In many ways, Sink Or Swim was a victim of circumstance. In 1981, the year after the show premiered, Only Fools And Horses launched on the BBC. Although it took time to build the huge audience figures it would go on to receive, the similarity in concept - two brothers sharing a flat in London - meant that Sink Or Swim fell by the wayside as Only Fools And Horses's popularity grew. Gareth Gwenlan, the producer of Sink Or Swim, went on to produce Only Fools And Horses in 1988, and further mixing the two worlds, Nicholas Lyndhurst starred in Alex Shearer's next sitcom, The Two Of Us. Davison also continued to appear in sitcoms like Eric Chappell's Fiddler's Three and Roy Clarke's Ain't Misbehavin'. To date, his final sitcom role saw him star alongside his daughter Georgia Tennant in Michael Aitkens's 2007 comedy Fear, Stress And Anger. Glenister later found fame as fixer Ash Morgan in long-running crime drama Hustle, while Corper reunited with Jim Davidson for Up The Elephant And Round The Castle, as well as appearing in Roy Clarke's Mann's Best Friends and Norman Lovett's cult curio I, Lovett. Her last credit to date was playing Rab C Nesbitt's snob of a sister in law, Phoebe. In a nutshell, Sink or Swim is, like Seinfeld would become years later, a show about nothing. It threatens to pursue a plot at various stages throughout all three series… but on the whole this is a series which gets by on the charm of its three leads and Alex Shearer’s gently comic writing. And the key players really are charming, with a good mix of chemistry that is a delight to watch on screen.”

Joining the previously announced Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie and Coronation Street star Sair Khan will be The Last Leg’s Alex Brooker, TOWIE stars James ‘Arg’ Argent and Georgia Kousoulou, Blue singer Simon Webbe, Love Island’s Wes Nelson, Hollyoaks actress Rachel Adedeji, television presenter Diane Louise Jordan and Linford Christie’s fellow Olympic gold medallists , Tessa Sanderson and Greg Rutherford. Sink or Swim is a BBC TV sitcom created and written by Alex Shearer. It ran for three series between 4 December 1980 and 14 October 1982 and stars Peter Davison as Brian Webber and Robert Glenister as his brother Steve.The celebrities will be teamed with a group of leading figures and professionals from the world of swimming including Olympic silver medallist Keri-anne Payne and adventurer Ross Edgley (best known for being the first person in history to swim around Great Britain). Keri-anne and Ross will be lead-trainers, with support from Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds. Together, the trainers will offer vital training and support to transform the celebrities into strong swimmers, capable of taking on a series of challenges. Each episode will culminate in a punishing qualification swim and the celebrities left standing (or in this case, swimming) at the end of the gruelling training process will take part in the ultimate open water challenge together as they attempt to swim the English Channel. Holding The Fort and Sink Or Swim both started in 1980, and for the last two series of the latter he was filming concurrently with his opening series of Doctor Who. Brian eventually moves with Sonia to Newcastle to read computer science at university but Steve goes too (with his canary) and gets a job as a maintenance worker at the university. Sink or Swim (4 x 60’) attempts to erase the stigma of being a non-swimmer and follows the progress of our cast some complete non-swimmers, some who just need to polish up their skills as well as those with a fear of open water or those who have been taught to swim as children but now struggle to do so for health reasons – as they are pushed to their absolute limits. Before starring as the fifth incarnation of television's favourite Time Lord, Peter Davison was a character actor. He got his big break in 1978 when he was cast as Tristan Farnon in drama All Creatures Great and Small Alongside Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy, and his first foray into sitcom was Marks & Gran's Holding The Fort in 1980, alongside Patricia Hodge and Matthew Kelly; a sitcom that has, inexplicably, never been made available on home media.

