Nick Nickleby has been updated for television from the Charles Dickens novel Nicholas Nickleby to reflect the concerns and questions about modern Britain. Dickens' exploration of corruption within a private boarding schools has been switched to care-homes for the elderly. The series invites the viewers at home to reflect on how the vulnerable suffer when the pursuit of profit is valued more than that of human kindness. Following his father's death the family farm is repossessed and Nick travels to London with his mum and younger sister, Kat, to look for help from Uncle Ralph, the owner of a chain of high profile care homes.