Maxine Peake (whose first significant role this was, after leaving drama school) sought Victoria Wood's advice about her acting career during the series. Wood advised her that, in the long term, she should lose weight ,or she would be playing comedy characters like "Twinkle" for the rest of her career. Taking Wood's advice, in-between the first and second seasons, Peake went on a major diet and returned for the second season much thinner, to the great surprise of Wood, the producers, and cast, none of whom knew of her intentions. However, Wood and Producer Geoff Posner were angry with Peake for not discussing her plans with them first, as they felt she had changed the character of Twinkle with her weight loss and new appearance, and as a result, Peake had to wear a "fat suit" under her costume for the second season.
Despite achieving huge popularity in the U.K., the show only ran for two seasons, from 1998 to 2000, as Victoria Wood did not want to ruin the appeal by dragging the show on. Another popular series of Wood's, Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985), also ran for two seasons.
In a first for a U.K. sitcom (and at Victoria Wood's insistence) each episode was recorded twice in front of different studio audiences with the best scenes and audience reactions from both recordings edited together to make the final broadcast episode.
Victoria Wood wrote Petula, the mother of Wood's character Bren, specifically for comedy partner Dame Julie Walters, but was unsure if Walters would be happy taking the part, as Petula is, at fifty-five, several years older than Walters. However, Walters immediately accepted the role, stating that "everybody thinks I'm fifty-five anyway."