"The Guardian" reported that news of the cancellation "perplexed those involved with the show" and that "insiders criticised Cohen's decision" especially as "Pulling" had "nearly doubled its figures" since the first series and had "outperformed BBC3's average share both for the slot and for prime time in 2007, beating the slot average by 41% for the younger demographic". The show had also faired well critically and had been nominated for a BAFTA award. The newspaper reported that they had "sources" who had "claimed the decision was because the show no longer fitted in with the target audience of BBC3, which is being focused on a younger age group". However, this reasoning was denied by a BBC spokeswoman and controller Danny Cohen. Commenting on the cancellation Cohen said: "Pulling has had two fantastic series on BBC3 and we've committed to an hour-long finale episode as a mark of its quality". He justified the decision by saying that he had to cancel the series to make a room for new shows on the channel: "In an ideal world, we would recommission many more of our comedies - but on BBC3 we have to continually make room for the new. Every recommission means one less space for a new project."