One of my own personal reservations about the Aliens of London / World War Three two-parter when it aired earlier this year was that, for an alien invasion happening slap-bang in the middle of London – even one subsequently denied away as a hoax – it didn’t feel nearly epic enough. It seemed to want to be an alien invasion version of Davies’s excellent ITV return-of-Christ drama The Second Coming but couldn’t quite hack it.

This time, however, an epic feel is given to proceedings by the excellent direction of James Hawes, the man who so successfully helped the poll-winning The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances two-parter last year. He brings a cinematic touch to proceedings while at the same time never allowing the visuals to come at the expense of Davies’ witty and well-structured script, which is also a vast improvement over his previous alien invasion effort, and one of the best stories he has so far turned in for the series he has so successfully masterminded the revival of.

The major success of Davies’s scripting of The Christmas Invasion comes in the balance of the dark and the humorous, a balance he strikes just about perfectly here. It’s not a completely lightweight romp, but it has more than enough humour and lighter material for both the timeslot and the transmission date – slap bang in the middle of Christmas Day prime time – but also enough of a dark and sinister side to give it that good old-fashioned menacing Doctor Who feel. The Sycorax really feel like a credible threat, albeit somewhat in the tried and tested old-fashioned Doctor Who mould – a race of aliens who all look the same with one evil leader who speaks for them all. Mind you, when the leader is being played with as much relish as Sean Gilder seizes the part with, it’s pretty difficult to complain about that!

The style of the aliens is not, of course, the only kiss to the pass included here. There are all sorts of loving touches – the return of UNIT once more, who look like a credible organisation with a bit of budget behind them, just for a change; the brief appearance of a season eighteen-style Fourth Doctor scarf near the end, and even nods to The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and – one admittedly appreciated fully only via the website, you can’t see the logo on screen doubtless for fear of giving poor old Nigel Kneale a heart attack – the British Rocket Group.

More importantly for the current incarnation of the series, however, familiar elements from the previous season are on hand to reassure viewers that despite the change of lead actor this is still the same programme. Rose, of course, struggling to accept that this is the same man before finally joyously realising that this really is her friend – “No argument from me!” Mickey and Jackie, who continue to improve and become more familiar and friendly as characters, with Jackie in particular looking as if she gets on far better with the Tenth Doctor than she did with the Ninth. And of course Harriet Jones.

Jones was one of the hits of Aliens of London / World War Three, no doubt almost entirely because of the performance of the actress the part was specifically written for, Penelope Wilton. Wilton is excellent again here, as the audience is taken on a somewhat surprising journey, being made at the end of the programme someone we’re supposed to dislike. It’s actually fairly heartbreaking in a way, Jones having been such a likeable and friendly character – I’m always reminded of Shaun Lyon’s memorable line about wanting to go home and eat cake with her when I think of her. Yet here she is destroying a retreating alien vessel and finding herself the target of the new Doctor’s venom.

Ah yes, the new Doctor. What kind of a man is he? Well, if The Christmas Invasion is anything to go by, a pretty amazing one. It’s a surprise looking back to find just how much of the hour he is absent from, as when he does appear on the scene fully-working and raring to go, he absolutely steals the show. Christopher Eccleston is one of my favourite actors and has been for years, but I have to say that even in just the time he had here, David Tennant shows the makings of a far more memorable incarnation of the Doctor. Witty, charismatic and charming, he also has the slightly sinister edge many of the truly great Doctors have had, the desire to do what is right and proper and a firm sense of morality. Tennant is excellent at both sides to the character, when delivering funny lines – “can’t get the staff!” – or when dressing down Harriet Jones or doing the “no second chances” bit.

There’s a wonderfully uplifting sense to the character as well – the idea of a new beginning, a new man and someone you really want to be with at that. His costume selection in the TARDIS wardrobe – another new room at last! – accompanied by that happy song is a great bit, as is the somewhat surreal sight of the Doctor sitting down to Christmas dinner, complete with crackers and silly paper hat. The Ninth Doctor very firmly didn’t “do domestic”, but the Tenth seems to be rather more amenable about fitting in with local customs.

