Trivia

Michael Bogdanov was originally hired to direct this adaptation, but he left the project when the producers refused to allow him to do the play in modern dress. He was replaced as director by producer Jonathan Miller.

In the episode, Timon's seaside camp is littered with debris; half buried statues and roofs of old houses from times past. This design concept stemmed from an idea Jonathan Miller had originally had for Troilus & Cressida (1981), which he was prepping when he took over this production. The concept was that the Greek camp had been built on the ruins of old Troy, but now the remnants of the once buried city were beginning to surface from under the earth.

For the scene when Timon loses his temper after the second banquet, Jonathan Pryce didn't know how he wanted to play the scene, so Jonathan Miller simply told him to improvise. This necessitated cameraman Jim Atkinson having to keep Pryce in shot without knowing beforehand where Pryce was going to go or what he was going to do. Only once, when Pryce seems as if he is about to bend over but then suddenly stops, did Atkinson lose Pryce from centre frame.

Part of the long running BBC Television Shakespeare project which ran between 1978 and 1985.