Many reviewers commented that the dark tone of the final episode was typical of the series and many praised Annette Crosbie's performance. A reviewer for BBC Comedy said that it "was a characteristically dark end to a show which was never afraid to explore the flip side of the comedy coin." UKTV Gold's website says "it was a suitably downbeat end to an equally downbeat man." Commenting that killing off the protagonist "might seem an odd way for a sitcom to end," the British Film Institute's "ScreenOnline" says that in a series "where comedy and tragedy are so intertwined, it seems entirely appropriate."