The Charles Dance character says in the play that he has never married because he has been so poorly-paid as a teacher that he could not afford to, and also says that he received a salary of "about £750 a month". The Trevor Howard character agrees that such a salary would be a pittance. In reality, a schoolteacher of Dance's age would, in the mid-1980s, the period of this play, be lucky to receive £600 a month.