It was directed by
John Stroud, produced by
Sioned Wiliam and the BBC Television Head of Comedy
Geoffrey Perkins, and executive produced by
Denise O'Donohue on behalf of
Hat Trick Productions for the
BBC. After a successful first series, Ben Chaplin left the cast unexpectedly after receiving an offer of a film role in Hollywood on the back of his performance in the series. He was replaced for series 2 and 3 by Neil Stuke. (The change of actor was indirectly acknowledged in Stuke's first episode, when the other characters complained about the recasting of a main character in
Roseanne and expressed their dislike for TV shows which did this). The first two series were written by Andrew Davies and Bernadette Davis, while Davis wrote the final series alone. The show's theme tune was "
Where I Find My Heaven" by the
Gigolo Aunts. The single reached number 29 in the
UK singles chart in May 1995, when the series debuted. Among other music included was "
Dogs of Lust" by
The The, "
Nowhere" by
Therapy?, "
From Despair to Where" by
Manic Street Preachers, "
Girls & Boys" by
Blur, "
God! Show Me Magic" by
Super Furry Animals, "The View From Here" by
Dubstar and
Oasis. A fourth series was considered. Bernadette Davis voiced her desire to focus the next series on the development of Matthew, who due to his flat-bound existence, she began to find increasingly hard to write for; the addition of a "radicalist" new
gay or
lesbian housemate was also part of her suggestions to add a new element of interest to the series. However, despite a continuity announcer stating over the closing credits of the final episode in a 1999 repeat that the series would return the following year, only one further repeated episode was broadcast the following year, and a fourth series never emerged. ), Mandy Wilkins (
Samantha Womack née Janus), and Matthew Malone (
Neil Stuke). ==Episodes==