And then we even get snow! Undercut in typical Doctor Who fashion with the dark revelation of what the substance falling from the sky actually is. The ‘snow’ looks fantastic anyway, but that probably doesn’t need saying as the entire episode looks absolutely wonderful. So many triumphs from the director, the designers and The Mill – the Sycorax ship, the use of the Tower of London as the UNIT headquarters, and destruction of the Gherkin… It all looks superb, suitably epic and brings a real feeling of glossiness and expense to the show.

Murray Gold’s music is also turned up a notch in quality, or at least given a different feeling and texture by the use of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for a fully-orchestrated incidental score and a new rendition of the closing theme. It sounds wonderful, and fully justifies the expense. You have the feeling – as happened so often with the last season – that everyone has come together to put in their all and bring to the screen the very best episode of Doctor Who they could possibly make.

And what’s even better is that this is just the start of the Tenth Doctor’s era! There’s so much more to come, and I doubt I was alone in wanting to follow the Doctor and Rose’s journey to those stars they were pointing up at right away. Instead we have to wait until the spring, but kindly the BBC did at least allow us a sneaky glance at the future adventures in store with the “Coming Soon!” trailer at the end of the show. And didn’t that look absolutely marvellous? The Face of Boe! Sarah Jane Smith! K9! Queen Victoria! Cybermen! Oh my giddy aunt!

I absolutely cannot wait for the second season, but before that we’ve been given a truly spectacular Christmas gift in The Christmas Invasion. This is a truly wonderful episode, perfectly judged for the festive season and fully deserving of its pride of place in the BBC schedules.

And we even know already we’re getting another Christmas special next year! Hurrah! Roll on 2006 – it’s going to be amazing.

After the critical and ratings acclaim of the first series this hour-long festive special certainly had a lot to life up to. Not only did it successfully have to fully introduce the new Doctor but it also had to reassure viewers the show was going to be just as good. The trailers for the episode showed it was certainly going to pull out all the stops to try and make it a memorable episode packed full with special effects and creepy aliens.

You could argue that the special paid tribute or ripped of Star Trek, for the teleportation sequences which coincidentally looked exactly like the Star Trek effects, Independence Day for the huge Space Ship hovering over a city and Star Wars for the fight scenes between the Doctor and the alien leader. There were probably plenty more movies paid tribute to throughout the episode but they were the ones I picked up while watching. So even though it was a mesh, or tribute, to the science fiction genre it still felt like a good Doctor Who episode.

I never really warmed to Christopher Eccelston as the Doctor and felt he wasn’t right for the role. Had he stayed for more than one season that might have changed. However, I have instantly warmed to David Tennant and feel he’ll be a brilliant Doctor and a great addition to the show. He might have spent most of the episode sleeping but once he woke up you knew it. He had nearly everything right and the costume he picked at the end looks brilliant.

Once again Billie Piper proved her worth as Rose. Billie was one of the best things about the first series and she looks set to continue her impressive portrayal of Rose. Noel Clarke and Camille Coduri improved on their performances from the first series and their characters weren’t as irritating either. Penelope Wilton was brilliant as Harriet Jones and the writing and the acting behind the character was spot on. I loved the way she still introduced herself to everyone, a nice characterisation carried over, and liked the way she was essentially still the same woman.

This leads me to my only real problem with the piece. It’s supposed anti-war message. I didn’t really detect any real anti-war message in here at all until the end where Harriet Jones ordered the alien weapons to be fired on the retreating ship. This was of course a reference to the Falklands War and Maggie Thatcher’s bombing of retreating ships. However, in the Falklands War the enemy forces were no threat to us and it was a totally outrageous attack. In this instance however, the Sycorax, were a credible threat. They had already killed two people, right in front of Harriet Jones, and had forced millions of others to the roofs of buildings with the intention of making them jump, if Earth didn’t surrender. The firing and destruction of the ship was more of a sign that Earth is defended than the Sycorax simply telling other species of the fact. I didn’t like the Doctors reaction to Harriet at this point at all and felt it was slightly hypocritical. Had it been a Dalek ship the Doctor would have had no qualms about destroying it.

Over all this episode was much better than most of the previous season and had an excellent script, brilliant acting from the regulars and guest cast and for the most part impressive special effects. I can’t wait for the next series to begin.

