I don't claim to be a writer, but I would suggest that if writing drama, using bad puns for titles is inherently unwise. That is by far my least trivial criticism of 'Countrycide', which sees Torchwood meet The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the Welsh countryside and is almost unbelievably ludicrous.

Does Chris Chibnall actually know that Torchwood has other writers, or did he think that he is writing a string of consecutive episodes? This might explain why early scenes are riddled with references to 'Cyberwoman' in a way that suggests that 'Small Worlds' was just some kind of pleasant marijuana-induced dream I had about P.J. Hammond writing for the series. Suddenly, Ianto is talking about Lisa again, which would be fair enough considering the trauma he suffered in that episode had the script-editor not allowed him to be seen looking cheerful in the previous episode; here, he's as miserable as sin and keeps glowering at Jack. This is, incidentally, after the entire team (including those who are not, in fact, field agents) has driven out into the countryside to try and find a putative alien monster by camping in tents and bickering a lot. It's like Scooby fucking Doo. In the midst of all of this, we get the hitherto un-hinted at revelation that Tosh has a massive crush on Owen, who is trying to seduce Gwen, and manages to succeed as the episode progresses. Or rather, continues. Tosh thus starts bitching at Gwen and looking jealous, a piece of character development thrust deep into the bowels of the series like an unexpected dildo.

So deeply thrust is this strapped-on piece of character development that the rest of episode sees Gwen and Owen flirting and making double entendres at every single opportunities, including when Gwen is having pieces of lead shot pulled out of her side whilst Ianto and Toshiko are missing in a sinister village littered with butchered corpses, and again when they are both being roughed up by meat-hook wielding cannibals. Fortunately, Jack's on hand to shoot each cannibal in the foot with a shotgun, which is more or less what Chibnall does to himself with the plot.

Ah yes, the plot. Or rather, the plots of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hostage mixed together with a nod to Night of the Living Dead, resulting in an unsavory amount of pure sadism. If you ignore the bickering and flirting of the regulars, the first half of 'Countrycide' is quite effective, as an unseen something stalks first a young woman in a car and then the members of the Torchwood team. It should be effective, as it has been done so very many times before. The revelation that the team is being stalked not by monsters but by the local villagers is a genuinely unexpected and quite powerful moment ruined almost immediately by the incredibly hammy teeth-gnashing performances of Owen Teale and Maxine Evans as Evan and Helen, respectively. What follows is quite ghastly; 'Cyberwoman' saw Chibnall put Ianto through hell for the sake of character development, a worthy aim despite the paucity of the episode; 'Countrycide' sees Chibnall put Ianto, Toshiko, Gwen and Owen through hell purely to drive Gwen into Owen's trousers, a less laudable aim further compounded by the sheer sadism of the piece. The episode is so derivative that it is hard to take seriously, but the undiluted nastiness of the premise and the admittedly well-acted terror of the regulars are so gratuitous that it just becomes distasteful. The coup de grace in this respect is Evan gleefully telling Gwen that he "harvests" people once a decade because it makes him happy, a horrible moment the sole purpose of which is to traumatize her so that she will cheat on Rhys. With, incidentally, a man whose response to being threatened with butchery by cannibals is to role his eyes and mutter, "Only in the bloody countryside". Which is obviously a great comedy moment.

The director milks the tension promised by the script to technically impressive effect, and there are some genuinely creepy moments, but the tone of the whole episode is so badly off that any appreciation of the direction is purely clinical. Torchwood utilizing its "adult" remit to do a proper horror story is a great idea, but this ghastly mishmash of contrived characterization and witless brutality isn't the way to do it. This is dreadful, and the fact that Chibnall has written the season finale doesn't bode well.

'Greeks Bearing Gifts' is typical of Torchwood, being as it is a rather silly episode that again highlights the dysfunctional nature of the eccentrics and misfits making up the team whilst it is at it. Unlike the sadistic 'Countrycide' however, 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' manages to be enormously entertaining from the intriguing opening scene set two hundred years in the past, to the ridiculously camp showdown in the Hub.

