Barbara

Barbara is the Brockman's dreaded next door neighbour. She constantly highlights Sue's shortcomings with her seemingly perfect life and children.

However, as we discover during the second series, life is not quite so perfect for Babs after all - she has a number of blazing rows with her husband which keeps the whole neighbourhood awake.

Auntie Angela

Sue's sister Angela is very 'new age' - she is into spiritual guides, dream catchers, feng shui etc.

Having spent a long time in America following their mother's death, Angela turns up un-expectedly at Sue and Pete's house one day and, much to their surprise, announces that she is staying put for a while to look after their dad.

However Angela loses Dad at the zoo and is dumped by her boyfriend... leaving Sue to predict that it won't be long before she is 'running back to America'. Sue turns out to be right.

Angela wants to be liked by her niece and two nephews and so often undermines Sue and Pete by buying the kids nice presents and giving them money and chocolate too. Despite her bribery, it is only Ben who seems to like Angela.

Frank

Sue and Angela's bewildered dad is suffering from the early signs of dementia. He spends most of his time in quiet contemplation; when he does speak it is normally to repeat a story he has already told before.

In the second series, Frank comes to stay with the Brockmans as he recovers from an unfortunate accident involving a tin of baked beans. Frank is having to come to terms with the fact that he is losing his memory and is now living in a care home where, by all accounts, he's being a bit of a rascal (sneaking off the pub and such like).

Sue

Hard-working and beleaguered mum Sue does her best to cope with the three young kids but almost always finds the odds are stacked against her.

When not trying to organise her three offspring, Sue can be found trying to deal with her very demanding boss. It seems that Veronica always phones or emails at the least suitable time but, for some reason, even when it is supposed to be her 'day off', Sue is too polite to tell her to go away... well, until near the end of series one, as which point she snaps.

Sue clearly has issues with her sister Angela. Whenever given a chance, she will find a reason to have a snide dig at her hippy sister - much to the annoyance of Pete who has clearly heard it all a hundred times before.

Her official reason for resenting Angela is that she was selfish for disappeared to America shortly after their mum's funeral - however much of it is probably actually down to jealously and feeling displaced now that she is no longer so needed by her dad. However, at the end of series one Angela's actions suggest Sue probably has a valid point after all.

Pete

Pete tries his hardest to organise his family but often finds himself over-run by his children. He's a bit confused and life seems to have taken Pete, rather than it being him who dictates the direction in which his life goes.

Pete teaches history in an inner-city school, where a typical school holiday sees five arrested, two become pregnant and one pupil shot. He's clearly frustrated by the lack of interest his pupils show in learning about history, but is becoming more resigned to it just being a job.

Pete's natural wit and his inability to keep jokes to himself has got him in trouble on more than one occasion. Following an ill-judged quip involving obesity and Ramadan, Pete found his job in jeopardy.

Ben

Ben has developed an extraordinary talent for lying - a character trait that his parents are clearly worried about. They actually have good reason to be concerned about his fibbing as it is causing them a few headaches. For example, at a school football match the other parents started asking Pete about his friendship with Gordon Brown, his SAS training, and complementing him on how he is so bravely fighting cancer... none of which is true!

Ben is a very stubborn child - he often refuses to do what his parents tell him - this seems to be a tactic that works quite well, as Pete and Sue either give up on whatever it was they were trying to get him to do, or bribe him to comply.

Ben is a fan of Arsenal football club and also Little Britain, a TV comedy show that is somewhat un-suitable for his age group. He regularly pesters his parents to allow him to watch the comedy but is always turned down. He is

Karen

Karen is Pete and Sue's regal daughter. She has a talent for interrogation, often asks adults the most bizarre off-the-wall questions which completely throw them off balance ("Dad... are shadows made of atoms?" being one rather thoughtful example).

Some of Karen's innocent questions are actually rather probing and, if answered correctly, would be rather embarrassing for the adults involved.

Karen is of an age where she has an interest in everything... including nits. At one point she wanted to keep one as a pet!

Karen doesn't yet subscribe to the 'being polite' social skills that adults must endure - and thus she doesn't hide the fact she doesn't really like Auntie Angela, much to the embarrassment of her parents.

She is also 7 in series 3