At a party given by her sister Helen (Susan Penhaligon) in the first episode, Laura (Judi Dench) is reading the novel "Bouquet Of Barbed Wire", which had been dramatized for television five years earlier starring Penhaligon. The edition Laura is reading features Susan Penhaligon on the book's front cover and Dench makes a knowing reference to this by peering confusedly at the picture as if to indicate the face in it looks very familiar to her.