When the movie was near completion, the BBC decided that it was a disaster and unshowable. Another Producer (Alan J.W. Bell) was called in to salvage the film and given a budget to re-shoot scenes if necessary. No scenes were re-shot, but he almost entirely re-structured the film and used the money to record an original music score by Ronnie Hazlehurst. The only acknowledgment of this is on the VHS and DVD cases where Alan J.W. Bell is given the unusual credit of 'Post-production Director'.
This was all filmed in swanage on the south coast of england and is a lovely vibrante seaside town to this day, you can still see the grand hotel up on the hill.
Television watchdog Mary Whitehouse accused the programme of unnecessary violence, citing one scene where Ronnie Corbett's character was forcibly ejected from a revolving door.
According to a book about the Swanage railway (published around 2000) the location filming began on Monday 15th June 1981.