Sleepyhead, directed by Stephen Hopkins, previewed in full at the BFI Southbank in London on 4 October 2010, followed by a Q&A session featuring writer Mark Billingham and actors David Morrissey and Eddie Marsan.

The series primarily faced competition from Downton Abbey, Single Father and a re-run of The Da Vinci Code on its debut broadcast, although held a 1.5% audience share, drawing in 402,000 viewers, according to BARB.

Tom Sutcliffe of The Independent wrote approvingly of the direction of director Stephen Hopkins, "who keeps using his camera to catch Thorne from incriminating angles, as if he's a perpetrator not a policeman", and the performances of Morrissey and McElhone.

[8] Andrea Mullaney of The Scotsman, praised the efforts made by BSkyB in the production and casting, but added "it's a shame that our best actors can't be used for anything more radical or real.

"[9] Adam Sweeting of The Arts Desk wrote a more scathing review, commenting; "Despite the hype, it's just another cop show full of corpses, but Morrissey feels authentic as the phlegmatic, low-key Thorne".