Le Frenais and Clement had made a television pilot in the USA with Bill Persky who came up with the idea of a fictional British colony in the Caribbean which sought independence. The three of them wrote a screenplay which Persky wanted to direct (he had made the film "Serial" (1980)) but they were unable to raise finance. Then when Clement and Le Frenais made "Bullshot" for Handmade they showed the script to Dennis O'Brien, head of the studio. "It was Denis who absolutely loved the script and really responded to it and said, 'Let's do it'," said Clement.