The unscrupulous film director "Maurice Victor" (played by Anthony Sher) is a transparent parody of the real-life film-maker Michael Winner, with Sher providing outstandingly accurate mimicry of Winner's distinctive speaking voice. The writers of this show, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, had written two screenplays for Winner in the 1960s, "The Jokers" in 1967 and "Hannibal Brooks" two years later. They have sometimes hinted to interviewers that Winner was not an ideal boss.