According to Francis Matthews, both Paul and Steve Temple became fashion icons of sorts, creating a style that was to be imitated in ITV's The Persuaders!,[2] while, in America, Ros Drinkwater's role was reportedly emulated by Susan Saint James in McMillan & Wife and Stefanie Powers in Hart to Hart.

[4] The series was intended to run for five years, but despite its popularity, especially in West Germany, the BBC withdrew prematurely after two.

Huw Wheldon, the BBC's managing director for television, later explained to Matthews that it was really "Lew Grade territory" and cited the BBC's preference for such historical dramas as The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.[5] The series was allowed to peter out, the final episodes at least of the last season all based in Great Britain.

Any BBC tape copies of missing episodes with their original English soundtracks intact are believed to be long-gone from the ZDF archive, with one exception (see below).

[6] "A Family Affair" does not appear to have been returned to the BBC archive, for it was not included on the Acorn DVD releases in the UK.

In July 2009, Acorn Media released the 11 existing colour episodes (still held within the BBC archives) on DVD.

However, Acorn Media did not use these recordings for the 2012 DVD release in the UK, instead relying on the BBC's monochrome copies.

In May 2016, the series began to appear in German-speaking countries, released by German DVD company Fernsehjuwelen (the name means 'TV jewels').