The kitchen is the heart of the home. It is where we live, laugh and love. And it is central to one of the most powerful traditions in modern life - the family meal. In this documentary series, BBC Two follows eight very different households in their kitchens, capturing the spirit of life in Britain, as they cook, eat and share their lives at the kitchen table.

It is the start of September and, with the summer holidays over, Britain prepares to head back to work and school. In the Gale household, 18-year-old son Robson is leaving home to study mechanics in Norfolk. Parents Simon and Sue have also decided to go on a relationship course in Amsterdam, leaving their remaining children Phoebe and Murray home alone with a bottle of tequila.

The Barry-Powers in Cardiff face an uphill battle to get eight-year-old Cerys back to school. Meanwhile in Suffolk, Hamish Mitchell Cotts is rushed off his feet trying to get his six children fed, watered and out the door. At the Garbutt's in Cheltenham, Lucy knocks up an after-school lamb stew from kitchen leftovers, and at the Harrar's in Staffordshire, husband Amar creates a post-work chana masala with fried Indian breads. Pensioners Marylyn and Wilfred Bradshaw throw caution to the wind and indulge in a sherry trifle at lunchtime, while single mother Sue Evans in Birmingham is on a detox to prepare for an upcoming date. There are more relationship dramas in London as the Clapham boys have been on new dates, and it looks like things could be getting serious for Xanthi... Show less