due in part to her appearance in the episode, edwards was shortlisted for walesonline's "daffta" award for best actress, but lost in the public vote to eve myles. for hallowe'en 2014, ezine den of geek listed "31 scary tv episodes that truly terrified us". phoebe-jane boyd selected "the harrowing", commenting on its divergence from previous episodes of "inside no. 9" and the clash of humour and horror tropes. describing the character of andras, she explained that "seeing him jerkily moving towards [katy] with glee, hissing 'mischief'...' straight into camera, is shocking, unexpected, and above all, just "horrible"." "the harrowing", particularly its final scene, was selected as empire online's 17th greatest television moment of 2014. "though there are dark laughs in the episode", it was claimed on the website, "the ending is pure nightmare fodder, the babysitter helpless as a castiel-possessed man advances, hissing, 'mischief!' steve pemberton and reece shearsmith, we both salute you and request you contribute to our therapy bills".