They weren't backwards in coming forwards in E8. What was the point of being coy when living in tiny, terraced houses, many with outside loos, there wasn't much they didn't know already about their neighbours. On a hot Saturday afternoon with the kids putting on a show in the street, they were happy to be themselves, warts and all. It wasn't the case with Alan and Lou Stevens. All human life might be on show outside their front door, but when it came to the old and new cracks in their marriage, they preferred to keep them private. They didn't discuss them with each other, let alone want their neighbours adding their two penn'orth. As the fault lines grow ever wider, you would think Alan, being a bricklayer by trade, would know what to do for the best. Instead, after uncharacteristically opening up about his problems to an old friend, he sets a course that could single-handedly bring the house of Stevens crashing down. He doesn't need any help from his returning daughter, Grace, who gate-crashes the show with a wrecking ball in her baggage.