One complete 18-episode run
Three six-episode series were transmitted from April 2007 to July 2009; broadcast order is also the intended story order.
A deliberately small writing team
Alan Whiting wrote ten episodes, Jeff Povey four, Guy Burt three and John Moloney one.
Direction organised in blocks
Six credited directors worked across the programme, with Andrew Grieve and Edward Hall dividing Series 2 into two three-episode blocks.
A continuous producer
Georgina Lowe is credited as producer across all 18 episodes, giving the annual productions a stable centre.
Fry worked on both sides of camera
Stephen Fry was lead actor and an executive producer, not simply the face of the finished programme.
Norfolk was a production system
Swaffham supplied the town centre while Wells, Holkham and other places supplied a coast and wider county geography.
The first series filmed in 2006
Holkham Estate records Wells beach filming in 2006, before the April 2007 television premiere.
The launch was unusually large
The premiere recorded 8.2 million overnight viewers and a 34% share; the consolidated figure held by this guide is 8.55 million.
The finale still won its slot
The July 2009 finale drew 4.8 million overnight viewers and a 21% share, beating its principal BBC One drama competition.
Cancellation did not resolve the fiction
ITV declined a fourth series after the third had ended with Peter’s parentage newly in question; no commissioned continuation supplied an answer.