The Key is a very human story. It's about three generations of a family struggling to make the best of their lives in very difficult circumstances. The drama recounts the story of the last century through the eyes of one family. It draws upon many of the key moments of British political history during the 20th century, ranging from Bloody Friday in 1919, when thousands of workers gathered in Glasgow to demand a 40-hour week and were set upon by mounted police, to the brutal chaos of the miners' strike demonstraion at Orgreave in 1984.