As a gag, Steve Coogan featured three review quotes on the back of the UK version of the DVD, the first review reads: "Unarguably the greatest film ever made" which was quoted by Alan Partridge, a fictional character created by Coogan. Another review says "A Bag of Sh*te" quoted by Paul Calf, (another fictional creation of Coogan's), while the third review is a standard quote from a Hot Dog magazine review which reads: "Coogan is the new Peter Sellers".
Simon Garden suffers from hypoglycemia. This is a backhanded tribute to Armando Iannucci who worked with Steve Coogan on his Alan Partridge character. The disorder is like a reverse diabetes in which the sufferer has to ingest carbohydrates on a regular basis to combat overproduction of insulin. This is why Simon is constantly eating potato crisps (potato chips in the U.S.).
Despite the title of the film, Simon Garden is portrayed and referred to as a Probation Officer throughout, which is the correct title for his job in both the UK and the U.S.
Steve Coogan has said that while working in South Asian communities in northern England, that the names of Jenny Agutter and [Omar Sharif cut no ice, but that that of Om Puri opened many doors to them.
Om Puri (George) was actually terrified while filming the roller coaster scene. The look on his face is pure fright.