A Very Peculiar Practice

Writer Andrew Davies was originally commissioned and paid by the BBC to write a series about three female mature students at university, but the idea 'ran out of steam' after three scripts.

When the BBC decided not to continue with the original project, Davies had already spent much of the advance money, so he chose to write a new series instead of repaying it, and A Very Peculiar Practice was written 'quite quickly' as a result.

The series was inspired by Andrew Davies' own experiences as a lecturer at the University of Warwick and has been read as a commentary on trends in British higher education.

Hugh Grant made one of his first television appearances in the series, playing an evangelical preacher, and Kathy Burke also appeared in a bit part.

The idea for the sequel A Very Polish Practice reportedly came from actress Joanna Kanska, who played Grete Grotowska.

Although the fictional Lowlands University was based on the University of East Anglia campus, UEA declined to let the production film there, being wary of how universities were portrayed on TV after the 1981 adaptation of The History Man.

Location filming instead took place at the universities of Keele and Birmingham, with lake scenes shot near the Vale halls of residence at Birmingham (buildings later demolished in 2006), plus exteriors at the BT engineer training school at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire.

Most interior scenes were shot at BBC Pebble Mill for the first series and in London for the second, using a combined film/video format.

In a deliberate case of art imitating life, the final episode of series 1 introduces a writer character, Ron Rust, who owes the BBC £17,000 and is trying to write a black comedy about a university to pay it off, mirroring Davies' own situation.

The theme tune, 'We Love You', was written by Dave Greenslade and performed by singer Elkie Brooks.

In 2010, The Guardian ranked the series at number five in its list of 'The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time'.