'Greeks Bearing Gifts' focuses on Toshiko, who after being scared shitless by rednecks in the previous episode, finally gets some much needed characterization. This is achieved through the dual mechanism of providing her with a MacGuffin that makes her telepathic, and partly by involving her in a lesbian love affair with a naughty but seductive alien. The former of these two devices works very well: writer Whithouse explores the issue of just how good telepathy would really be, as Tosh "hears" all of her friends thinking disparaging thoughts about her and ends up feeling lonely, miserable and vulnerable. This is an interesting tactic and refreshingly doesn't see her setting out to exploit her new ability except in order to save a woman and her son, although it does require the audience to accept the fact that everyone thinks in clear sentences (rather than say, images or emotions). The latter device is fine in principle, but this being Torchwood the lesbian love-affair in question is the sort that straight men fantasize about and therefore ends up seeming purely juvenile. The episode also shows Tosh become the second bisexual member of Torchwood, the first being Jack, and the second female member to be seduced into same-sex snogging by a manipulative alien. Somebody's either taking the piss or suffering from serious testosterone poisoning.

Anyway, Tosh gets some good scenes here, including when she excitedly talks to Mary about the letter that she found from an alien to his, her, or its family, which is quite charming. She also gets to bond with Jack both when he congratulates her on her "good save", and again at the end when he tries to restore some of her faith in human nature. She bonds with Gwen too, which given all the jealous sniping in 'Countrycide' is something of a relief, as the two of them seem to end the episode on the cusp of friendship, and Gwen tells her, "Love suited you".

This brings me neatly to the villain, with Daniela Denby-Ashe playing Mary, an arch lipstick lesbian who smokes cigarettes in a slightly filthy manner and seduces Tosh with ease. It's a camp and over-the-top performance, but it is highly entertaining, which is incidentally also true of Torchwood as a whole. She's cast as a temptress from the start, saying of the pendant, "It levels the pitch between man and God? it changes how you see people", a prospect that Tosh clearly can't refuse. By the end of the episode, she's openly gloating to the team to such an extent that she handily explains the plot, and it all gets very silly, as she sniffs Jack with an oddly gleeful expression and notes that he doesn't smell like the others before she suddenly gets whisked off to the heart of the sun by his trap.

Jack meanwhile gets another good episode, again being mysterious as Tosh fails to read his mind (and he is unable to explain why, although she does suggest that "it's as though you were dead"), and again sweeping heroically in at the end to save the day whilst casually recounting the story of his transsexual friend Vincent/Vanessa, before unapologetically killing "Mary" by reprogramming her transporter. Things are slightly spoiled earlier in the episode by the silliness of him again standing around pointlessly on rooftops, and chastising the Prime Minister down the telephone, but for the most part he works well as leading man here.

Gwen and Owen meanwhile have gone from finding comfort in each others beds at the end of 'Countrycide' to having a full-blown affair and giggling like teenagers at every opportunity. This predictably results in some comic relief as Tosh reads their thoughts and hears Owen thinking such thoughts as "I should have worn different trousers, I'm going to have to sit down until this subsides", but doesn't explain why Owen seems angry that Tosh has caught them out at the end when they have spent most of the episode openly flirting in front of her both before and after she got the pendant.

In the midst of all this silliness, the scene in which Tosh saves the mother and son from the mother's ex-husband is quite an effective dramatic moment, with actor Ravin J Ganatra making Neil both sympathetic and repellant at the same time, whilst Eiry Thomas makes Carol look absolutely terrified. The episode is generally well directed too, and the incidental music continues to just about underscore the action without swamping it, something that has resolutely failed to happen to date in the new Doctor Who. Still however, the series seems to lack proper script-editing, with minor fluctuations in characterization between episodes and lapses in logic, such as the sudden leap here from Owen's discovery of heartless corpses going back years to Jack suddenly knowing everything there is to know about the transporter and realizing that Toshiko is dating one of its occupants. Clearly it isn't just Toshiko who's telepathic then?

