Stella Bruzzi, in New documentary, describes the series as having been "the immediate precursor to docusoaps (which the BBC produced) and factual entertainment.
"[1] The production team was "directly involved in illustrating and manufacturing the confrontations and issues raised by its content, most concretely through Jancis Robinson's arch and critical voice-over".
"[8] However, while Peter Popham in The Independent mentioned the "six-week display of dirty laundry courtesy of the BBC's documentary cameras", he later pointed out that "for all the moaning about unfairness that preceded the showing of The House, the documentary series has done Covent Garden enormous good in terms of public interest; requests to join the mailing list have poured in, and ticket sales are up.
Whatever the backstage controversies the programme exposed, it also revealed the true glamour and excitement of an opera house's work, which has nothing to do with tedious arguments about elitism.
In 2010, Laura Battle, in an article in The Financial Times about an outreach initiative by Glyndebourne Festival Opera, remarked "Ever since The House – the notorious BBC documentary series on the Royal Opera House in the mid-1990s that revealed embittered staff and shocking mismanagement of finances, and had disastrous consequences for the company – arts institutions have been very guarded about television exposure.