After the first episode aired, Nancy Banks-Smith said in "The Guardian" that "The Palace" "is the TV equivalent of balloon modelling. It feels like being shot to death with popcorn." She also said that "I never fail to be amazed when decent actors - Walter, Marsden, Cranitch, Shrapnel - bob up in tosh like this." Andrew Billen said in "The Times" "I am delighted that, as with "The Palace", the channel is setting before us something other than a grim regional detective or a comedy drama about suburban adultery. "The Palace" inhabits an incredible world all of its own. In that respect it is believable: the real palace undoubtedly does, too." James Walton for "The Daily Telegraph" wrote that for "sheer weirdness" there "was no match at all for "The Palace"". Keith Watson wrote in the "Metro" said that "The Palace" "pitched itself just right, its tongue-in-cheek study of a faction-riven upstairs clan contrasting with the bitching and backbiting of the downstairs footmen." He concluded his review by saying "Much of "The Palace" may be playing for laughs but it promises a sting in its blue-blooded tale".