Amanda Root originally was wanted by Ang Lee and Emma Thompson for the role of Marianne Dashwood in their adaptation of another Jane Austen film, Sense and Sensibility (1995), and performed the role at a read-through of an early draft of the script. However Root was unable to film due to Persuasion, which co-incidentally also cast Emma's sister Sophie Thompson as Root's onscreen sister.
Susan Fleetwood (Lady Russell) passed away 5 months after the release of the film.
Made for British television and originally screened by the BBC in April 1995, the film was released theatrically around the rest of the world.
Because of the meager budget, the closing shots of Captain Wentworth's ship were reused from The Bounty (1984).
This adaptation of the Jane Austen novel ended up being released as a feature film, titled simply "Persuasion" - without the title reference to "Screen Two."