Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest his body works differently from other people". The executives were bemused by an incomplete story where one of the main characters was dead, but commissioned the series soon after receiving the full script. In retrospect, Linehan and Mathews noticed that the plot was very similar to that of the "Fawlty Towers" episode "The Kipper and the Corpse". Despite being fans of the show, they only noticed the parallels afterwards, and would likely have abandoned the episode if they had seen them earlier. Kevin Sharkey, who plays the black Donegal priest, was a friend of the writers', and was brought in
Gourmet Night Elizabeth Benson, who plays Mrs. Heath, would go on to appear in the second series as Mrs. White in "The Kipper and the Corpse". She is one of three guest performers to appear in both series with the other two being; Cleese appeared as Basil in a 2016 advertisement for Specsavers, in which, in a reference to the car thrashing scene from this episode, Basil accidentally attacks an adjacent police car. Andrew Sachs, André Maranne and Steve Plytas would later co-star again in 1978 in "Revenge of the Pink Panther", though they did not share any scenes together. There are