Cass (18)
ADOPTED from Dr Barnardo's orphanage by 50-year-old white mother Doll Chambers (Linda Bassett) and her husband Cecil (Peter Wight), Cass (Verelle Roberts) is forced to endure racist abuse from his early days in the school playground.
He gets into fights with the other children but finds comfort in the camaraderie between fans in the football stands of West Ham United.
Gaining respect through violence, Cass (now played by Nonso Anozie) rises through the ranks of the club's notorious hooligan gang, The Intercity Firm (The ICF)
His skin colour makes him an obvious target for the police and for rival gangs, and when the Thatcher government resolves to cure the social malaise of hooliganism, Cass is the first man to serve a long-term prison sentence for football-related violence.
With the help of his sweetheart Elaine (Natalie Press), who becomes his wife, Cass hopes to escape the cycle of violence but his brutal past returns to haunt him.
