The character played by Fernando Fernán-Gómez was inspired by the actor, director and theatrical businessman Enrique Rambal García (1889-1956), considered one of the renovators of theatrical montage in Spain and America and specialized in great detective or folkloric genre shows. In fact, when Mateo leafs through the pages of the script for "The remains of the shipwreck," the name on the cover is Enrique Pombal.