"Pennies" was transmitted in six episodes of approximately 75 minutes each from 7 March to 11 April 1978, on BBC1, and first repeated later that year. In the spring of the following year, "Pennies" won the British Academy Television Award for Most Original Programme (Hoskins & Campbell were also nominated for BAFTA acting awards). In a 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the British Film Institute to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, "Pennies from Heaven" was placed at number 21.