Episode 2 (The Casual Vacancy) praised the cast, in particular Abigail Lawrie, Rory Kinnear and Rufus Jones Ceri Radford of "The Telegraph" gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars, despite some reservations about the digressions, saying: Episode 2 (The Casual Vacancy) "Episode 2" is the second episode of the British miniseries "The Casual Vacancy" based on the novel of the same title by J. K. Rowling. The parish council election approaches and Pagford is on tenterhooks awaiting the next post from 'the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother'. Who is the Ghost, and what will they say? Is anyone in the village safe from humiliation? As
BBC television drama as a critical and cultural high point in terms of the quality of dramas being produced. In the 1990s, a time of change in the British television industry, the department went through much internal confusion and external criticism, but since the beginning of the 21st century has begun to return to form with a run of critical and popular successes, despite continual accusations of the drama output and the BBC in general dumbing down. Many BBC productions have also been exported to and screened in other countries, particularly in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) "Masterpiece Theatre"