Director David Giles shot this movie in such a way as to create a visual metaphor for King Richard II's position in relation to the court. Early in the movie, he is constantly seen above the rest of the characters, especially at the top of stairs, but he always descends to the same level as everyone else, and often ends up below them. As this movie goes on, his positioning above characters becomes less and less frequent.
The film takes place from 1398 to 1400.
John Gielgud (John of Gaunt) and Derek Jacobi (King Richard II) both played Edward Masterson in adaptations of the 1934 novel "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie: Gielgud in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), though the character was called Edward Beddoes in that version, and Jacobi in Murder on the Orient Express (2017).
An interpretative move by Director David Giles, which was especially well received by critics was his division of King Richard II's lengthy prison cell soliloquy up into several sections, which fade from one to another, suggesting a passage of time, and an on-going slowly developing thought process.
Part of the long running BBC Television Shakespeare project which ran between 1978 and 1985.