David Tennant's opening scenes in the Children in Need special were engaging and very amusing, perhaps slightly over-acted in places but this is par for the course in regeneration sequences (cue Tom Baker's introduction in Robot, exasperatedly empathizing with Harry Sullivan being too busy a man to worry about someone's new ears, and hilariously though ludicrously jumping with him in unison over a skipping rope). What was certain to me was that Tennant was a far more suitable choice of actor to play the Doctor than Eccleston had been despite his acting talents. Eccleston for me was just too earnest and human for the role, and the least equipped out of any of the incarnations to convince with eccentricity, for me one of the most important idiosyncrasies for any Doctor (Davison comes a close second to that deficit, though proved to be a very memorable and worthy incarnation by the end of his tenure). I'll remember Eccleston's Doctor chiefly for his confrontation with the Dalek in Dalek, livid and Ralph Fiennes-esque, disturbingly but powerfully unDoctorish – certainly his Doctor was the most distinctively different to any other incarnation, but unfortunately for me, largely to the detriment of my rating of him. I'd say he had the edge over Colin Baker's bungled portrayal, and was only slightly less credible than Davison and McCoy. But in my opinion the first four Doctors, yes, even Hartnell (whose original portrayal in Unearthly Child was the most memorable for me after Patrick Troughton and Gothic-era Tom Baker), still tower above the Ninth: their gravitas was more credible, their humour more affecting.

Tennant instantly jumps out as an obviously more suitably cast Doctor to me, perhaps almost slightly over-doing the eccentric element, but fitting his casting far more comfortably than Eccleston did even up to the end of his tenure (though his farewell speech to Rose was genuinely well acted and quite moving). As other reviewers have noted already, there's definitely some element of the Second and Fourth Doctors to the Tenth, notably Troughton's impishness and Baker's palpable alienness – especially when he stares wide-eyed and silent at Rose as she struggles to come to terms with his new identity. There's also Davison's youthfulness, symbolized also by a similar pair of white trainers. I'm just not too keen on his hairstyle, a bit too trendy for my taste – the leather jacket too added to this radically different Doctorial manifestation, making him resemble a Jarvis Cocker-style Brit Pop frontman.

Onto RTD's first installment for the Tenth incarnation. Well, predictable irritants such as the superfluous return of Jackie and that bloody council estate again, this episode's general tone was a relief for me, as it was overall fairly straight, without any obviously cringe-worthy moments as in RTD's previous Earth invasion shambles, Aliens of London. Finally he proved he could create a fairly convincing alien race without any scatological aspects to undermine its sense of menace. The episode cavorts forth typically briskly and hyperventilates its 'story' in the true way of modern TV which makes stories such as Earthshock seem relatively slow-moving when watched now. I suppose in the case of one-dimensional action stories, this is partly excusable considering the time limitation, however, some more of a build up with the emerging festive threats would have added to the credibility of the invasion scenario. Though puzzlingly plagiarized from the machinations of the Autons (Rose, Terror of the Autons, Spearhead from Space), I thought the tuba-torching Santas and the spinning Christmas Tree were very well realized and actually faintly menacing – but I think RTD may as well have just had the Autons behind it, giving him a chance with a clearly extended budget this time, to do those foes full justice in tying up the loose, or rather non-existent ends, of the non-story Rose, and also maybe having one more stab at the perpetually 'unrealized' Nestene Consciousness. But no, cue a new alien race from the rather limited imagination of the producer: the Sycorax look convincing and are quite sinister, but they have nothing unusual about them, nothing distinctively Doctor Who-ish like the aliens of the old series (Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Autons etc.), but come across as basically Star Trek-style aliens speaking in a lingo strongly reminiscent of Greedo or Jabba the Hutt's language from Star Wars. Their ship is extremely well realized but again, nothing overly original, reminding one obviously of Hitchikers. One does get the feeling of other writers' and directors' previous ideas being brought in together to form one big rehashed potpourri, in the JK Rowling vein.

This lack of disctinctiveness continues with the second and equally nondescript appearance of UNIT, now wearing red berets with a newly designed logo which makes them look like Paratroopers. What happened to the blue of Battlefield? No attempts to produce a 21st century Brigadier equivalent from their blank-faced ranks – Harriet Jones now fills in for the semi-cooperative Earth/military authority and yes, as one reviewer has pointed out, the end scenes of this episode are strongly reminiscent of The Silurians.