Prior to seeing The Christmas Invasion, I was largely of the opinion that it was going to suck. Yes, such an articulate viewpoint. To be more specific, I thought David Tennant was going to be brilliant, but that the story would suck. Now I’ve seen it, I know that I was right and I was wrong. David Tennant is brilliant, and the story was a wonderful piece of entertainment.

We all saw those clips of Santas with machine guns and killer Christmas trees. And we were told it would be a Christmas-themed Doctor Who story. How could that not be nauseatingly bad? Well, simply because it isn’t really as much of a Christmas-themed story as we were led to believe. The Saint Nick hitmen feature only briefly in the beginning, and there’s only one killer tree – and most of us probably saw that scene already prior to the screening. That’s really the extent of it. What we really have is an alien invasion story that merely takes place over the yuletide, and we spend more time with the prime minister trying to deal with it than we do with scenes of cracker-popping and carol singing.

The Doctor spends a good deal of the episode comatose, with only a couple of brief spells of consciousness in the first 40 minutes, no doubt in order to prevent the audience going completely mad waiting to see the acting tour de force that David Tennant is as the new Doctor. So when we’re not watching Harriet Jones and her staff coming to the quick realisation that no amount of “We don’t need the Yanks – we’ll handle this ourselves”-style nationalism will stop the Sycorax from turning humans into cattle, we’re watching Rose facing the possibility that her Doctor is gone, and no-one will save the Earth.

While I think Russell T Davies the executive producer has done wonders in bringing back the show for the 21st Century, I had not been too chuffed with Russell T Davies the writer during Season 1. This is the man who decided that what Doctor Who needed was farting aliens, Earth-centric stories, and melodramatic soap opera. But I have to concede that even during disposable fluff like Aliens Of London, Davies the writer is never boring, the dialogue is electric, and characters come to life. However, things improved with Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways, and they reach even greater heights in The Christmas Invasion. I just couldn’t help but be drawn in, and 60 minutes later, was annoyed because I wouldn’t get more of it until about March.

As to the alien invasion plot, it’s fairly standard. Aliens want the Earth for all the natural goodies it can bring them, for the chance to make use of an inferior race as slaves, and because conquering planets is what they get off on. And unless the mysterious Torchwood get their act into gear, that’s exactly what will happen. So here we get our first sniff of what Torchwood will be all about. They’re kind of like the Foreign Hazard Duty of the comics, or the Section 31 of Star Trek, though at this stage Earthbound. It’s not really until the end of the story, when the prime minister orders them to destroy the Sycorax ship that we see just what kind of a force they are. I can just picture the real leaders of the country watching that and thinking, “Hmm, you know…” I have to say I was really annoyed at Harriet Jones’ rapid descent into megalomania. Yes, it would’ve been unrealistic to have a virtuous prime minister, you know, one that isn’t a completely egocentric fundamentalist who thinks the world works in black and white, but I like Penelope Wilton, and had hoped she’d be around a bit longer. The Doctor’s ‘six words’ maneuver, which ends her career almost instantly however, is just wonderful. A classic example of what makes the Doctor different from other action heroes – a few words can do far more damage than say, a sword fight. Speaking of which…

I just had this feeling that David Tennant would be good as soon as I heard he was to take over from the ‘fantastic’ Christopher Eccleston. I don’t know why that is. All I’d heard from him at that point were a few Big Finish performances. Then when I saw him at the end of Episode 13, I was convinced. So I was hardly expecting to be even more convinced in The Christmas Invasion, but ever second Tennant is on screen, he’s just marvelous. Energetic, quirky, humorous, powerful, confidant, and the very image of someone who’s clearly enjoying himself. As soon as he’s revived by a cup of tea, he strides out of the TARDIS and takes command of the situation at a pace that is effectively Tom Baker x2. I loved the way he verbally takes time to figure out who he is, while at the same time engaged in a sword fight with the Sycorax leader on the roof of their ship Star Wars-fashion. And it all culminates with that great “No second chances” line, where we see the undercoating of steel beneath the 10th Doctor’s cheerful exterior, minutes before we get another taste as he destroys Harriet Jones. But perhaps the greatest example of where he differs from Eccleston’s Doctor comes as the end, where, while his former self wasn’t into ‘domestics’, the new Doctor happily sits down with the ‘family’ for Christmas dinner. And it really does look like a family. This is a Doctor even Jackie likes. Thank god. If she’s not verbally jousting with him, she can only be less annoying.

