One of the very first Film4 productions, an offshoot of the UK's then new Channel 4 which essentially revolutionized the British film industry by making a series of relatively cheap films which would air on the TV channel several months after their cinema release. This new style of production brought such resounding successes as Paris, Texas (1984), Letter to Brezhnev (1985), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), East Is East (1999) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).
The mother of Alan Duckworth (John Albasiny) who is heard briefly but never seen, and who is uncredited, is played by actress Maureen Lipman, wife of the film's screenplay writer Jack Rosenthal.
The school is what is now Wimbledon Chase Primary School, but was then Wimbledon Chase Middle School. At least one of the real teachers of the time was used as an extra - you can see her saying 'shush' to children in the school hall. She is now (2009) the head teacher.
Writer Jack Rosenthal wrote the film partially based on his childhood memories of growing up during the post-war era of the 1940s.
Miss Land (Alison Steadman), when talking to the Headmaster (Robert Urquhart) implies that they had a brief liaison which ended on "VJ Night". VJ Day was Victory over Japan Day, 15th August 1945, which had occurred after the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In real life, in 1952 Robert Urquhart appeared in a U.K. Government information film about what to do in the event of a nuclear war.