I suppose considering this one is set at Xmas it's inevitable to continue the tedious Tyler soap opera which unapologetically monopolized much of last series. But this really is an element which should be gradually phased out in my opinion if the series is to truly compete with the original, and also to allow at least this incarnation to have room to be substantially developed. So too must Rose eventually leave so the Doctor can reclaim his series fully. It's ironic that, as with the original format of the programme, this reinvention kicked off focusing as much on the companion as on the Doctor, but the difference is that Susan was apparently of the Doctor's race also, whereas Rose is ultimately simply a human companion accidentally and ultimately ephemerally linked to the core character, and so to the series. I was shocked when one newspaper referred to Doctor Who starring Billie Piper and co-star David Tennant. And we used to think Ace had too much attention.

When Tennant finally revives (from a cup of tea, a nice parochial touch linking not only to the old series in its inimitable, Lewis Carrolesque Englishness, but also of course to the Hitchikers references, dressing gown and pyjamas and a mention of Arthur Dent), the episode lifts considerably from what up until that moment, give or take the odd scene with Santas, is a pretty run-of-the-mill, rather dull 'story line'. Tennant's humour is genuinely humorous (not embarrassing like some of those gurning Eccleston moments), especially when he seems pointlessly preoccupied by the apple in his pocket. He also takes command very quickly and displays a convincing sense of authority, rather than the face-contorting turns of a man on the brink of a breakdown of his predecessor. His cheeky nonchalance towards the Sycorax leader is very funny, though maybe a little bit too funny and thus suspense-killing – it's also hard to understand why aforementioned alien and his legion comrades just stand around doing nothing while the Doctor takes his time adjusting to his new persona and chatting with old friends. The sword-fighting denouement is well executed and probably as filmic as Who has ever looked – though not necessarily a wholly good thing. I suspect, incidentally, this episode is on a higher definition film camera than the previous series. Certainly this episode was hard to beat in the area of visual spectacle in the history of Who, but one feels this expense might have been better used on a more imaginative storyline.

I'm not keen either on new catchphrases such as 'That's the kind of man I am' – again the terrestrialisation of the Timelord initiated shambolically in the Doctor Who Movie and then maintained quite excessively throughout the Ninth Doctor's incarnation, is hinting its ugly head again, though thankfully the Tenth Doctor convinces sufficiently in alienness to distract from such scriptorial dubiousness.

Yes, the script. Well, I know this story is meant to be an introductory romp, but a line such as 'there's a great big alien invasion and I just don't know what to do' from Rose to Jackie is just plain banged-it-out-and-didn't-redraft-it bad scripting. The script of this episode was quite amateur, unimaginative and dull overall, apart from some of the Doctor's more quirky speeches and a few well-thought-out lines such as Harriet Jones saying 'they've brought in an Act banning my autobiography' when someone quizzes her on her apparent incredulity regarding alien life-forms. Those sorts of lines work well by cementing the credibility and continuity of the new series, and I commend RTD for giving sufficient thought to the believability of his reinvention by putting them in. I will also commend him for producing a pretty straight and fairly menacing episode thankfully free of any childishness this time round. It's still a great pity though that the new series' tinny incidental music is prevalent, gratingly upbeat and lacking in atmosphere, emphatically filmic, or cod-filmic, but ultimately quite appalling (only beaten by Keff McCulloch's atrocities of the McCoy era).

But the question remains, is this really good Doctor Who? My answer is, not really. We now have a potentially very good Doctor, much more in the vein of previous incarnations, suitably eccentric and alien, charismatic, elfin, impish, very amusing but who also adds one new aspect to the character, that of insatiable energy, which is a welcome new element to the character. He's almost a Timelord on speed at times. But scriptwise this was another lazy effort from a man who is puzzlingly much more creative with scripts outside his own series (re Casanova). At the end of the day the script is pretty much everything and despite the gloss, pace and energy of this episode, The Christmas Invasion still to my mind falls far short of the writing standards of most of the old series. Though having said that, from some of the teasers at the end of the episode, it looks like Doctor Who's long history of peerlessly imaginative storytelling (only ever near-matched by PJ Hammond's Sapphire and Steel) has not yet run out of steam, and may indeed be about to undergo a renaissance from the general averageness of last series with some tantalizingly unusual story titles and plots (Girl in the Fireplace etc.) echoing those unsung glory days of the early Davison era, when anything from mathematically-created cities to sailing ships in space was possible.

4/10

I wasn't looking forward to 'The Christmas Invasion'. I'd become increasingly disillusioned with Russell T. Davies' writing for Doctor Who as the first series progressed and all the best episodes turned out to be written by other people, and the plot holes, clumsy dialogue, and deus ex machina ending of 'Bad Wolf'/'The Parting of the Ways' had left me feeling distinctly hostile towards the prospect of what I thought might be an exercise in camp and twee seasonal excess. As things turned out however, I was more than pleasantly surprised; 'The Christmas Invasion' is possibly the best episode of Doctor Who Davies has thus far written.

