Writer Arnold Ridley came up with the idea for this story whilst standing on the platform of Mangotsfield Station near Bristol. The station is surrounded on three sides by tracks, and there was an earth bank opposite him which reflected the sounds of trains coming along the track on the other side of the station, making it sound like a train was coming that would never arrive.
Hodgkin refers to the bridge crash taking place on the evening of the Diamond Jubilee 44 years earlier; this refers to Queen Victoria's celebration of 60 years of her reign on 22 June 1897, thereby dating the film's events on the night of 22 June 1941.
Due to previous work commitments having taken him around the country, Arthur Askey's first real experience of the Blitz came after he arrived in London to shoot the film, having dispatched his wife and daughter to the perceived safety of Lakeside at Lake Windermere.
Director Richard Lester used the opening comedic train sequence as the inspiration for the similar sequence in A Hard Day's Night (1964).
Jackie Winthrop comments that R. G. Winthrop reminds her of "something out of 'East Lynne'." This was a novel written by Ellen Wood and published in 1861, was a best-seller that was made into a successful play, staged many times. There have been 15 film versions and one television series.
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