The BBC wanted and expected the series to be made in the usual style of a traditional television sitcom (ie. recorded live in front of a studio audience on multiple video cameras). However, Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash felt that format wouldn't work for this show and insisted it had to be made in their preferred style: on a closed set and shot in an observational/documentary style, on a single S16mm film camera.
Geoffrey Hughes (Twiggy) did not appear in the specials after 2010 as he was suffering from advanced prostate cancer. As of 2010, he retired from acting (eventually dying in 2012) but is mentioned in later specials. He receives a special "In Memoriam" dedication at the end of "Barbara's Old Ring" broadcast during Christmas 2012.
Caroline Aherne (Denise Best/Denise Royle) allegedly initially quit the show in 2000, due to a row with Craig Cash, citing that she would not appear on television again. This prompted Ricky Tomlinson (Jim Royle) to also quit, though both returned in 2006, when Aherne and Cash began working together again, and wrote the first of the one-off, special extended episodes, "The Queen of Sheba".
In a 2020 episode of podcast 'Talking Sopranos', Michael Imperioli proclaimed he was a massive fan of the show.
Following the success of season four, episode four, "Joe's Crackers", the BBC immediately commissioned a follow-up Christmas special for 2011, though it had to be pulled at the last minute because Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash felt that it would be too rushed and damage the show's reputation. It was then thought the show would return in April 2012, with a special Easter episode, though again this failed to materialize and it wasn't until December 2012 that "Barbara's Old Ring" aired, almost a year and a half after it had been commissioned.