I can't help thinking that Torchwood is the series that Russell T. Davies really wanted to write; whereas his Doctor Who saw him updating a classic format by rooting it in present day England, with stories primarily set on Earth, with mixed results, Torchwood, which is set in Cardiff, easily lends itself to the format of a science fiction set in the present day, with a regular cast of characters who have friends, relatives, and lives outside of work, resulting in a set-up that feels markedly less forced than the Doctor's frequent returns to the Powell estate so that Rose can visit Mickey and her Mum.

And it works. Torchwood wears its influences on its sleeve; the structure of the opening episode reflects that of 'Rose', with an ordinary working girl (in this case policewoman Gwen) is gradually drawn into an extraordinary world of aliens and alien technology when she meets a mysterious and charismatic man about whom there are records dating from Earth's past. Buffy, of which Davies has always openly admitted to being a fan, also plays a role, with the rift (first seen in 'The Unquiet Dead' and again in 'Boom Town') essentially fulfilling the same role as the hell mouth in that series, acting as a plot device or explaining the high occurrence of aliens and sundry other paranormal events in Cardiff. But whilst 'Rose' was cluttered and too-fast moving, reintroducing the Doctor Who format by dragging it kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century, 'Everything Changes' is a better paced, smoother affair. Ironically, given the adult target audience and the late timeslot, on the evidence of this first episode, Torchwood, whilst bloodier and sexier than Davies' Doctor Who, is more mature in the ways I least expected; there are "adult" jokes, sex and innuendo, but the toilet humour and frequent lack of subtlety in that series is far more restrained here.

This is most obvious and least expected in the characterization of Captain Jack. Whereas in 'Boom Town' Captain Jack, in Davies' hands, became "Captain of the innuendo squad", here he's a more brooding presence. He still flirts with his colleagues, both male and female, but he's obviously haunted by his inability to die following his resurrection by Rose at the end of 'Bad Wolf'/'The Parting of the Ways'. This is gradually becomes clear from the first scene with the resurrection glove, as he intensely asks the unfortunate John Tucker what dying is like, and his comments about finding "the right sort of Doctor" to explain what has happened to him is blatantly going to be a recurring character trait. Indeed, his glib comment that the perception filter was caused by a "dimensionally transcendental chameleon circuit" suggests that his only reason for joining Torchwood, and basing himself in Cardiff, is because he knows from personal experience that both the Doctor and the TARDIS have been there. Interestingly, he is presented as a man of mystery but although as yet only Davies knows his origins, Doctor Who fans in the audience fans know more about him that; this becomes even clearer in 'Day One', when it turns out that the rest of Torchwood aren't even sure about his sexuality, and is rather unusual.

John Barrowman is at his best as Captain Jack here, recalling in particular the role he gave in 'The Empty Child'/'The Doctor Dances', proving by turns heroic, dashing and charming, but with a slightly untrustworthy edge (witness the ease with which he attempts to wipe Gwen's memories); in short, without having to play second fiddle to the Doctor, he makes a perfect leading man. Indeed, Jack is something of a ruthless pragmatist here, instructing his staff to move and alter corpses to cover to avoid discovery of their work.

Eve Myles, who previously appeared as Gwyneth in 'The Unquiet Dead', is also well cast as Gwen, a thoroughly likeable and sympathetic character whose sense of morality prompts her to angrily condemn Jack for failing to use the technology at his disposal to help the victims of crime rather than merely exploiting them; it is this, coupled with Suzie's betrayal, that prompts Jack to decide, "Perhaps we could help more", presumably setting the tone for rest of the series. Russell introduces the audience to Torchwood through Gwen's eyes, which works far better than his introduction to the Doctor through Rose's eyes did, especially in the memorably creepy (and quite bloody) scene in which she first encounters the Weevil. Notably, she bursts into tears and shakes with terror when Suzie is about to shoot her, a very natural and human response, but one that is rarely seen in Doctor Who, which serves as a reminder that Torchwood is intended to have a far more realistic feel than its parent series.

