The pub, The Mucky Mallard, is a play on the name of a pub in Stratford-Upon-Avon which is popular with actors, The Dirty Duck.
The names of the main characters obviously refer to William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway. The name of the senior police officer, 'Marlowe', is a reference to Christopher Marlowe, a playwright contemporary with Shakespeare. The assistant, 'Sebastian', most likely takes his name from the character in 'Twelfth Night'. See individual episode's trivia sections for more character names that come from Shakespeare's life and works.
The titles of the episodes are quotes from Shakespeare's works. See each episode's trivia section for the title's source.
Filling the mid afternoon spot for gentle crime drama this series is made by the same production crew that makes Father Brown, The Coroner & WPC 56 (all of which have the same BBC timeslot).
The first series of the show was the most successful drama launch for BBC Daytime since Father Brown (2013) launched in January 2013. Averaging 2.11m viewers and a 26.4% audience share and more than 2 million views on the BBC iPlayer VOD service.