Mark Wright of The Stage was a frequent reviewer of HolbyBlue. He found the opening episode "boring", deeming it "a cliché-ridden disaster with some duff casting decisions and bizarrely clunky dialogue". Wright criticised the decision to launch the show under the Holby moniker, opining that it is not a true brand as Casualty and Holby City both possess "distinct personalities". He noted that he loathes the former and loves the latter, but concluded that despite differing audience demographics, they are both hospital dramas and it does not follow that their audiences would also enjoy a police procedural. Despite his criticism, Wright was pleased when the programme was recommissioned for a second series, hoping that an increased number of episodes would allow the production team to fix issues with HolbyBlue and further develop its format. Following the programme's cancellation, Wright gave HolbyBlue a mixed review. He described the first series as "disastrous", writing that it was largely unoriginal and impeded by the Holby brand, but deemed series two "a great improvement, with some excellent and quite engrossing character drama".
