Pitman's father, who died in 2007, was a professional gambler, plying his trade at casinos, gentleman's clubs and on the stock market. The smoking jacket Hamlet wears as The King Player was from his father's signature dress for backgammon and poker tournaments.
The film which Ophelia and Hamlet watch is 'House On Haunted Hill' directed by William Castle in 1959.
The infinity mirror was handmade by the actor Damien Whilby who appears as Sugley in the flash-sideways and who is Humphrey Pitman's foster brother.
Many of the themes developed by Fitzpatrick's performance - in particular the 'man-splaining' and 'toxic masculinity' featured in episode 2 - were ahead of their time; filmed in 2016, it would not be for another year before the #MeToo movement began and another four years before the terms were coined and entered popular modern dialect.
Pitman performs the 'To be or not to be...' speech using a revolver, which he loads with six bullets to represent each of the six reasons Hamlet gives to rationalise suicide.