She grew up in a lower middle class area. Her father was a sales rep, spending a lot of time away from home. Beth hero-worshipped him, and he in turn was besotted with her. They formed an exclusive little clique with Beth’s mother forever on the outside.

She would try and laugh it off, ‘they’re as thick as thieves those two…’, but the truth was it made her unhappy. The lonelier she got, the more depressed she became, the more depressed she became, the more exasperated and irritated Beth’s father got. And the more fed up her father became, the more Beth resented her mother for upsetting him.

Beth’s relationship with her father has formed the template for her adult relationships with men. Just as she could wrap him around her finger, she soon developed the skill to do it with others.

It would be wrong to assume great self-confidence, however. It’s as if her opinion of herself is entirely based on what men think of her – something that infuriates Lia and Anji.

It’s a mystery why she became a nurse. None of the others can explain it. She met Kate and Lia while training. Up to then, Beth hadn’t had many female friends, and if they’re honest Kate and Lia treated her as a bit of a joke at first.

But she could be a good laugh, had a staggering capacity for lager and was very handy at charming her way past bouncers or fluttering her eyelids for free drinks. And so gradually they became friends.