For me, the success of 'The Christmas Invasion' rides largely on David Tennant's performance as the Tenth Doctor. Whilst I grew to like Christopher Eccleston's performance, and whilst he had some truly great moments on screen, I never felt that he captured the character's inherent eccentricity very well, often veering uneasily between moments of convincing anger and periods of unconvincing mania and gurning. Tennant is a different matter; whilst at times here he almost chews the furniture, he effortlessly carries off eccentricity, but equally convincingly brings a hard edge to the Doctor. Some of the dialogue that Davies saddles him with is appalling, such as when he asks Rose, "Am I ginger?" (a nod, perhaps, to Billie Piper's irritating ex-husband?) and once more we get a character discussing his own characterisation rather than simply exhibiting it, as the Doctor loudly ponders the question of who is with a stream of bilge such as, "Am I funny? Sarcastic? Sexy?" But Tennant handles it well, and makes feeble puns such as, "You just can't get the staff" (when he breaks the Sycorax leader's staff) genuinely amusing. There is a warmth to this Doctor that his predecessor lacked, and when he needs to be he's very commanding, such as when he contemptuously grabs the whip that reduced two humans to piles of steaming bones. He clowns around during the duel with the leader, but he's suitably threatening when he holds the sword to his opponent's throat, giving the impression that he really will kill him if he needs to; this is confirmed moments later when he flings the Satsuma at the control panel and sends the sword wielding leader plummeting to his death, grimly noting, "No second chances."

But best of all is the fact that whereas the Ninth Doctor spent several episodes standing around ineffectually whilst Rose or random supporting characters were left to save the day, this Doctor is proactive, and is solely responsible for defeating the monsters. At times, Davies casts him not just as the self-declared defender of Earth, but almost as a super hero, most obviously during the extremely dubious scene in which he loses a hand but is able to grow it back as a result of his lingering regeneration cycle. This is a Doctor who brims with moral outrage and brings a flawed Prime Minster acting under duress and enormous emotional strength down with six well-chosen words (although more on that later) and who snaps out of a coma to defeat killer Christmas tress and banish hostile aliens with a threatening gesture. Refreshingly however, this is also a Doctor who does do domestics, sitting down with Rose, Jackie and Mickey to enjoy a Christmas dinner before setting off once more in the TARDIS. And whilst Eccleston's "U-boat captain" look was very contemporary, the switch back to more outlandish clothing, especially an outfit that looks like it's come out of my wardrobe, is most welcome.

The monsters work well here too. Although I liked the Slitheen, Davies' attempt to give them an original motivation resulted in the need to suspend disbelief to almost unworkable lessons as they executed a plan so ludicrous that it made me want to put my foot through the television. The Sycorax just want to invade, enslave humanity, and nick all of our mineral resources. It's all very traditional, and it is now impossible for a humanoid alien race with a code of honour not to bring the bloody Klingons to mind, but Davies' makes them interesting due to the numerous hints that they consider magic to be just as important as science, with the intriguing notion of blood control and references to curses and witchcraft, which is relatively uncommon in Doctor Who in any of its media. The Sycorax costumes are effective enough if not wholly original, and their stone spaceship is visually impressive. The other token monsters, which seem to be present purely to add a Christmas flavour, are less effective; the killer Christmas tree looks ridiculous, and the killer Santas achieve little, although the "Pilot Fish" concept is another potentially interesting idea, especially as they don't seem to be collaborating with the Sycorax, just riding alongside them. Although this doesn't explain why they share the same teleport special effect, unless the budget was wearing thin. It is also very nice to have an invasion of Earth rather than the Home Counties, even if we don't see it much, and the glimpses of the Eiffel Tower and the Coliseum are welcome.

Ironically, with this new Doctor proving far more capable than the old, Rose immediately becomes less effective and for much of the episode is quite annoying. With the Doctor in a coma, she proves less reliable than even, alarmingly, Peri, and spends a lot of time panicking and whining, "There's no one to save us, not any more" and tearfully telling her mum, "He left me". Never has she been so blatantly besotted with him, and as a result falls apart whenever he's asleep. Having said that, Billie Piper continues to act her heart out, and Rose does get a good scene when she decides to try and bluff the Sycorax leader; she announces, "Someone's got to be the Doctor" whereupon Harriet tells her, "They'll kill you" and she mutters, "Never stopped him."

