 The episode 's writing was praised . For Bennion , the writers displayed their intellect , but he noted that Skinner got " the lion 's share of the good lines " . He felt the ending was " as affecting as it is well @-@ earned " . Raeside , in the course of a review of the whole series for theguardian.com , claimed that one of the writers ' strengths is " pulling at the loose threads of suburban life to reveal the worst of humanity just under the soft furnishings " , and that , in " Nana 's Party " , despite the viewers ' assumption that there would be a " gory " conclusion , the " tragedy was an altogether more gruesome punctuation to the story as Pemberton 's face betrayed the total emotional collapse going on within " . Jack Seale , also writing for theguardian.com , claimed that the script was able to move " effortlessly from funny to dark to desperately sad " . Phoebe @-@ Jane Boyd , in a review of the episode for the entertainment website Den of Geek , wrote that the tension in " Nana 's Party " was " cranked up fantastically " , as the story 's genre , and viewer 's expectations , shift . Owen felt that the writing and cast were able to save what could have been a predictable episode , picking out Skinner as particularly compelling . Bennion also praised the cast , claiming that Skinner , Ashbourne and Kelly were strong , but that Shearsmith gave the best performance . Dessau , too , called the cast " great " , and felt that Shearsmith played his part " to perfection " . 
