Peter Howitt left in the 1988 Christmas Special and was replaced by Graham Bickley and Gilly Coman also left in the 1988 Christmas Special and was replaced by Melanie Hill. Victor McGuire had taken a break from the show and it was written into Series 4 that his character Jack had gone off to visit America.
When both Peter Howitt and Gilly Coman left the series, Carla Lane and producer Robin Nash did not consider replacing the characters Joey and Aveline with new characters and writing their absences into the 1989 series. Instead they simply recast the roles
Carla Lane mused that the Boswell family seen here may well be distantly related to the Boswell clan seen in her previous 1970's sitcom The Liver Birds (1969).
The fictional address of the Boswell's house, with Grandad next door at 28, was 30 Kelsall Street in Dingle (tel: 708 0298). In reality the location work was undertaken at Elswick Street (genuinely to be found in the Dingle district of Liverpool).
Grandad actor Kenneth Waller was actually 14 years younger than the character he played. Grandad was born in 1913 while Mr Waller was born in 1927.