Filmed in 1976 (before the 1982 film version with Sting), it was not broadcast until 1987, five years after after the film.
It was originally scheduled for broadcast on 6 April 1976 as part of BBC1's Play for Today (1970) series, but was banned from transmission by the BBC's Director of Programmes, Alasdair Milne, because of its rape scene. Milne later described the play as "repugnant". It was eventually shown for the first time on 25 August 1987.
There are two M. C. Escher posters in Patricia's room - 'Three Worlds' and 'Dream'.
When Martin and Mrs Bates pray at Patricia's bedside, he quotes from "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare (Act 1 Scene 1; "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?").
The poem Martin recites when he first sees Patricia ("I will not fail to meet thee in that hollow vale ...") is "Exequy on His Wife" by Henry King, Bishop of Chichester.