I don’t have much of an opinion of the Sycorax themselves, frankly. Like the Autons, they just aren’t given enough screen time to be anything more than goofy Klingons. And the translation pieces in the Sycorax ‘great hall’ are very Star Trek VI. Their menace is well-established though when they nearly make 1/3 of the world walk off buildings, and it was at that point I felt the story was really getting good. But you know, perhaps it doesn’t really matter if the Sycorax aren’t fully developed as fully-fleshed evil villains, since it really transpires that the greater villains are possibly a lot closer to home. And it’s far easier to feel threatened by villains in the human guise.

The anti-war message is about as subtle as the anti-media message in The Long Game, ie – not very, but Wilton and Tennant act it beautifully. I look forward to seeing further clashes between this Doctor and the government in the future. Very reminiscent of what we saw with the 3rd Doctor back in the 70’s, but darker. And it all suggests that the Torchwood spin-off will be far more interesting than I’d previously thought.

So overall, I’d say this is textbook example of why it’s stupid to pre-judge something before you’ve even seen it. Unless we’re talking about David Tennant, whom I just know is going to make Season 2 an unforgettable experience. We even got the bridge back in the theme music. Please tell me that's a permanent change.

And of course, there was the Season 2 trailer. A brief snifter of things to come, in which we see among other things, tantalizing clips of Sarah Jane Smith’s return, a truly battered K9, and a nanosecond’s glimpse of the new Cybermen. I can’t wait. Looks like next January and February are going to be every bit as painful as last time.

The Christmas Invasion has an important question to answer: we all know David Tennant's the new Doctor, but is he the new Doctor? He's already auditioned for Russel T Davies, and this episode sees him audition before the post-Eccleston Who-watching public.

The episode is cleverly structured to answer this question, with several characters' reactions to the regeneration mimicking our own and echoing the cries of eight-year-olds across the country: "But he's not my Doctor." Tennant has big shoes to fill, but for most of the episode he's laid up in bed exhaling orange smoke - not the best way to make a good first impression. With the Doctor out of action it's left to the other players to keep things moving: Billie Piper plays Rose's loss of faith in her hero convincingly, Mickey runs around looking gormless and aliens try to take over the Earth, again.

Thank god for Harriet Jones (Prime Minister) - the only good thing to come out of the dreadful farting aliens debacle in series one - who makes a welcome return here. I adored Harriet in her first appearance, and it's wonderful to see they've preserved her subtle character touches here. Such a likeable and inspiring politician could only exist in science fiction (or an episode of The West Wing). Harriet is never arrogant enough to presume people will know who she is, even though she's now Prime Minister (she constantly flashes her ID card when introducing herself), and even in a crisis she's considerate to the people around her, offering to make them coffee and always ensuring she knows the names of who she's working with. As an intelligent, enthusiastic and principled leader she's almost the Doctor's human stand-in for the duration of his illness in this episode.

The aliens I'm ambivalent about. The Santassassins (sorry) and the killer Christmas tree are nothing more than silly devices to make the episode vaguely Christmas-themed; fortunately both are dispensed with early on. The Sycorax themselves are a fairly predictable bunch seeking Earth conquest, while the means by which they attempt it - putting Harriet Jones in the position of choosing between slavery and the deaths of one third of the population - makes for some enjoyable tension. But like the Sycorax's plan itself this is all just a ploy, an attempt to distract us long enough until the Doctor gets out of bed and shows us he can save the day just as well as his big-eared predecessor.

Tennant carries off the new Doctor's first major scene with engaging panache: I love how the script echoes our own questions about what kind of man he is now, while his verbal disarming of the Sycorax and calling their bluff on the blood-hypnotism is a classic Doctor moment. Unfortunately I found the swordfight something of a let down after the battle of wits which preceded it. The Satsuma was a nice touch - funny without being too ridiculous - but from that point on the episode quickly deteriorates.

