Trivia / Cabin Pressure

• Artistic License – Geography: There isn't actually an airfield at Douz. Of course, it would have been unwise to depict the controller of a real-life airfield in the way Yves Jutteau is. There also isn't an airport in Vaduz - in this case explaining that the nearest airport is actually in Schaan would probably just have involved too much clunky exposition.
  • As of "Zurich," the lack of an airport in Liechtenstein had been addressed.
• The Cast Showoff: Roger Allam is an acclaimed performer on the West End and has been for over twenty years. He gets to show his singing voice off in "Ottery St. Mary", "Fitton", and "Newcastle".
• Colbert Bump: The first series of Sherlock, which had made Cumberbatch an overnight sensation, finished in August 2010 and left a newly formed fanbase eager to find some of his other work. By coincidence, the second series of Cabin Pressure began a repeat run the very next week, and the rest is history.
• Deleted Scene: Unusually, if not uniquely, for a radio series, a few are included on the complete boxset.
• Fake Nationality: English actors Timothy West and Matilda Ziegler as Gordon Shappey, from Australia, and Princess Theresa from Liechtenstein, respectively. Ziegler also has a brief role as an American paramedic in "Boston".
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The A to Z boxset, which unlike the original series releases has the episodes in the correct alphabetical order and also includes a 32 page full-colour booklet with original artwork by Finnemore, and extra features (virtually, if not completely unheard of for a radio series) such as some deleted scenes, trailers and outtakes.
• Line to God: John Finnemore's blog.
• Missing Episode: A version of "Ottery St. Mary" where Tom Goodman-Hill fills in for Benedict Cumberbatch was recorded alongside "Newcastle" (see The Other Darrin below), but the decision was made to re-record Martin's scenes at another session so Cumberbatch could appear in five of the six episodes.
• Orphaned Reference: Many of the characters' names are allusions or references to something. Mr Birling is named after the family from An Inspector Calls, because in the original draft of his first appearance, there was also a CAA inspector on the flight called Goole (after the inspector in the play), and the crew were trying to simultaneously please the inspector whilst also bending the rules for Birling. This was abandoned after Finnemore decided that in such a scenario, even Douglas would make sure the inspector was satisfied first and foremost, and the episode was rewritten around Birling, whose name was kept even though it now made no sense as a reference.
• The Other Darrin: In "Newcastle", Benedict Cumberbatch was ill with laryngitis. As there was no time to re-record the episode when he was well, Tom Goodman-Hill filled in as Martin. Although he didn't sound exactly the same, he did an excellent job of mimicking Cumberbatch's speech patterns. This is heavily lampshaded in the pre-credits opening scene.
  Arthur: Mum, we've only got two pilots. What would we do if one of them went sick?
  Carolyn: They wouldn't dare.
  Arthur: But what if they did?
  Carolyn: Well, I'm sure we'd think of something.
  [Door opens and Martin enters - played by Tom Goodman-Hill]
  Carolyn: Ah, there you are, Martin.
  Martin: Hello Carolyn, what have I missed?
  Arthur: Hi Skip, you're looking very well.
  Martin: Oh, thank you Arthur.
  Arthur: Don't you think, Douglas?
  Douglas: Not especially. I think he looks exactly the same as always.
  • Karl (the Fitton ATC) has changed actors to the point that Finnemore reckons he's never been played by the same person twice - he rarely has more than a couple of lines per episode, so the part tends to go to somebody who's already playing someone else at that recording.
• Playing Against Type: Benedict Cumberbatch usually plays geniuses or characters who are very clever with words; however, Martin Crieff is basically a nicer Arnold Rimmer on a plane. He is constantly outwitted by his co-pilot, desperate to prove himself to be a competent pilot and, as pointed out in "Paris", anything but Sherlock Holmes.
• Real Song Theme Tune: The Overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Carolyn had originally been intended to be more of a supporting role, with Douglas and Martin as the leads, with Finnemore describing the cast structure as similar to Father Ted. When Stephanie Cole was cast as Carolyn, she became part of the main cast because "if you’ve got Stephanie Cole in your sitcom, you don’t just get her to do walk on".
  • John Finnemore has said that had he known the show would definitely continue past its first series, he might have held back the revelations of what "MJN" stands for and Douglas' teetotalism rather than having them both in "Fitton", as he believes they could have had greater impact coming further down the line.
  • The original intention was that Herc would end up betraying Carolyn at some point in Series 4, but plans changed when John Finnemore saw how well Anthony Head and Stephanie Cole worked together.
• Write What You Know: Finnemore's father was a pilot, and a lot of Arthur's childish fascination with all things aeroplaney seems to be based on himself as a kid.
• You Sound Familiar: Does the air-traffic controller at Fitton airfield have a cousin in a similar line of work in France? Possibly with some kind of speech impediment?

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