In their interview, a Bonus Feature on the Steptoe and Son Box-Set, Alan Simpson and Ray Galton said The Desperate Hours was the favorite episode of both men.
J.G. Devlin, who plays one of the inmates in The Desperate Hours, was in the running for the part of Albert Steptoe.
Both of the younger men in this episode, Harry H. Corbett and Leonard Rossiter died at the relatively young age of fifty seven.
The title of this episode was borrowed from a 1955; Humphrey Bogart thriller also about escaped convicts holding a family hostage.
Harold's goldfish is called Charlie.