Of the other recurring cast members, Noel Clarke continues to put bad memories of his wooden performance in 'Rose' behind him, and Mickey works well through 'The Christmas Invasion'. His continuing frustration at seeing Rose but listening to her talk endlessly about the TARDIS is convincingly acted, and he again proves that he's got a lot braver since he as scrabbling at the TARDIS doors in terror surrounded by Autons. Jackie on the other hand, should be shot. Davies continues to make the character so fundamentally irritating that I cringe whenever she appears on screen uttering verbal dross throughout. The character has no redeeming features, remaining as she does an air-headed bimbo saddled with such vacuous lines as, "I keep forgetting he's not human." One of her first lines here is, "What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?", which exists purely to serve as a cheap and very old joke; whether she understands who the lanky stranger at her feet is or not, which *$#ing Doctor does she think Rose is likely to be talking about? The character also plums new depths of contemptibility as the unconvincing Christmas tree attacks and she frantically advises Rose, "Leave him, just leave him!" This might be easier to swallow if she was convincingly terrified, but in the mouth of Camille Coduri lines such as "I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" become even less convincing than they ought to be.

The other recurring character here is Harriet Jones, previously employed as comic relief during 'Aliens of London'/'World War Three' and improbably elected to Prime Minister in the interim. Penelope Wilton puts in a fine performance, and for much of the episode the character works rather well. Just when her tendency to introduce herself as "Harriet Jones – Prime Minister" seems poised to become facile, she says it to the Sycorax leader, who amusingly replies, "Yes, we know who you are." Nevertheless, Davies' hamfisted grasp of real-life in a fantasy surround results in such jaw-dropping moments as her broadcast to the nation when she pleads, "Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do! If you can hear me Doctor, if anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been so desperate. Please Doctor, help us." To recap, this is the leader of the country making herself look utterly unable to cope with an admittedly large crisis on national television, even though she should a) actually be wondering how to stall the Sycorax until the mysterious Torchwood is prepared (especially given how effective it proves to be), and b) not panicking the two-thirds of the country not under laine control by crumbling live on air. Essentially however, Harriet Jones is present here to allow Davies to convey an anti-war message that makes the infamous WMD line in 'Scream of the Shalka' look subtle, but works marginally better than that in 'Aliens of London'/'World War Three', as she says of the US President, "He's not my boss and certainly isn't turning this into a war" before blowing up a retreating enemy craft. What you make of all of this probably depends largely on your own politics, although Wilton conveys Jones' sheer stress at the end so well that I can't help feeling sorry for her when the Doctor leaves her looking lost and alone near the end.

I have other criticisms of 'The Christmas Invasion', but they are all relatively minor. The line, ""Sycorax rock" as in the modern sense, "they rock"" is profoundly crass and fuels my suspicion that Davies prefers Buffy to Doctor Who, and it is terribly convenient that none of the main characters are blood group A positive, leaving them free to do other things. And yet again, Murray Gold's incidental score is pompous, overblown, and intrusive. But there is also much to enjoy here; the idea of the Doctor being brought around by tea is an obvious attempt to remind us how very British he is, and it isn't exactly subtle, but it is rather sweet and the line about anti-oxidants and tannins just about covers it. The TARDIS not translating Sycoraxic into English until the Doctor recovers is another interesting concept, and a reminder that it is more than just a spaceship, and for the established fan there are numerous nice nods to the past, including the TARDIS wardrobe room, UNIT (in a more impressive capacity than in 'Aliens of London'/'World War Three'), references to Martians, and the British space program sending probes to Mars. Speaking of which, the Doctor's line, "You're getting noticed. You better get used to it" is very 'Spearhead from Space', which is rather appropriate given that the new series is the first occurrence of a recurring cast of supporting characters since the Pertwee era.

The end of 'The Christmas Invasion' is great, the grim revelation that the "snow" falling all around is actually ash from the Sycorax ship taking the saccharine edge of the proceedings, but not dampening the sheer joy of the Doctor excitedly talking about new horizons and monsters, and cheekily acknowledging his previous incarnation with the line, "And it is gonna be… fantastic!" Given that I thoroughly like the new Doctor, and with the reassuring feeling that this marks a considerable improvement in Davies' writing for the series (who is in any case only writing five of the next thirteen episodes), I find my enthusiasm for the second series has fully regenerated. And with a trailer boasting Cybermen, K9, and Sarah Jane Smith, I can't wait.

