The breaking the fourth wall was seen as ground-breaking and wondrous in the (to me, overrated) Fleabag, so interested in it going down less well here. Is it the combination of remarks to camera with a comparatively trad Sunday night costume drama that people aren't liking?
(I know someone who worked on the hair for this, so am appreciating all the intricate ringlets -- he said it was a lovely set to be on.)
I agree, though, that some sets look too spruce and clean, though I assume on part that the designers were trying to point up the difference between shabby, dark, fifteenth-century Shibden Hall and whatever Miss Walker's glossy pile is called.
What puzzled me slightly was the preponderance of illness and injury throughout the episode in ways that didn't seem to have anything to do with the plot or characterisation -- you had the child amputee, Mr Brigg's ulcerated leg, Anne's aunt's less ulcerated leg, the glandered horse that needs to be shot, the apparently travel-sick-and-later-revealed-as-pregnant lady's maid, the doctor attending for Miss Walker's 'nerves' etc.