After a somewhat dissapointing start to this two-part episode, I waiting with a slight feeling of trepadation as Graham Norton closed "Strictly Come Dancing." My fears were in vain.

Once again the BBC manage to pull of humour tinged with horror in tonights "Doctor Who." Christopher Eccleston regained his darker side after last weeks TOO jokey Doctor. His pained expression whilst on the phone with Rose's mother I hope claimed much ground amongst more sceptical fans. Despite my dislike for the aliens in the story, I was much happier this episode than I was, because there was less farting!!

Perhaps the alien portion of the story ended too quickly in other peoples views. In my opinion, this worked well to the shows advantage, allowing the characters to gain some much needed "quiet time," giving fans a deeper insight to their lives. This especially true to Mickey and Rose's mother. 

Overall, another powerful installment from the Beeb. 

As for the trailer, my heart was pounding and leaped into my throat when we heard the familiar voice... "EX-TER-MIN-ATE... EX-TER-MIN-AAAAAAAATE!!"

WOW!!!!!!! Absolutely Brilliant! I would like to leave it there but the terms of reviewing this episode insist I expand.

Previously on Doctor Who (hee hee, say it out loud) I reviewed Aliens of London less than favourably, but did say I would reserve final judgemnent until this episode.World War III completely overturns everything that I found negative about the first part.

The Aliens were "Fantastic" realised so well in this episode especially in CGI. They were quite lumbersome initially but soon appeared quite deadly and athletic and complete with some surreal camera angles instilled a degree of menace. They were especially more threatening in their group scenes (and none were cardboard cut-out standees).

The Doctor so improved this week with his lift speech, the "narrow it down" interation and his telephone call to Rose at the end. Still smiles a bit too much but nice little touches like his apology to the secretary in no. 10 makes up for that.

Billie Piper as Rose just coasts through the episode, anothe excellent performance and I love her little laugh to the Doctor when she says he is stuck with her. Her interaction with her mother and Mickey brings good drama to this episode and the series. These two actors especially Noel Clarke improve their performances so much since "Rose.

Now to Penelope Wilton. I felt she was quite underused in the first episode and did wonder why she had signed up witth not much to do. Upon seeing this episode I see that so much of the previous story was setting up and I think she makes the episode hers from her embarrassment at the word FART (which I blush at too) to her uplifting speach at the end. She handled the humour and danger with aplome.

All the "Alien" actors played out their "Alien" characteristics well so, apart from being of larger build and flatulent, you could tell they were not of this planet. - "I need to be naked" could end up being a catchphrase !!

The special effects as usual were (how many words say brilliant????) The missile, the CGI aliens and best of all, the destruction of no. 10. The door being left intact was genius (found a word!).

I Still don't like farts but that's just personal. Yet everything else made up for my reservations on Aliens of London and as a pair they are quite simply impressive.

And the next week's trailer - yup had me giggling like a girl (no offence to girls) and brilliantly edited to leave the big reveal until the last shot!!!!!!!

So, In order of entertainment : The Unquiet Dead, World War III, Rose, The End of the World, Aliens of London and as a pair, Aliens moves to join second. I am just wondering how complicated this rating system gets at the end of 13 weeks.

World War Three was a classic romp with great effects, wonderful one liners and a level of political satire rarely seen on television. As a piece of entertainment it surpassed my hopes and expectations.

None of these factors made it a great piece of television.

What did make the show outshine anything else on television right now was the performance of Camille Coduri as Jackie Piper. The character could have easily become a joke, a piece of fluffy entertainment to lighten the mood between perils. However, Coduri has played the role straight and her scenes with Billie Piper were as beautifully written, acted and poignant as anything I have seen for a long time. This is a character realising that her daughter has grown up, who is terrified about the perils that she faces but equally scared of losing her by not being supportive. For the new generation of viewers I would imagine that she represents the nagging mum but to those of us who may be a little too old to still be watching she represents us.

I never thought that the words ten seconds would bring tears to my eyes.

An inspired second part to the Aliens of London saga, with the action less important than the action suggested in the first episode. The Doctor, via mobile phone, worked out which planet the Slitheen originated from, permitting Micky and Rose's mum to escape from the creature imprisoning them in their kitchen.

