David Jason, John Sullivan and Ray Butt all considered this to be the worst episode of the series. In a 2003 interview, when Sullivan was asked what one thing he would have done differently while writing the series, he replied that he would not have made this episode.
The episode had a very troubled production. David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield left production in Dorset to make an appearance at the Royal Variety Performance, putting the episode behind schedule. David Jason lost his voice and needed three days off to get it back. This was the only time Jason ever called in sick on an episode of the show. As soon as he recovered, Lyndhurst came down with the flu, throwing the production into a panic. There was no more time for edits so it couldn't be played before a studio or live audience, leaving the episode with no laughter track and no music. It got so close to the deadline that the final scene was nearly broadcast live on Christmas Day, 1986, a nerve-wracking prospect, what with performing the scene to 19 million viewers, and would have wrecked the cast's Christmas plans. Whenever anyone asked questions during the production chaos, the answer they got was "Fuck knows!" It was finished at the very last minute with editing continuing into the early hours of Christmas morning. Jason likened it to Santa's elves on amphetamines to get the episode finished on time. In the end, he thought it was patchy, but he was not surprised, just relieved it got made.
Del's out-of-character cruelty throughout the episode and, in particular the dinner table scene, could be accountable to the fact that only a few months before, Rodney scuppered Del's opportunity to go to Australia to be a partner in Jumbo Mills company. He could therefore have been harbouring a lot of bitterness toward Rodney, thus seizing his chance to completely ruin things for him in return.
The seemingly darker style of this episode's story did not go down well with the original TV broadcast audience, or the hardcore fan base, especially as Del Boy seemed to be out of character, and the longer episode format seemed to have lost its established feelgood vibe. The production troubles, lack of live studio audience reactions, and also the fact John Sullivan regretted writing this episode, suggests that this episode can be skipped.