At the time, the storyline and the mildly explicit love scenes between Ronald Pickup and Dervla Kirwan provoked such a furore that the BBC banned the series from ever being repeated. Afterwards Kirwan let it be known she felt exploited and was offered no support from the producers.
She said her decision to film an open air sex scene with a man twice her age in this Melvyn Bragg drama was the worst she'd made in her life.