Of the other regulars introduced here, Owen is profoundly obnoxious and thoroughly unlikable, as he is clearly meant to be; a man whose reaction to privileged circumstances is one of selfishness and arrogance rather than responsibility, he clearly sees Torchwood's haul of alien technology as his own private toyshop, most notably during the deeply objectionable scene in which he uses the alien equivalent of Rohypnol to lure a woman into bed. Although the idea of using drugs to force people to fall in love (or lust) as been treated as the stuff of comedy ever since Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream, the moral implications are appalling, since Owen's prey is blatantly not consenting whilst in her right mind. Rather worryingly, Davies scripts the whole scene for laughs, as Owen is forced to use the spray on his victim's boyfriend and is forced to make a rapid getaway to avoid an unwanted menage-a-trois. Burn Gorman is alarmingly convincing in the role.

Indira Varma is equally convincing as unexpected traitor Suzie, whose obsession with the resurrection glove has driven her mad; it isn't clear if this is a result of the glove itself (which is quarantined after she commits suicide) or her own personality, but Varma conveys Suzie's conflicting mix of emotions very well. Suzie's betrayal serves two purposes; one is to provide a vacancy for Gwen to step into, the other is to illustrate that in comparison to, for example, Pertwee era UNIT, Torchwood Cardiff is a dysfunctional group, further demonstrated by the lack of regard that Owen and Toshiko have for Jack's order that none of the alien technology leaves the base. This friction within the group, to which Gwen's moral stance will undoubtedly continue to contribute, is almost certainly going to drive the characterization within the rest of the series. As for the other regulars, Naoko Mori's Toshiko and Gareth David-Lloyd's Ianto get little to do here, although both give decent performances and it would seem likely that they'll each get opportunities to explore their characters more in future episodes.

Other things worthy of note in 'Everything Changes' include some of the dialogue, which veers between the best and worst of Davies' writing. As in Doctor Who, we get unwieldy contrived sermons, including Jack's "Contraceptives in the rain. Love this planet" speech on oestrogen pollution, but there are also flashes of genuinely amusing wit including the line, "That is so Welsh? I show you something fantastic, you find fault." Other gems of characterization and dialogue include the first resurrection glove scene, which is very intense, as John Tucker seems convincingly terrified at what is happening to him, and the scene in which Gwen meets the Weevil, which she assumes is a man in a mask, which is all very post-modern and obvious, but also the most likely explanation and therefore a reasonable assumption to make.

As for the production side, Torchwood benefits from some great (if derivative) set designs (the Hub prison cells are very The Silence of the Lambs) and extensive location filming which benefits the series enormously. Brian Kelly's direction is generally very effective, maintaining a fast pace when necessary, but also allowing the story to unfold without the visual clutter that Keith Boak brought to Davies' debut Doctor Who episode 'Rose'. The only real criticism I have of the direction is in the overuse of aerial shots which give the production a glossy sub-Hollywood blockbuster air but seem designed purely to show off Cardiff and are a bit distracting, especially the astoundingly pointless of Jack posing on top of a building for no reason whatsoever. And Torchwood's vehicle looks crap.

Overall, Torchwood is a pleasant surprise, and 'Everything Changes' makes for an effective opener. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Davies' restraint in a series in which he could feasibly make all the smut and innuendo that blights his Doctor Who episodes far more prominent. Ironically, it is the second episode, by writers Chris Chibnall and Brian Kelly, that sees Torchwood exploring areas that I expected Davies to want to script, as we get the unlikely experience of an alien that shags people to death?

An alien that feeds on the climactic orgasmic energy of men, lesbian snogging, and nudity: welcome to 'Day One', the second episode of Torchwood. The premise of the episode sounds so bad on paper that I was expecting to hate it, but in fact writer Chris Chibnall handles it in entirely unexpected ways.

