An isolated, overweight girl with a penchant for shoplifting, gets pushed from pillar to post as the authorities struggle to know what to do with her.

Elphida is 30. She has been married for 13 years and has 3 children. She plans to restart her education when her youngest child goes to nursery. Then the nursery is closed. On top of this, her parents are contemplating divorce and want her to act as a go between.

"A dramatisation of the experiences of black servicemen from the Second World War to the present day. These fascinating accounts - vivid, humorous, often harrowing - offer an unusual and sometimes startling perspective on army life. First produced by the Royal National Theatre Studio and now re-created for television, Black Poppies was filmed on the Broadwater Farm Estate in north London." - Radio Times, 1992