ian christie in the "daily express" called it remarkable and gripping, concluding that "the film was compelling, the script and direction incisive, the performances first rate". the technical qualities of the film were widely applauded. mark sanderson in "time out" noted the challenges the film makers had faced − a vast amount of information to convey, a huge number of real people to present with hardly any time to develop characterisation, an outcome that everybody knew − and considered that writer michael eaton had succeeded "triumphantly", using the tense and smoky style of a thriller to establish a nation under siege, "where the spools of the tape recorders never stop turning". nancy banks smith in "the guardian" compared the "sense of tension and throttling pressure" of the second part to that of a "western by a great master... will he get them before they get him? even though you know he won't, you feel he might."