The film's working title was "Mother and Son". When a Russian film of the same name appeared in the late-1990s, Steven Woodcock changed the title.
A lot of the props seen in the film belonged to the director's grandmother. After she died he emptied her home and put everything into storage for safe-keeping. When the film was made he brought everything out of storage to dress the sets, deliberately featuring key props in prominent vision that he had grown up with since he was an infant, such as curtains.
The car driven by Ellen Hardy (Barbara Marten) is an Austin A30, which was built in the 1950s by the Austin Motor Company. The last letters "BR" of the registration plate indicate the car was registered in the Borough of Sunderland, which was then in the County of Durham at the time the car was registered.
Director Steven Woodcock had two actresses in mind for the lead character of Ellen Hardy: Lesley Dunlop and Barbara Marten. Barbara Marten was unavailable because she was a regular in the BBC TV series Casualty (1986). Lesley Dunlop accepted the role but dropped out at the last minute because she was offered a regular part in the ITV TV series Where the Heart Is (2000). By this time Barbara Marten had decided to leave Casualty and Steven Woodcock delayed filming so she could take the part, her first after leaving the BBC.
Unusually for a Director's Cut, the re-mastered version of the film for the British DVD release is nearly 15 minutes shorter than the American original. Most Director's cuts are longer.