved Bernie is called up into the Army. Will dancing at the Tower Ballroom take the edge off her heartache or will it throw temptation her way?

Unexpected news of an inheritance presents Joy with a different dilemma. Should she move to Scotland in line with her parents' final wishes or stay in Blackpool to dance with Tommy, the man she loves?

Meanwhile, ambitious Sylvia ditches Eddie, her loyal dance partner and launches into a new career teaching jive and jitterbug. Regrets soon set in, however. Is this the worst mistake she's ever made? Change is in the air.

Can our Ballroom Girls fulfil their dreams and make this a Christmas to remember?

Everyone in the village loves Joni Blackwood. She is beautiful and bold, and it's no surprise to anyone when on the annual village bonfire, she is crowned 'queen' of the festivities. After all, despite fierce competition from the charity-giving and churchgoing mothers in the village, she has won this honour five years in a row.

But this year, the morning after the party is not like the mornings before. This year, Joni is missing, the shower left running in her cottage.

When the next day, human remains are found in the church graveyard, everyone is quick to assume that the mystery of Joni's whereabouts has had a swift and deadly answer. But when it's revealed that the remains are the small bones of a baby, it's clear that Joni's disappearance only marks the start of dark truths in the village coming to light.