The brother of Harry H. Corbett's second wife, Maureen, complained to the BBC that the timeline portrayed in the film was wildly misleading and gave the impression that i) Maureen's affair with Harry may have led to the break-up of his marriage to Sheila Steafel, which was not the case, and ii) Harry's decision not to make any more episodes of Steptoe and Son (1962) coincided with the birth of his and Maureen's first child, whereas the birth had happened eight years before the end of Steptoe. The BBC upheld these complaints and agreed not to repeat the film unless it was edited to remove these misleading errors.
Although the film depicts the 1962 arrest of Wilfred Brambell on a homosexual charge, it fails to make clear that Brambell was exonerated and the charge dropped.
Made as one of a four-part season "The Curse of Comedy" on BBC Four, though not billed on-screen with this series title. The other three films in the series were Hancock & Joan (2008), Hughie Green, Most Sincerely (2008) and Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me (2008).
Rory Kinnear appears in this TV movie as writer Alan Simpson, half of the Galton & Simpson writing partnership Rory's late father, actor Roy Kinnear, appeared in The Galton & Simpson Playhouse - Naught for Thy Comfort (1977)
Soundtrack music when Brambell comes back from USA and starts working with Corbett again is 'Binky's Beam' from the album 'Extrapolation' by John McLaughlin.