During filming, it was discovered that Sir John Hurt had painted Quentin Crisp when he was a life studies model at the art school that Hurt attended.
Just before transmission, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) censored a line by Quentin Crisp: "Sexual intercourse is a poor substitute for masturbation."
Sir John Hurt reprised his role of Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York (2009).
Infamous morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse was appalled by this TV film and was quick to let the UK press know about it. Her public condemnation of it and the subsequent discussion about it in the media lasted for days afterwards generating tons of free publicity for Thames Television.
Anna Wing, who plays the old lady who disapproves of Barndoor's operatic singing in the café, knew Quentin Crisp personally through her partner, writer Philip O'Connor. It was O'Connor's 1964 radio interview with Crisp that persuaded the latter to write the memoir on which this film is based.