Other critics hailed it as "the British answer to "Thirtysomething""; in 1998, Meg Carter wrote in "The Independent", "More than 10 years on, Granada Television has finally produced a modern show that mines the rich seam of a generation that is as confused as it is liberated by increased choice and freedom, and that caters for an audience which has not, traditionally, watched very much ITV." Mark Lawson compared it to the American sitcom "Friends", a series that is also based around three men and three women, and featured Helen Baxendale in a guest role. In a 2003 interview with Bullen on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row", Lawson asked whether "Friends" had influenced "Cold Feet". Bullen explained that the connection was made by media as "a useful shorthand", that he was irritated by the characters in "Friends" and "would liked to have taken a baseball bat to them".