james jackson of "the times" rated the first episode four out of five stars, calling nesbitt's performance as hyde "as entertainingly [over the top] as a dozen "doctor who" villains, with a palpable sense of menace to boot". the conspiracy plot is praised as a storyline that separates this series from other adaptations. "the daily telegraph's" stephen pile criticised the script for "veering between hammer horror and larky humour". james walton called the first episode a combination of "a good yarn with several nicely thoughtful touches". david cornelius of "dvdtalk" said "six episodes, 300 minutes, not a single one of them wasted. 'jekyll' is this year's finest television event".