Many of the names take inspiration from Shakespearean works: Lord and Lady Mortimer (several Mortimers in the Shakespearean oeuvre, including a Lady Mortimer in 'Henry IV'), Major Terence Benedick (Benedick is a character in 'Much Ado About Nothing'), Dolly Tearsheet (a character in 'Henry IV'), Chamberlain (Lord Chamberlain in 'Henry VIII'), Baron Mortimer of Arden (the Forest of Arden in 'As You Like It'), Dunsinane College for Young Ladies (Dunsinane in 'Macbeth')
The interior and some exterior scenes in the "Hall" and the "School" were shot in the beautiful Stoneleigh Abbey, not far from Kenilworth in Warwickshire.
The title, "The Sticking Place' comes from 'Macbeth': Act I, Scene 7.
Hemlock is mentioned once in Shakespeare as part of the witches' potion in Macbeth: Act IV, Scene 1 "...Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, /Witches' mummy, maw and gulf /Of the ravined salt-sea shark, /Root of hemlock digged i' th' dark, ..."
Sara Martin and Philip Jackson both appeared in an episode of A Touch of Frost together called Near Death Experience. They also both appeared in the One, Two, Buckle My Shoe episode of Poirot.