Second chances must be recognised for what they are, embraced enthusiastically and worked through with diligence and determination.

This is the true story of how a bunch of unemployed social misfits and scallywags from a tough, working-class urban slum find redemption and rehabilitation at the hands of a remarkable individual.

Former teacher, Paddy McLaughlin, who has battled some major demons of his own in the past, realises at once that underlying all the other problems of these unfortunate individuals is their serious lack of an effective education the first time round. He sets out to remedy this by creating his own little home-made college for the purpose, called (what else?) The People's College.

It is not just about improving their qualifications and psychologically preparing them for a life-time in work - it's about giving these dispirited and unpromising individuals, through the inclusion of a ground-breaking course in cosmology, an almost cosmic sense of their human significance and worth. And what can be more motivating - more inspiring - than that?