However, it quickly became apparent that the Slitheen, rather than being a species bent on interplanetary conquest, were a family of aliens intending to destroy the earth for financial gain. The PM therefore submitted a bogus request to the UN to release the access codes to Britain's nuclear missiles, in the hope of starting an intercontinental war and destroying life on Earth. The Doctor, despite being imprisoned together with Rose in 10 Downing Street, suceeded in directiny Micky to the UNIT website, thereby firing a missile from a nuclear submarine which destroyed 10 Downing Street, and the Slitheen invaders as a result.

All in all, an inspired conclusion to the two parter, with Ecclestone showing both comic ability and genuine emotional depth in the part of the Doctor. The new series has taken a while to find its pace and footing, but after the uncertainty of Aliens of London, World War III provided a barn-storming conclusion, with the Doctor triumphant but with a wholly believable human reaction from Rose to her mother and Mickey as well. Hats off to the BBC for another classic episode, and the teasers for the Dalek episode were superb. i can't wait!

Well, that's the first of the two-story arcs finished, so what'm I left thinking?

As has been mentioned in other reviews, the plot does appear to fly past you at the speed of light sometimes. In this case, the fact that the main story [of the Slitheen takeover] finishes and leaves another 10 minutes of episode time to fill for character exposition, basically.

I wasn't impressed by the acting of Micky and Rose's Mum in the first episode, 'Rose', but it grew on me here, to the point where I tolerated both. Rose's mum still seems too overprotective - and especially at the end - very shallow. However, these remain minor faults in the scheme of things, and hopefully these characters won't return for a while, since Rose is now pretty much off with the Doctor for good.

The series continues along the 'moral' lines, with greed being the issue here, as in The End of the World. I don't have a problem with the show trying to be slightly more 'moral', especially since it's aired as a piece of family viewing.

I've noticed many complaints amongst previous episodes about the background music. I watched tonight's episode with this in mind, but I have to admit not finding any fault to it. It followed the norm - fast, upbeat drums during exciting bits, slow violins during emotional scenes - and yes, this is cliché, but there's nothing wrong with it.

Even more impressive are the computer generated effects in the episode. The BBC haven't skimped here at all, and everything from the missile flying through London [which reminded me of the beginning of the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies] to the Slitheen giving chase looked impressive. I'd say the CGI Slitheen actually looked more impressive than their costumed counterparts, probably because in CGI there's none of the comical head-bobbing that happens when becostumed Slitheen try to run.

While I think about it, the episode title - World War Three - doesn't seem entirely accurate - there being very little war on a global scale involved, besides the UN allowing the UK to launch nuclear missiles.

I liked the fact that throughout the episode arc, the [original, dead] Prime Minister remained nameless, and even when the dead body fell out the cupboard, it looked sufficiently like the back of Tony Blair that the episode could easily have been set tomorrow, for all we might know.

The current series is going from strength to strength, and it looks like getting even better next week, when the Daleks return. The trailer was scintillating, anyways.

Ok, it's hands up time.

Last week I gave a very negative review of AoL .. mainly down to my inability to see past fart gags ... but as the week progressed and I watched the episode a few more times it definitely grew on me, so I was curious and eager to see WWIII.

And my, was I wrong last week.

WWIII is a Russell T Davies tour de force. The plotting, the acting, the delicious, edible dialogue are at their height. The Slitheen - who I was really not convinced by - were wonderful: funny and dangerous and very, very Doctor Who. The use of UNIT without going into detail, but seeing it lovingly reproduced on Mickey's computer was a lovely nostalgic twang. The whole thing was directed with a buoyancy, a bubbliness and a vigour and the special effects were one hundred percent wonderful.

In the acting front even the Slitheen actors seemed to have calmed down this week, and were all the more dangerous sounding for it. The look on the female Slitheen's face whilst trying to hold the Doctor's gaze was fantastic.

And then we come to the Doctor. My, was this not perfect. Christopher Eccleston should be mourned greatly when he leaves, because this was classic Doctor Who. No actor, even on their best day, could beat this performance. Everything he did oozed Doctoriness. There was the manicness of Colin, the madness of Tom, the authority of Jon .. everyone was there in his face.. and not a little of McCoy, as Time's Champion rose up again to take control. Amazing, wonderful and intoxicating. Given a few years Eccleston would have been everyones favourite Doctor.

Again, I made a mistake during Rose to criticise Noel Clark .. here Mickey is brilliant and the acting superb. Although I'm not convinced in the soap opera style part of the show, RTD does it with a plomb and the actors are clever and understated and real.

So, a reviewer putting his hands up - not once but twice and saying he was wrong. Is that a first?