Virgin swimmers take to the water for fascinating new documentary show

One teaching pool, six weeks and nine very different adults are brought together to face a challenge that has always defeated them – learning to swim – as the observational documentary series ‘Wonderland’ continues.

Instructor Linda has seen it all before. She knows that most of the women will be petrified of getting their hair and faces wet; the men will be embarrassed by their lack of prowess; and all of them will probably have to conquer demons that run much deeper than a fear of water.

"This is it – it's now or never!" declares 56-year-old Sandy from Southend-on-Sea. But at the end of the second week, still reluctant to get her face wet and asking for armbands, she reveals stories of a cosseted childhood that still haunts her adult years. The girl who was never allowed to play with other children has become the woman who hides behind an ever-present mask of mascara.

Mandy, aged 37, is almost too afraid to don a swimming costume at the beginning of the course, fighting a feeling that no-one ever expects her to achieve.

And 39-year-old kitchen salesman Wyn's floundering breaststroke speaks of a nervous history that he is resolved to master in what becomes his own version of chlorine therapy.

After six weeks, Linda leads her protégés to the ultimate test in the big pool. It is sink-or-swim time.

Wonderland – Virgin Swimmers
Thursday 26 November
9.50-10.30pm BBC TWO