If anything spoiled this episode for me, it's the ending. I have no problem with Harriet Jones getting tough on the Sycorax and blasting them to smithereens: it's a nice illustration of how her character has had to toughen up since becoming Prime Minister. I also like the idea of this causing some friction between her and the Doctor about the use of force, especially since Torchwood means the human race doesn't have to be the victim of other species' whims anymore. What I find incredibly frustrating, however, is the Doctor's completely irrational reaction to Harriet's decision. She visibly struggles with her conscience before taking the decision to fire, and the evidence is stacked in her favour: the Sycorax attacked us, they wanted to enslave humanity and threatened to kill 1/3 of its populace. The Doctor himself said that the human race is becoming noticed more and more - do we want to be known as helpless victims, or as a race capable of standing up for itself? Furthermore, despite whatever rules of combat the Doctor may have entered into, the Sycorax already showed they were capable of ignoring any code of honour when the defeated leader tried to attack the Doctor after he spared his life. If the Doctor doesn't give second chances, why should Harriet?

What makes this a galling plot development (instead of just irritating hypocrisy on the Doctor's part) is the idea that somehow Harriet should or could be kicked out of office for this. Harriet has ushered in a new era of success in Britain, which even know-nothings like Jackie are happy about; not only that, but she's just shown strength in the face of a powerful enemy. She didn't hesitate to put herself forward into danger when the Sycorax asked who would represent the planet, and stood up to them when beamed aboard their ship. And when they killed two prisoners of war in front of her eyes and then tried to leave (having previously mentioned the possibility of coming back with reinforcements), she had the courage to make a tough decision and strike back at them. All of this would make her a hero with the general public, not to mention her own party; how could she be facing a no confidence vote after that? She's not Margaret Thatcher, she's Churchill with better domestic policy. The idea that the Doctor could bring her down after this - especially using the lowest tactics possible: the dirty politics of mud-slinging and rumour-mongering about the state of her health - is reprehensible as well as stupid, and it doesn't say much about the kind of man this new Doctor is. Trying to claim the moral high ground with these kinds of manoevures is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

The Christmas Invasion was a by and large entertaining episode that successfully bridged the gap between Doctors, establishing Tennant as the TARDIS's rightful occupant. Unfortunately, a clever script (I loved the joke about the Royal family) and a brilliant performance by David Tennant are undermined by a terrible ending in which the most interesting parts of the plot are crammed into a minute or so and unsatisfactorily resolved. For me this one ended on a sour note, and I'll be looking to the new series to sweeten things again.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's already watched The Christmas Invasion more than once. Just to make sure. Just to be absolutely certain that there was no mistake. It really is as amazing as it seemed first time round!

First off and most importantly, there's the new Doctor. Having enjoyed David Tennant's performances both in TV dramas like Secret Smile and in the Big Finish audios ( looking back, Dalek Empire III almost seems an audition piece) I was always fairly confident he would raise to the challenge but I was amazed at just how good his debut was. The Tenth Doctor is a quirky, fascinating and above all unpredictable character. One minute he's funny, quoting The Lion King or puzzling over fruit found in his dressing down. Then he's scary, turning on Harriet with righteous fury or calmly dispatching the Sycorax leader. And finally we have him doing what Eccleston's joyless creation seemed incapable of - delighting in the small things of life. That, more than anything, made me believe absolutely that David Tennant is the Doctor. Watching him enjoy a Christmas meal with Rose and co. it seemed like a deliberate link was being to drawn to the great Doctor moments of the past; Paul McGann's happiness at his new shoes, Sylvester McCoy's quiet musings in a cafe or Peter Davison's much quoted but timeless defence of the small and beautiful things in life.

Billie Piper was her usual excellent self. It's not an original sentiment, but she really is a Sarah Jane for the 21st Century, a companion who will become a 'blueprint' for those that follow. And just as Sarah only really came into her own once she was paired with Tom Baker, I feel that the best is yet to come from Rose now she has a new Doctor to knock around the Universe with. Her long suffering boyfriend Mickey has finally stopped being an irritant. Partially it's because he no longer has to be the butt of the Ninth Doctor's endless need to prove how much tougher he is than anyone else. But more importantly, his situation has made him sympathetic. He's in love with a girl who can never stay, Pip to an intergalactic Estella. At the end when he's forced to accept that she's going to go off again, it's hard not to feel sorry for him, because unrequited love is universal.