Picture this, stuffed full of naughty Christmas foods, mum and boyfriend either side of me on the sofa, tree lights twinkling in the corner and a glass of mulled wine in my hand…and Doctor Who is on the telly in two minutes time. It could have been one of the best feelings in my entire life. Mum was not impressed with the Eccleston era, saying he was far too intense and funless as the Doctor and Simon took the opposite angle, loving every second of the new series and eagerly anticipating further adventures. I've listened to Dalek Empire II, I've watched Casanova and Blackpool, and I know David Tennant is a bloody good actor so now its time to see how he fares as the Doctor…

First off I want to comment on how confident Russell's writing seems here. Season One was a good learning curve for the writer, a way of finding out works and what doesn't (not to be mistaken for what people want and what they don't which has been the failing of many a producer). Gone are the embarrassing fart jokes and silly pigs, the baby faced monsters and the overdone angst…this feels like it is being written by a writer at his peak, a carefully crafted story which leads to a deliberate, stunning conclusion. Much of the dialogue sizzles throughout, from Russell's occasional soap boxing (criticizing Bush and telling us the Prime Minister can be brought down with six little words…), to his lovely character moments (who didn't smile along with Mickey when Rose told him he was brave?), to his wonderfully characterised new Doctor ("I DON'T KNOW!" he mocks the monster when asked who he is), I never actually cringed at one point during this episode which I did at least once during each of his episodes last year, even the top notch ones.

What I found most delightful though was that RTD seems to have found that little Doctor Who fan inside him again and his written what is without a doubt the most astonishingly traditional Doctor Who story since Eater of Wasps was published (or if you're talking about Doctor Who on the telly, probably since The Visitation). Last year there was so much envelope pushing going on it was rare that the show actually felt like it could actually fit into 'old school' Doctor Who which is all fine and dandy because it had an astonishing amount to achieve. Attracting a whole new audience, bringing the show up to date, returning old monsters with panache, etc, etc. But lets face it after winning awards, ratings battles and critical acclaim they really don't need to prove anything anymore. We know the show is good so lets get on and prove to people why it had been such a winning formula for so long…

I mean come on; this is a best of Doctor Who hits Christmas Special! A dangerously out of control Doctor regeneration story. Aliens invading Earth. Everyday objects coming to life and attempting to kill people. UNIT back in action. Good grief…it reads like Spearhead from Space! Yet it please me to report that Russell gets all these things spot on. The Doctor was kept out of the action just long enough for me to be hungry for his return and bouncing up and down with excitement when he did. The scene with the Christmas tree coming to life and hacking through the Tyler household was so outrageously fantastic I didn't think the episode could possibly get any better. The aliens are beautifully made up to convince and scare the shit out of little kids. And have UNIT every seemed so professional and well equipped? The Christmas Invasion is Doctor Who epitomised, executed to perfection and engaging as hell. Who cares if there aren't any real surprises…not when there's a ruddy great spaceship casting a long shadow over London!

The only aspects that didn't seem to gel quite as well were the traditionally new elements. Whereas Jackie, Mickey and Rose made for fascinating new characters in the first season they were the only things that felt out of joint here. In the midst of a scary invasion why should we care about Rose blubbing? When people are threatening to jump of rooftops do you really give a damn about Jackie Tyler whinging about bringing bags of food to the TARDIS? And in the end of the day, besides putting the Doctor to bed what do any of them contribute to the story in anyway whatsoever? Not a whole bunch I have to admit and in amongst so much confident trad Doctor Who the human angst of their domestic situation felt far too small scale and uninteresting. I love all three characters, honestly I do, but they need to be given something worthwhile to contribute and cut off from the Doctor and the important stuff going on in UNIT they really are just hanging around until the climax and that is an unforgivable waste of three promising characters.

The Sycorax actually made quite an impression despite being pretty much cod aliens. This has something to do with their impressive visual impact; thanks to some great spaceship sets, dazzling CGI (which convinces you are in a room with hundreds of them) and wonderfully scary masks with glowing red eyes that no doubt left some kids scared to go bed Christmas night. I loved their blood control and the conceit of getting a third of the worlds population on the edge of buildings, threatening to make them jump unless the world accedes to their demands. A very clever scheme, I thought. And the leader was played with such relish it was hard not to be engrossed, especially his dazzling duel with the Doctor on the exterior of the spaceship. There was an emphasis on blood and honour that reminded me of Klingons but then one cut off the Doctor's hand and I forgot all about it.

