Father's Day

This is the first time I've scanned some other reviews online before writing my own, and it's shocked me to see how many people reacted badly to this episode. This seems to have divided the Doctor Who diehards and the rest of us even more than 'Dalek'. After I watched 'Dalek', I felt that we wouldn't see a better episode this season. I'll have to watch 'Father's Day' again to be sure, but I might have been wrong ...

Paul Cornell was probably the most prolific and exciting of the new generation of Doctor Who writers to pick up the reins when the show went off-air. It's only fitting, then, that he gets a shot at it now it's back, and he does wonderfully. What's especially telling, though, is that 'Father's Day' only feels half-Who. The other half is sheer mainstream drama, a lovely counterpoint to last week's episode, which was about as Who as you could get. Slightly melodramatic at times? Well, maybe, but this is Saturday evening television, not gritty Monday night BBC2. And it's a million miles away from the slapstick of episodes 4 and 5, the only major misstep for me this year.

It's interesting that Simon Pegg was initially pencilled in to play Rose's father. He can perform serious drama just fine and would have been great, but it's gratifying to see that Shaun Dingwall, brought in when Pegg couldn't make filming for 'Father's Day' and did 'The Long Game' instead, does a cracking job of portraying the man who was never as perfect as his widow made him out to be but, at his core, would have made a wonderful father to his little girl. The moment where he realises who Rose is and they hug is a highlight of the season so far. And, yet again, Billie Piper shows why she is one of the new series' biggest assets. Thank Gallifrey she's staying for another season.

Speaking of which, as each week goes by I'm getting more and more disappointed that we won't get more Ecclestone. The ninth Doctor is the most interesting incarnation in decades. I love David Tennant's work and it's good to know the Doctor is in safe hands, but more Chris would have been great.

Special mention should go to the CGI again this week - with few expensive sets to build the budget was clearly free for good monsters, and the Reapers are by far the best we've seen so far. Slick, scary and possessing a truly alien feel.

As in 'Dalek', the incidental music was a bonus instead of an annoyance.

Overall, 'Father's Day' is probably the strongest episode of the season in terms of sheer drama, everything from the Doctor's furious disappointment with Rose to her touching final moment with her Dad played beautifully.

In the end, how you feel about it is going to depend on whether it's great Who you want to see - this is it, but not in the form most fans would prefer - or just good TV. When they brought Who back we all hoped for a slick new version that wouldn't embarass itself. What we've got instead is something far superior, a show which really makes the most of the versatility of its premise and allows its characters to behave like real people. We should be grateful.

In the end, though, it really won't matter. There are millions of people out there who will never buy a DVD, book or toy, or attend a convention as we have, but who will continue to watch as long as the show demonstrates this quality. And that means more Who in production which is Just Plain Good.