Andrea Dunbar, the writer of this film, died in 1990 of a brain hemorrhage in The Beacon pub, a few years after it had been used as the location for the dad stumbling out of the pub at the beginning.
Maureen Long, who had a non-speaking part in the film, was one of the few women to be attacked by the Yorkshire Ripper and survive.
Andrea Dunbar disowned the film after director Alan Clarke amended her original ending to show Bob get the girls. Local residents of Bradford's Buttershaw estate - where Dunbar still lived - were enraged by its downbeat representation in the film.
During the mass argument in the street, Paddy shouts "Send 'em up Manningham Lane" in reference to Rita and Sue. At the time the film was made, Manningham Lane - a major thoroughfare in Bradford - had a reputation as an area for street prostitution.