Benedict Cumberbatch is the first actor ever to play Stephen Hawking on screen in this film. He is also good friends with Eddie Redmayne, who played Hawking in the biopic The Theory of Everything (2014).
Adam Godley, who plays Stephen's father, also plays the doctor who diagnoses Stephen in The Theory of Everything (2014).
It was nominated for Best Single Drama in the BAFTA TV Awards in 2005. Cumberbatch won the Golden Nymph for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Film or Miniseries, and received his first nomination for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor.
Stephen Hawking played himself on Descent (1993). Benedict Cumberbatch and Alice Eve later appeared together again in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).