When the innkeeper Arnold asks 'which one' of the 'King Georges' is meant by Harper, this is a reference to the situation in England at the time: King George III. ('the mad one') was already certifiably insane, but still officially king; while his son ('the fat one', later to become George IV.) reigned in his stead as the Prince Regent.
Tony Haygarth becomes the first actor to portray two different leading "baddies" in the series. His first outing was in Sharpe's Enemy (1995) when he played the leader of the French deserters Pot-au Feu. He was the only one to do so until 2006. Peter-Hugo Daly, who had played the treacherous Sgt. Rodd in "Sharpe's Gold", played the equally unlikeable Sgt. Bickerstaff.
This is the second Sharpe episode whose title is not taken from a Sharpe novel. Much of the series of events clashes with the events in the novels, particularly the idea that the labourer-turned-rebel leader is Sharpe's half-brother.
When Harper dark-humouredly suggests to Sharpe that maybe he'll be honoured as a hero with a monument or plaque at his birthplace (which in this case is a Yorkshire brothel), Sharpe replies, 'I don't think so'. In real life, however, Sean Bean has received numerous honours from his native city and county: he received the Yorkshire Award, has a star on Sheffield's walk of fame, and was awarded 2 Honourary Doctorates by Sheffield Universities.
The mill scenes were filmed at the Helmshore Mill Museum in Rossendale, Lancashire in November 1997.