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
The Kipper and the Corpse White want to enter their room there and then, so Basil, Polly, and Manuel have to create a distraction, but Mr. and Mrs. White still hear Miss Tibbs moaning in the cupboard and force Basil to let her out. Whilst Basil tells them that she is a mad woman who likes to hide in people's wardrobes, Polly notices that Leeman's arm is sticking out of the cupboard and desperately tries to signal this to Basil, only resulting in more confusion. The body is finally moved to the office, where Major Gowen stumbles across it and assumes that Leeman was shot