Gilly Roach - Reception

Reception

Quinlan was nominated for sexiest male at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards. He was also nominated in the category of "Best Serial Drama Performance" at the 2011 National Television Awards. That same year he was nominated in the category of "Best Actor" at the British Soap Awards. Ruth Deller of Lowculture has criticised Gilly, branding him as a poor character. Commenting on Steph's death she stated: "No wonder that, gazing upon his face, she realised she was better off burning to death than enduring one more day staring at him." She praised Paul Marquess' cast cull of 2010, but stated that Gilly is "still hanging around like that bit of dog mess you can’t get out of the grooves in your trainers." She also opined: "A damp drizzle of a character, Gilly hasn’t worked as Rhys’s wide boy sidekick, hasn’t worked as a loved-up hippy, hasn’t worked as a doting husband, doesn’t work on any level." Also stating she wanted Hollyoaks serial killer Silas Blissett (Jeff Rawle) to kill him. Colin Robertson, writing for British tabloid newspaper The Sun brands Gilly a kind-hearted type character.

Roz Laws writing for the Sunday Mercury felt there was "plenty of chemistry" present between Gilly and Steph. Their relationship was frequently commented on by the Daily Mail's Jaci Stephen in her weekly soap column. She expressed disinterest in Steph and Cheryl's rivalry over Gilly, and found it implausible that Jem and Steph would quarrel over him. When the two finally admitted their feelings for one another in May 2010, Stephen accurately predicted that their happiness would be short-lived. She bemoaned the lack of subtlety in the scripting of the lead-up to their wedding, observing: "Of course, you know that the moment she says that nothing is going to stop her marrying Gilly, the Grim Reaper will be pulling up in his hearse, shortly behind the wedding car."