Peter Bowles had been asked some years earlier to play Jerry Leadbetter, the husband of Keith's Margo, in "The Good Life". Owing to prior commitments, Bowles turned down the role, but had he played Jerry, it is unlikely he would have been offered the part of Richard; as Bowles later said, "There's no way I could have played Penelope Keith's screen husband in two separate sitcoms." However, in 1987 Bowles replaced Geoffrey Palmer as Keith's onscreen husband in the ITV sitcom "Executive Stress".