Lucan received generally positive reviews in the British press, with the lead actors singled out for praise. Sameer Rahim, writing in the Telegraph, said that "Rory Kinnear played [Lucan] superbly: emotionally repressed, pinched and prone to sudden violence." Sam Wollaston, in The Guardian, praised what he called the "extraordinary performances" of Kinnear, Eccleston and McCormack.