What really made me sit up and take notice were the Earth scenes that didn't involve the Doctor. Penelope Wilton makes a stunning return as Harriet Jones and for much of the story reigns as a Prime Minister you can cheer for. This struck me as an important moment for Doctor Who, the one invasion UNIT couldn't cover up because the alien threat was broadcast around the world for everyone to see. It made everyone sit up and take notice, the threat feeling very real to normal people on the street as their families were brainwashed into attempted suicide. Not being able to communicate with the Sycorax was another lovely touch, with Harriet having to navigate through some tough negotiations on her wits. But none of these moments match up to the ominous mention of Torchwood, the (apparently) linking theme for season two. This mysterious organisation even those in highest levels of power aren't supposed to know about…we finally get to see Harriet's strength of character when she orders the ships destruction at the climax, a shocking moment for the Doctor as well as the viewer. All their affection is wiped away and she slaps him down with the fact that while he was sleeping off his regeneration people were dying and that they need to be able to protect the Earth when he isn't around. The Doctor turns on her and spits "I gave them the wrong warning, I should have told them to run, run and hide from the monsters, human race!" a condemnation harsher than anything the ninth Doctor ever offered up and a fantastic twist conclusion, RTD refusing to end his snug invasion tale comfortably.

So did David Tennant match up to expectations? Of course he did! Christopher who? Nah, that's a bit harsh but here in full demonstration is a man clearly in love with his part and wanting to offer more than a chance to prove he can surprise in his career. Talk about attacking a role with gusto, he is funny and charming and violent and angry and silly and confident…everything Peter Davison was in Four to Doomsday (except the last one) except well acted. It's an explosive brew of reborn vitality and hidden anger that I think will make compulsive viewing no matter which way the scripts take him. Tennant is a treasure to watch, leaping about, cracking jokes, grinning like a loon and duelling like a hero…he lights up the episode the second he wakes up. Not to take anything away from Eccleston (whose intense Doctor is well worth a revisit in books and audios) but this is exactly the impression that McGann made in The TV Movie, instantly and recognisably the Doctor from his first line.

It looks like a feature film in most scenes with some jaw dropping special effects (with my favourites being a toss up between that horrid gherkin tower exploding and the people lined up on the Coliseum) with a sense of scale that is helped by scenes set in space, around the world and yet on a London estate also. The stylish camerawork is adeptly handled once again by the very talented James Dawes, making sure that the important moments are given dramatic close-ups and showing the money exactly where needed. Saying that I still think the spinning Christmas tree was brilliant, a fab mixture of live action and CGI that never fails to convince for a second. Top locations are chose to give the story its importance and the shot of Big Ben being renovated is inspired. And who couldn't fail to be impressed by the innovative TARDIS landing, 40 years and still finding new ways of introducing that blue box!

Lots of lovely touches add so much. The anguished realism from the two actresses begging their families to stop walking absolutely sells the Sycorax mind control. The mention of Martians looking nothing like the Sycorax. The thought of the Royals being out on the roof. Finally getting monsters who where a mask and someone has to go and make the daft observation, "They could be like us!"… "or not…" The same reporter back from Aliens of London. The tea (how British). The Doctor quoting The Lion King. What could have been a god awful twee ending with the snow turning the whole thing around into a poignant reminder of the earlier violence when we realise it is ash. Lovely little moments that mean nothing on their own but add to the overall magic.

Mum thought it was wonderful, she fancies the pants off of David Tennant and thought the storyline was better than anything she saw in season one. She has signed up for series two. Simon loved the FX and all the Torchwood stuff (he loves arcs!) and squealed with delight when he saw K.9 in the teaser for series two. He's on board too. As for me, well of course I liked it! As I said it wasn't the most imaginative story every written but it was certainly hugely entertaining and left me with a warm, fanboy glow once I had finished. To share it with my family was my best present of the day.

Oh and the wardrobe room was great.

It's with great pleasure that I write this, my enthusiastic review of Christopher Eccleston's final adventure!

What's that, you ask? That isn't right. Surely you're mistaken. This is The Christmas Invasion (TCI), the FIRST adventure for David Tennant!

But no, I disagree - in part at least. You see, something is going on in the story that escapes the eyes of the viewer at first glance. You may choose to differ on this, but I think that after reading my words, you will at the very least understand. Let's go back...

When the Ninth Doctor regenerated, he didn't skip a beat, remaining standing and in command of his situation. Sure he transformed and there was a momentary sense of imbalance, but he continued in his conversation with Rose as though nothing had happened. And for the Doctor, regenerating may not be a personal everyday experience, but he's done it numerous times, so he shakes it off, only realizing a minute later that Rose is quite in the dark. He probably never even expected to make a change so soon after having done it just months ago, so telling Rose all about this aspect of his life wasn't a high priority.

Moving into the story proper of TCI, we see a new-faced Doctor stagger from the TARDIS, joyously greet Jackie and Mickey, then subsequently collapse to the ground. He hasn't even taken time to examine his new features, as we discover much later in the story, having to ask Rose whether he's gotten better looking or not. But this is not David Tennant here. Oh, no! This is still our Christopher, our Ninth Doctor, looking out through the eyes of a new body.

