The conclusion of the serial in March brought similar praise. ""Our Friends in the North" confounded the gloomier predictions about its content and proved that there was an audience for political material, provided that it found its way to the screen through lives imagined in emotional detail ... It will be remembered for an intimate sense of character, powerful enough to make you forgive its faults and stay loyal to the end," was the verdict of "The Independent" on the final episode. Writing in the same newspaper the following day, Jeffrey Richards added that "Monday night's final episode of "Our Friends in the North" has left many people bereft. The serial captivated much of the country, sketching a panoramic view of life in Britain from the sixties to the nineties ... At once sweeping and intimate, both moving and angry, simultaneously historical and contemporary, it has followed in the distinguished footsteps of BBC series such as "Boys from the Blackstuff"."