As a fan of the series, Anthony Hopkins was originally cast as Danny Driscoll, however he had pull out before shooting his scenes, when production began on The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Patrick Murray, who plays Mickey Pearce, really had a badly injured right arm after falling over his dog and through a pane of glass at his home. John Sullivan had to rewrite the original script to work Mickey's injuries into the story, even though Murray was in serious pain while filming his part.
According to producer Gareth Gwenlan, the studio audience were emotional when Del was alone in the reception room with Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years" playing in the background. John Sullivan told Gwenlan that the audience weren't laughing, and Gwenlan simply said it was because they were crying.
John Sullivan's idea for the script came from a drink with David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst one evening, and the idea grew into this episode.
Jeff Stevenson, who played the pub comic, also worked on the show as the audience warm-up man and had previously appeared as a policeman in "To Hull And Back".