The episode follows up events shown in A Suitable Marriage in Season One.

Date: The fog/cold indicates autumn 1912 or winter 1912/13. The final scene where Alfred hangs must presumably take place weeks or months later?

Goof: Hudson "switches off" the light on the stairs at 5'11" but the lights go out a second or so before you hear the noise of the switch clicking over. (Light switches on sets in TV studios hardly ever do anything; the actual studio lights are operated from a control room.)

Goof: The kitchen is pretty much in darkness, but suddenly gets light as Rose looks up the staircase (5'53").

James background / Hazel background: They are on honeymoon in Paris (7'38"), having been married "last month" (8'22").

Elizabeth background: She still lives in New York (8'30").

Alfred background: After Alfred ran off with the Baron to Germany (see A Suitable Marriage), the Baron got married and his new wife threw Alfred out. Alfred returned to England and worked for an elderly, homosexual Lithuanian gentleman called Zabadoff, and, quite possibly, had an affair with him. When Zabadoff laughed at Alfred's dreams of bettering himself, Alfred lost control and killed him with a meat cleaver. (I presume that the earlier version of Alfred's story – where Zabadoff became aware of a secret relationship between his niece and Alfred – is made up.) Alfred's surname is Harris (40'46").
Reader Mike Farrell offers a different slant on this backstory: "In the 'Alfred background' notes I don't think you've decoded Alfred's explanation of the murder correctly. The self-loathing Alfred isn't referring to any desire for social improvement when he wants to be 'decent' but to end the sexual relationship with the ageing predator the Baron passed him on to. The verbal abuse he received was for trying to resist the Lithuanian's advances and murder of the 'serpent' seemed the only way out. This is why Rose and even to a limited extent Hudson are still sympathetic once the truth is out."

Goof: As Rose leads Alfred into hiding (14'45") the big clock by the kitchen door says 9.20. But after she has gotten rid of Edward (which would only have taken a couple of minutes or so) we see the time is suddenly 10.10 (16'11"). (Thanks to Andrew Welsh.)

Rooms: We see 165's coal hole – this is a disused room entered via Mrs Bridges' larder. In itself, this room also has a door leading off elsewhere.

Goof: A couple of times in this episode (14'55" & 21'01"), talking from the gallery can be heard faintly on the soundtrack.

Goof?: Rose drops a knife in the kitchen. If accidental, she covers it up well. (16'14")

Goof: Rose switches out the lights in the servants' dining room, ready to go upstairs, but if you check back she has left an oil lamp burning on the table (16'59").

I don't quite understand the reason behind the exchange between Richard and Sir Geoffrey about whether the latter is drinking goat's milk or not. "I don't think so," says Richard, before the rest of the scene carries on. (23'56")

Richard background / James background: Now Richard no longer has the interest from the marriage settlement to live on (see Factfile for The Fruits of Love), he is feeling the financial pinch. Sir Geoffrey suggests selling the lease of the house to James to raise some money (25'41"). By the time of Word of Honour, Richard has done this and so is effectively a lodger in his son's house.

Goof: Angela Baddeley: "And what with the lady... young lady being safely away in Herefordshire..." (32'00")

Goof: Angela Baddeley touches a sizzling roasting tin with her bare hands (36'20").

At 38'03" Alfred sings Ich Bin Der Doktor Eisenbarth (I Am The Doctor Eisenbarth), a c.1800 student drinking song about a Bavarian surgeon, Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (1663-1727), a celebrity of his time. There are different versions of the song, but one contains lyrics which reflect the story Alfred tells the other servants:

At Potsdam once, I cured a man,
Great Friederich's chef I did trepan,
I took my hatchet to his head,
Poor fellow, now he's lying dead.

Goof?: Why does Alfred become immediately suspicious when Hudson is rung for upstairs? Wouldn't the servants have been rung for as a regular part of the day's routine? (40'29")