During filming, Hilton McRae walked onto set and was hissed at and insulted when the crowd thought it was the real Gary Glitter.
The hanging scene was filmed in a real UK condemned suite at the former Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, the gallows having last been used to hang a condemned prisoner in 1961.
According to Rob Coldstream, "When we'd decided to make a film exploring how society deals with its most reviled offenders, we hadn't expected it to be an easy ride. But this was confirmation that we were tapping into a raw nerve [...] When we covertly filmed an actor outside the Old Bailey displaying a banner reading 'Honk for hanging', the cacophony of car horns was sobering. Then there was the time we approached members of the public to stand in as extras. 'Glitter? Executed? Should have done it years ago, mate. Count me in.' And we're not talking about hooligans with H.A.T.E tattooed on their foreheads, we're talking about business people, dinner ladies and door-to-door salesmen; in other words, us".
Rob Coldstream got the idea for the programme after reading a report in a national newspaper that had said that "If Gary Glitter was to be strung up in Trafalgar Square tomorrow, nobody would turn a hair".
Rob Coldstream argued that "The time was right for a thought-provoking and compelling drama that would confront viewers with the consequences of the death penalty", after UK polls in June and September that year had shown more than 50% of Britons supported bringing back capital punishment.