Trivia

"A Sharp Intake of Breath" came to an abrupt end in 1981 just as ATV lost its ITV franchise later through the year.

After a patchy first series (further marred by some annoying canned laughter), the second tightened up the character of Barnes and, with its witty cartoons and chirpy Ken Jones signature tune, the show brightened up Monday (later Friday, then Sunday) evenings for the best part of five years. It ended abruptly when ATV became Central TV.

It grew out of a single pilot, shown as part of "The Sound of Laughter" (ITV's answer to the BBC's "Comedy Playhouse") on Thursday, July 28th, 1977.

Patricia Brake portrayed Sheila, his downtrodden wife originally. The role was subsequently played by Jacqueline Clarke of Dave Allen at Large (1971) fame.

Each week, in an opening animated sequence, based on sketches by Mel Calman, we saw the show's title inside a speech bubble, which would then deflate, the air going into the mouth of a little potato-headed man, obviously intended to represent Peter Barnes.