The character of Harriet, ably played by the wonderful Penelope Wilton, is one of the real successes of the new series. In Aliens of London she was stuck with playing against the staggeringly dumb looking Slitheen. In The Christmas Invasion she finally has proper, scary monsters to confront and we begin to see the real steel that underlies her compassion. Her decision to commit to destroy the Sycorax ship whilst morally wrong is also understandable and her plaintive 'sorry' to the retreating Doctor is oddly moving. This also serves to highlight another way in which the Tenth Doctor scores over the Ninth; motivation. When Christopher Eccleston's Doctor kicked Adam out of the TARDIS and condemned him to life of misery it was the pitiful act of a character who simply enjoyed the chance for power over a young man that Rose had taken a shine to. By contrast, David Tennant's Doctor punishes Harriet not for personal reasons, but because she has committed mass murder. This bodes well for the future development of the Tenth Doctor, but I hope that we haven't seen the last of Harriet. After all, the Brigadier murdered the Silurians and was back straight away in Ambassadors of Death.

Which leads me nicely to the Sycorax. Or, as they could be called, Star Trek monsters done properly. They had all the fury of the Klingons and the hunting instincts of Voyager's Hirogen, but scored over both of them in design (shades of Faction Paradox?) and sheer, arrogant nastiness. The stone spaceship was a nice piece of design, with just the right touch of Giger and Quatermass. With any luck, we'll be seeing more of this new race. Hopefully if they do come back, we won't be subjected to the attempts to make aliens behave more like humans which bedeviled the back end of Star Trek Voyager. The Sycorax are basically bastards and all the better for it. Roll on the action figure!!

All in all then, The Christmas Invasion was a triumph. A terrific new Doctor who could well become the best, a great companion getting better and a new and horrible race of aliens. The trailer at the end whetted the appetite nicely for what is to come, especially the return of K9 and the intriguing looking cat people. Though what I really want at the moment is for our new Doctor to meet Davros...

Given the quality of the last season, and having enjoyed the short prelude to this story broadcast during Children in Need, my expectations for the Christmas Invasion were fairly high. Overall I was not disappointed. What was broadcast was a fairly entertaining story with something in it for everybody. For long term fans there were a couple of nods to the past – U.N.I.T and hints past Earth encounters with aliens. For more recent fans there were clear links to episodes from last season, particularly Aliens of London/World War Three (my favourite being the scaffolding around Big Ben). There were also some nice Christmassy elements combined with some emotional drama, light relief and a twist ending.

Other highlights included the performance of David Tennant. The Tenth Doctor is clearly an interesting character. He is very Doctorish, but was at the same time different from what has gone before. He seems to be more light-hearted than his immediate predecessor, yet at the same time he also seemed slightly more ruthless than any previous Doctor. His actions on the Sycorax and at the end against Harriet Jones show he will not tolerate any action he sees as wrong. This will make him a very dangerous opponent for his foes. Yet he also seems to have a far better relationship with humanity than the Ninth; enjoying Christmas dinner at Rose's house and being far more tolerant of Mickey and Jackie. Tennant captured this complicated character well and was clearly the ideal choice to replace Christopher Eccleston.

There were many other positive features. Billie Piper put in her usual excellent performance as Rose. Indeed none of the cast put in a bad performance in what was a very well acted piece. The visual and special effects were, for the most part, extremely good. The Sycorax and the Santa Robots were particularly well realised as were the scenes of their ship over London. The Sycorax were also quite an interesting race, although I would have liked to see more details of their culture and how the Doctor knew so much about it. Also the incidental music in this story was fairly enjoyable as was the different end theme arrangement.

However, this story had a few elements that disappointed me. Although the overall writing and direction was good, the first half contained too much silly comedy for my taste. Similarly, I felt the Doctor should have been introduced to the main action earlier. Lying in bed was a waste of the talents David Tenant and slowed the pace of the narrative. Additionally I thought the CGI space probe and the CGI TARDIS in the crash landing sequence were both too obviously computer generated. Certainly neither was up to the usual high standard of special effects the series has come to be noted for. I also found the idea of the Doctor challenging the Sycorax leader to combat too easy a resolution. That said the subsequent actions of Harriet Jones and the Doctor's response were brilliant; even if they were slightly reminiscent of Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Yet, these were really minor flaws and on the whole the story was a good Christmas romp.