Twofour Group is a family of award-winning companies producing and delivering world-class international TV. Working for broadcasters around the world, the Twofour Group spans drama, comedy, factual and entertainment. Twofour Group is proud to be part of ITV Studios Brian Webber (Peter Davison) lives in a grotty bedsit at the least-fashionable end of Portobello Road and is trying hard to make his way in the world – so far with limited success. Rounding out the main cast is Sara Corper as Sonia. Like Glenister, this was Corper’s first major TV role, having previously appeared in an episode of The Jim Davidson Show, penned by Alex Shearer. For me, Corper is often the highlight of each episode and gains some of the biggest laughs. Perhaps this is because the many preoccupations of Sonia are still deeply relevant in today’s world of achingly right-on ‘vegan bores’. Again, this could have easily been a very one-note character, a ‘let’s all laugh at the mad veggie feminist’ trope, but Corper, like Glenister, finds the key to her likeability. She’s just an incredibly enthusiastic and well-meaning person, and the fervour with which she approaches her many causes (which she sometimes doesn’t fully understand) are therefore wholly sympathetic. Completing the line up are television presenter Diane Louise Jordan and Linford Christie’s fellow Olympic gold medallists, Tessa Sanderson and Greg Rutherford. Meanwhile, the experts helping them out include Olympic silver medallist Keri-anne Payne and adventurer Ross Edgley (best known for being the first person in history to swim around Great Britain), with support from Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds. Sink or Swim air date

Like many BBC sitcoms from this golden era, Sink or Swim is blessed with a theme tune and score by the illustrious composer, Ronnie Hazlehurst– the man behind the themes for Are You Being Served? Last of the Summer Wine, Just Good Friends, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Yes Minister, Sorry! and, yes, even the first series of Only Fools and Horses. Like his memorable theme tune for Carla Lane’s Butterflies (an arrangement of the Dolly Parton 1974 hit, Love is Like a Butterfly) Sink or Swim was not an original composition. Instead, for this show about the fractious, chalk and cheese relationship of siblings, Hazlehurst was asked to arrange an instrumental version of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother –a 1969 hit for The Hollies.

On paper, the character could be deeply irritating and it’s fair to say that there are some “it was acceptable in the ’80s” levels of unreconstructed, non-PC, alpha-male attitudes that Glenister is saddled with uttering which are, sadly, not always appropriately challenged; notably in some alarmingly homophobic dialogue that equates gay people to somehow being subnormal in Steve’s eyes and some casually racist language. But Glenister plays against the stereotypical ignorant Northerner trope and mines instead a vulnerability to his performance that stems from just how childish the character of Steve actually is.In a nutshell, Sink or Swim has no real plot to speak of at all. It is, like Seinfeld would become years later, a show about nothing. It threatens to pursue a plot at various stages throughout all three series; the search for their estranged mother in series one, Steve dating the daughter of a work colleague in series two (a pre- EastEnders Gillian Taylforth playing TV legend Ron Pember’s daughter) and Brian’s pursuit of knowledge at university in series three, but on the whole this is a series which gets by on the charm of its three leads and Shearer’s gently comic writing. And the key players really are charming, with a good mix of chemistry that is a delight to watch on screen. The brothers buy a leaky and decidedly un-canal-worthy narrowboat and struggle to make it habitable.

The show also boasts a theme tune from sitcom veteran Ronnie Hazlehurst, the man behind the iconic opening tunes to the likes of Last Of The Summer Wine, Yes Minister and Sorry!. For Sink Or Swim, he opted not to compose an original tune, but instead arranged an instrumental version of The Hollies' 1969 hit He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. That is just not acceptable! Christopher will be found immediately on 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 3, and there is nothing else to say about it!Like Only Fools and Horses, Sink or Swim was filmed in Bristol doubling for London. Shearer later wrote the Nicholas Lyndhurst sitcom The Two of Us for LWT. Production of the sitcom overlapped the first two years of Davison also starring as the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who, which imposed constraints on the recording schedules. [1] Cast Sara Corper rounded out the cast as Brian's headstrong, vegan girlfriend Sonia, with whom Steve frequently clashed. Corper previously appeared in an episode of The Jim Davidson Show penned by Shearer, and he gets good mileage out of the comic contrast between her outspoken worldview and Brian's meek meanderings. Though other actors did appear, including Amanda Orton, Briony McRoberts, Gillian Taylforth, Ron Pember and Russell Wooton, the show rested on the shoulders of Davison and Glenister. When Brian’s younger brother Steve (Robert Glenister) arrives in London looking for somewhere to stay, his lazy, cynical, noisy “Northern lout” attitude disrupts Brian’s already messy life. Much like Roy Clarke, Shearer's comic voice is gentle. His characters speak in badinage and whimsy. Take Steve's description of his love life: