Bad Wolf

Say what you will, but that Russell T Davies chap knows a thing or two about timing. The children's BBC forums have recently voted Dr Who their favourite TV show (trouncing the previously unshakeable Simpsons); their favourite subject for a new message board (beating Buffy, hobbies and mobile phones into the ground), and very nearly their favourite thing (narrowly defeated by Harry Potter, but still way ahead of friends, family and food). The only thing that could possibly topple the series from its television supremacy was that annual festival of relentless shrieking vacuity Big Brother. So what does Russell T do? The impossible, as usual. He puts the Doctor in the Big Brother house.

Genius.

Beyond genius. Shameless commercialism. And quite, quite impossible. Endemol will never agree to it. The BBC will never agree to it. The viewers will never tolerate it.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Everyone says yes. Just this once, Rose - everyone says yes.

Never mind that this is technically a sequel to an earlier (and, unjustly, not very well liked) story. Never mind that the splitting up of the TARDIS crew makes for a slightly repetitive opening. Never mind that the tying up of loose ends from earlier in the series requires some clumsy exposition, or that there isn't as much humour as you'd expect, or that Captain Jack once again pulls a solution out of his ass. For once let's not even mind that the incidental music is obtrusive and repetitive, given that this time that's the whole point. Bad Wolf is, despite all that, genius.

By this time you can write the reviews in your sleep, and maybe that would be better. I can't say what's so good about this episode, the spoiler-pressure is all but insurmountable. The bit where - ! Well, yes. Or that moment when - but no. Can't be done, it would ruin the whole thing (which is why, perhaps, the Beeb does need its knuckles rapped over the preview from Boom Town, although that's still only the half of it). So go ahead. You know how it goes. The script is sharp, witty, pacy and powerful. The design is (even as rehash of sets from reality TV shows and The Long Game) deft, daft and intelligent, a perfect blend of human and alien. The central TARDIS trio of Jack, Rose and the Doctor are all snappily written and brilliantly portrayed. The additional characters are fun, instantly recogniseable, elegantly honed. Every beat is on the money. Every shot a corker. And though you may not know this yet, the pitch-perfect shaping of the central emotional drama is... perfect.

And the truly extraordinary thing - by which I mean, of course, the truly extraordinary thing other than the fact that none of this is even remotely the best thing about it, but I can't tell you that, can't say that, can't stand the confusion in my mind - is that this is just what we've come to expect. We'd feel cheated if we got any less. Because these days, that's what Doctor Who is.

Let me tell you this. I was in a pub last night. Perfectly ordinary pub. Then someone shrieks in horror - they've done it again! They've missed an episode of Dr Who! And suddenly, everyone joins in. Geeks squabble about time paradoxes. Near strangers argue over whether Dalek or The Empty Child was more scary. Perfectly intelligent people attempt to say Raxacoricofallapatorius. Ridiculous, but true.

And the day before: another conversation, in another pub, about how everything on television is rubbish these days. I never watch it, gruff men with pipes staunchly declaim. Absolute twaddle. Nothing worth watching. Oh, except Dr Who, of course. Unheard of, but that's the way it was.

And then today, the reason this is more relevant to Bad Wolf than all the others, and the real reason next week's finale can never, ever hope to live up to expectations. My mum, my actual mum calls me, seconds after the music fades, to gush that tonight's episode was the most exciting piece of telly she'd ever seen. Impossible. Absolutely impossible, like getting the BBC and Channel 4 to co-operate, one using the other's format to parody the very nature of television, and no-one seeming to mind. But I swear to god, it happened.

This is not the world I grew up in. I always knew this was the best show in the world. No-one ever agreed with me. But thanks to Russell T, just this once - everyone says yes.