Fred has been opined as the second best "Coronation Street" character by "The Guardian", and has been described by them as "the big, bald bastard who said everything twice, and boomingly, started out as a comic gargoyle and became ever sweeter: I said, became ever sweeter...John Savident's performance made his failed love affairs moving and his death on his wedding day a calamity." He has also been described as "a colourful character of the type that used to abound Coronation Street but is now becoming scarce."