Starring: Michael Palin, Charles McKeown, David Griffin, Michael Stainton
Factual error: This programme is set in 1935, but in all aerial shots all cars that can be seen are from the 1970s.
Factual error: This episode is set in the '30s. When Gordon is cycling along the road the back of a triangular road sign can be seen. These signs did not appear until the 1960s.
Revealing mistake: The opening scene was shot twice, complete with a rear-end automobile collision in the foreground for both takes. The initial collision destroyed the taillights of the first car and the headlights of the second car and ruptured the second car's radiator on impact, spilling its contents into the street. The production crew attempted to sweep away the debris with a broom before the scene was reshot. If you examine the roadway before the two cars appear in this scene, you will see a prominent splatter on the pavement that has been swept with a broom almost precisely where the cars impact again moments later.
Trivia: In the pilot of the first series, "Tomkinson's Schooldays," Michael Palin introduces the episode wearing a full black beard, a black poet hat and a black opera cape; but Palin repeatedly bungles his lines and must be coached (by an off-camera Terry Jones) through every word of his introduction. Palin affects the same costume and character to introduce the first episode of the second series, "Whinfrey's Last Case," as well. In both instances, Michael Palin and Terry Jones were mocking the legendary American filmmaker Orson Welles, a heavy drinker who was notoriously difficult to direct and who had descended to appearing in wine commercials on TV by the 1970s.
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