Following the success of the heartwarming festive special Christmas Lights and last year’s Northern Lights, this new series finds Colin and Howie forced to give up everything they know and start a new life in the Big Smoke – with completely new identities.

When our heroes, Colin (Robson Green) and Howie (Mark Benton), sneak away from a family shopping trip in Manchester they are unsuspecting witnesses to a gangland shooting. As the only bystanders prepared to come forward and with the police eager to nail the main suspect, violent gangster Scott Sweeney (Paul Ritter), they agree, as key witnesses, to help the police. Unfortunately a misguided conversation with a news reporter results in their identities being released in the local press – placing Colin and Howie in immediate danger.

The police, led by D.S. Gary Tate (Nicholas Gleaves), organise for Colin, Howie and their families to ‘lie low’ at a hotel until things blow over. Unfortunately the boys treat the situation as a bit of a holiday, culminating in them entertaining other guests by drinking their way through the bar, singing far too loudly and ending up in a fight with a woman in the gym due to mistaken identity…

It is not until Sweeney manages to give the police the slip and the family homes are firebombed that the gravitas of the situation hits home, and for their own safety, both families are advised to enter the Witness Protection Programme.

ITV1 Network Wednesday 4 April 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM