The Marine Hotel, where much of the film takes place, was the real-life Beach Inn within the village of Chiswell on Portland. The Beach Inn is now Beach House, a bed and breakfast.
In the film's story, it is alluded to that 19-year old Joanna (Susan George) is the illegitimate daughter from an affair 20 years earlier between Joe (Cliff Robertson) and Ann (Vanessa Redgrave). The name "Joanna" is a form of hybrid of the character names of "Joe" and "Anne".
Actress Susan George was twenty-five years of age when she appeared in this film portraying a character Joanna who was a lot younger.
This motion picture has also been known by the title of "Winter Rates" which was the name of the un-produced stage play upon which this film is based.
This was the first cinema movie that director Alan Bridges directed after his BAFTA and Cannes Palme D'Or winning film The Hireling (1973) which had been made and released about two years earlier in 1973.