As the story progresses, we see this surface from time to time. He knows there's trouble and wants to do something but he can't. This trait is not exclusive to any one Doctor, certainly, but carrying over from Chris's strong-willed determination and daring (traits that were unquestionably augmented in his ninth life) we see a Doctor who is trying to discover who he is now.

As a side-note here I would say this is thankfully done without a tremendous amount of post-regenerative amnesia, as has been done to death in the past. Particularly with the Eighth Doctor, whom I've personally dubbed, "The Amnesiac Doctor". Really, if you go back and look, Paul McGann's run was beset by multiple plotlines in which the Doctor loses his memory: The TV Movie, the novelizations of The Eight Doctors as well as the whole recent, multi-year story-arc in which he traumatically loses it, and in more than one Big Finish Adventure!

But back to the present... It isn't until our new David Tennant model emerges toward the end of the story, that all of these things are really made apparent, as he strolls idly about the Sycorax ship musing over what the breadths and depths of his personality truly are. Never before has the transformation and recovery been address in such a thoughtful and existential manner. And this is where I make the obligatory and much-deserved nod to Russel T. Davies for crafting the new, modern and intelligent mood of the show.

You see, it's the NINTH Doctor in that dressing gown, ambling around the room. Asking himself what he's all about. And maybe also asking Rose, who knows him better than anybody else in the room. He begins as stated earlier by asking for her appraisal of his new appearance. Then, apologizes after harshly scolding her for losing faith in him, something I think we all wanted to do at one point or another during the story. But of course that would be unfair to Rose, as this is again, all new to her. It was the NINTH Doctor, laying in bed and wishing he could get up and save the world. It was the NINTH Doctor who battled the Sycorax leader, lost his hand and - freaking awesomely - grew himself a new one, adding some more guidelines to the process of regeneration for all us geeks out here. Apparently within the first 15 hours post-regen, you can slice him, dice him (within limits) and he can rebuild himself right before your eyes! Something we've imagined for decades, now made fact right before our eyes.

It isn't until the end of the story that the Ninth Doctor finally gives his nod and moves on. You may think that this takes place in the TARDIS wardrobe, which we finally get to see in all it's comic-book-magnitude glory, but actually, it's at the very end of the story. As the Doctor prepares to leave with Rose, he elicits one of his commentaries on the wonders of the universe and, sidling up to Rose, glances sidelong at her saying, "It's gonna be... Fantastic!" And with that last vestige of his old self bobbing to the surface, you could almost see the Ninth Doctor behind his eyes, turning and walking off.

Goodbye Christopher Eccleston... Thank you for hanging on a bit longer!

Basically, I saw this as David Tennant playing Christopher Eccleston's Doctor coming to terms with his new self. It isn't a Ninth Doctor-esque performance that David is delivering, but that of a Doctor in-bewteen. You may say, Well, of course he is, that's obvious! But really, never has a DW story been written or performed that showcased the sense of the old giving way to the new upon changing Doctors.

Other enjoyable touches were the lopping off of the Doctor's right hand, on account of the fact that in the mini-adventure last month, he complained about a "slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle". The fact that he affects a Texas accent and proclaims, "This new hand is a FIGHTIN' hand!" suggests that his malady has not only been rectified, but that his new extremity is actually enhanced. Probably like a bone being stronger after having been broken and re-set. And good for him!

Mickey seems to have evolved in accepting Rose's new lifestyle, moaning sadly that she's never going to want to stay home. He knows that the Doctor isn't a threat to whatever relationship he and rose may have. Not in that way. But she's still outside of our dimension with another fellow, and that can't be easy for him. You just want to hug the poor guy. But we know that eventually she'll stop traveling one day. I'm sure we're all hoping that the kids come together in the end.

My only slight criticism (and this is totally unfair to point out, so don't think it actually bothered me beyond the minute I thought of it) is the way in which the Sycorax stand back and let the Doctor run off at the mouth. It felt like all the threat and suspense and tension stopped. Like these guys would just let some human-like creature take over the situation for trivial bantering. But of course, yes, yes, absolutely... this is what Doctor Who is. There have been endless encounters in which the Doctor talked an alien threat stupid with his endless banter. So, I'll say that the moment pressed my suspension of disbelief a bit, but my better sense made me get over it and just enjoy the show.

Oh! And UNIT! Proper UNIT! Total, in-your-face, situation room UNIT, like we've always imagined! Now all we need is for Nick Courtney to do a drop in sometime soon. Please?

