The series, produced by Granada Television for the ITV network, starred Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel as squabbling middle-aged siblings Nellie and Eli Pledge who ran a family pickle business in Colne, Lancashire, in the North West of England.

It was known that the insults continued off-screen as well, as Baker and Jewel disliked each other intensely in real life,[6][7] their working relationship being described as "the most toxic in the whole of British sitcom history".

[8] In later episodes, Baker struggled to remember her lines and relied on cue cards and prompting from co-star Madge Hindle.

Renamed Thicker Than Water,[9] it starred Julie Harris and Richard Long as squabbling siblings Nellie and Ernie Paine, however, the US version was not successful and was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

[11] Meanwhile, Jewel went on to appear in the sitcom Spring and Autumn (1973–1976), about a friendship between a lonely boy and an elderly man, created by Nearest and Dearest creators Vince Powell and Harry Driver.

[12] Jewel continued to work in television for many years, and in 1991 he appeared in an episode of the BBC hospital drama series Casualty in which he was able to use one of his famous catchphrases, referring to a nurse as "a knock-kneed, knackered old nose bag" – a term he had regularly bestowed upon Nellie.

[14] Hylda Baker spent her final years penniless and battling dementia, and died in a nursing home on 1 May 1986 of bronchial pneumonia, aged 81.

Jimmy Jewel continued to work in a variety of roles in both theatre and television until his death on 3 December 1995, the day before his 86th birthday.