And it's got to be said how cool it was for Harriet Jones to put our sometimes arrogant government in it's place by making a statement to keep its nose out of the matter. It was such a disappointment to see her corrupted by her zeal to protect her people. One couldn't help feeling sorry for her, having realized what she has done.

Ah! And the Doctor mocking of the the leader's booming voice was priceless! Perfect Adams-Esque lampooning of the science-fiction genre.

And as for the trailer at the end... I can't wait! I will say this also: Come on! Anthony Head is the Master! Got to be! "Mr. Finch" sounds so like a classic Master cover name! And who isn't anxious the see the new Metropolis-style Cybermen in action?

One might say that the Tenth Doctor's persona has taken a turn for the better in a way. Last season we would see him doing everything possible to avoid spending time with Jackie, calling Rose from the TARDIS and somewhat rudely declining an invitation to dinner. Chris's Doctor was a loner, yet a lonely one. He shunned those he didn't feel that close to, probably due to fear of losing anybody, especially considering he'd just recently lost his entire world. So when he did in fact meet someone worthy of his attentions, it really mattered to him that they would agree to travel with him.

David's attitude is warmer, more receptive, embracing. We actually see the Doctor sitting at table with the Tylers and Mickey, laughing and enjoying himself. And I'd say we're all happy for him to have opened up and allowed the domestics inside finally. He doesn't rush off this time, but stays for dinner and pulls a cracker or two.

It will be a fascinating seeing how the more mature Sarah Jane receives this new, vital Doctor. Will he tell her of the Time Lords' demise? Will she find him dishy? You just can't tell in this new series. Who'd have thought we could actually be this surprised by a show we've watched for decades? Definitely not the reality we ever thought we'd be enjoying a few years ago!

That was the most spectacularly executed transition from one doctor to another - RTD in his brilliant understanding of Doctor Who used Rose not only to express the viewpoint and feelings of the audience but to direct it and give it a big shove. Rose's distress at losing 'her doctor', suspicion, feelings of being abandoned and cheated with something less that what she had are familiar to any one who saw 'their' doctor go away and be replaced by some weirdo imposter. Billie Piper's role (and that of all the other returning cast members) was to nudge the audience into accepting the new doctor and to sanction our approval when it came... not that we needed any help!

David Tennant is truly wonderful and clearly has a very good idea of what the Doctor should be like without trotting out an imitation of anything that has gone before (a frequent mistake or anyone after Tom Baker). He also comes across as though he is having a whale of a time which makes everything he does all the more watchable. Personally I am over the moon- my kind of Doctor is back... he's witty, quick, fun, has masses of gravitas and huge piercing eyes (and isn't telling everyone to shut-up nor is he wearing a self-consciously modern or macho leather coat).

So much of the special harked back to those parts of the series that made it wonderful...

...a flawed friend in Harriet Jones making the same mistakes that the Brigadier would made every four weeks. Though with RTD's writing and Penelope Wilton's endearing performance the character is so much more understandable - making her divergence from the Doctor's moral stance even more troubling. And what a brilliant and almost chilling demonstration of the power of rumour in the Doctor's 'don't you think she looks tired' term-ending technique - this is great pen vs sword stuff for kids wilst being anything but patronising to adults.

We had the wonderful wierdness of a skinny bloke in jim-jams crossing broad-swords with a caped fleshy fiend miles above London - but played with the same conviction and professionalism that the series started with -before pantomime and camp took over. Great quirky ideas like bood-control and pilot fish designed to enthuse children about biology and the idea that a monster could even be your own race 'defending' itself against a retreating ship.

Mind-expanding, cheerful, fun but without farting or burping (and hopefully none heading our way) and the cybermen, baroque androids and K9 are coming.

A fantastic episode which really set the scene for the oncoming series. The highlights for me included: Discovering Torchwood; Seeing UNIT in action; Harriet Jones, who was one of my favourite characters, destroying herself and being traitorous. This was a FANTASTIC plot twist.

However, I cannot help but feel some things really did not work in the favour of the series. The Father Christmases had very little explanation around them, and could have worked a lot more in favour of the script, especially after the hype. The series seemed to be going a lot more star trek orientated with random teleportations moving the storyline along, which shouldn’t be encouraged too often.

By the way, why did Mickey and Harriet understand the english being spoken by the Sycorax? They aren’t involved with the TARDIS.

Also, the Doctor throwing the satsuma at the button to kill off the Sycorax leader was ridiculous. Again, no more deus ex machine, please.

All in all, despite the downfalls I think that this really helped to push along the next slice of Dr Who. The character development for some characters was really good - not (in my opinion) for the Doctor, whose script was embarrassing due to its attempts to be random. This really just doesn’t work as eccentric, which is more how the Doctor needs to come across.