Make no mistake, there is much in 'Day One' that is puerile; the nude Owen scene and the gratuitous lesbian snogging (and the others' lecherous reaction to it) do little to advance the plot and are nowhere near as amusing as Chibnall seems to think and the episode finale in the sperm donor clinic (including yet another obligatory gay reference) boarders on the farcical despite the seriousness of the situation. And yet for all of this there is, as in 'Everything Changes', a remarkable level of restraint; although the episode does feature a sex scene in a toilet, Gwen snaps things into perspective by reminding us that unfortunate victim Matt had parents who have just lost their only child. The security guard's wanking over the CCTV footage of the pair having sex is disgusting (albeit entirely, seedily believeable) and played for laughs, but his near-hysterical reaction to an inexplicable death prevents the intended humour from going too far. Ultimately, 'Day One' focuses not on the sexual appetites of the parasitic alien, but on the human cost of its activities. Carys' sheer guilt and anguish is well-conveyed by actress ???, and the character's desperate decision to try to satisfy the alien by sacrificing a loathsome and emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend seems perfectly natural.

The focus on characterization also benefits the regulars. The episode opens with Gwen going bowling with Rhys, but significantly she can't or won't tell him what her "secondment" really is - he thinks it's just special ops. This incompatibility of her relationship with her new job looks set to be a recurring theme, especially when she discovers, to her surprise, that none of her new colleagues have partners nor much of a life outside of work. Gwen again brings a human dimension to Torchwood, pointedly forcing Jack to acknowledge that the alien's host is in fact a human victim, and she determinedly sets out to create a character profile of Carys to remind them of that fact. She is also prepared to sacrifice herself to save Carys, offering to take the alien into her own body to buy more time. She also continues to show her strong moral streak in other ways, automatically snapping, "This is the police computer system, you shouldn't have this!" to which Jack responds, "You might want to stop saying 'you' and start saying 'we'". She's still adjusting to Torchwood (as indeed is the audience) and unleashes the alien when she tries to join in with Owen and Jack's casual throwing of equipment before later getting an awkward moment when she bumps into her former partner, who resentfully asks, "Boss of me now, are you?" She's also quite horrified that Torchwood has a supply of corpses to cover up mysterious disappearances.

Meanwhile, both the other members of Torchwood and any members of the audience who are new to the character continue to learn more about Captain Jack, and the mystery of the severed hand is probably quite intriguing to anyone who doesn't know of his connection to the Doctor and/or hasn't seen the Tenth Doctor's hand get amputated above London in 'The Christmas Invasion'. The man of mystery angle continues to play out as we also learn that his colleagues know little about him and aren't even sure of his sexuality (Owen notes "Period military is not the dress code of a straight man", Toshiko notes, "He'll shag anything if it's gorgeous enough"). Barrowman continues to impress, especially when Jack gets very agitated when Carys steals the hand, although the fight scene in which she escapes from him isn't terribly convincing. Notably, he seems increasingly drawn to Gwen, as she becomes emotionally involved with Carys' plight, and is very probably going to end up shagging her at some point, which is a depressingly predictable situation.

As for the others, Ianto and Toshiko again get very little to do here, whilst Owen treats the whole thing as a joke, a very juvenile response that is perfectly in character. This again brings him into contact with Gwen, who furiously asks him, "You think it's a joke! We should be helping her.

"On the production side, Brian Kelly's frequent aerial shots of Cardiff here at least seem to have a point, tracking the path of the ship/meteor over the city, and the special effect of it crashing works quite well. The exploding rat and the alien also look rather good, even if the meteor itself looks suspiciously like a prop made out of polystyrene. I should also note here, as I didn't when I reviewed 'Everything Changes', that despite Murray Gold's involvement the incidental music, whilst somewhat pompous and overblown is massively better that the aural excrement that he smeared across Doctor Who and generally succeeds in underlying the episodes without becoming overly intrusive or nauseating.

Overall, 'Day One' takes a potentially disastrous premise and makes a surprisingly good episode out of it, despite the inevitably juvenile humour and a contrived deus ex machina ending in which the alien handily expires inside a convenient McGuffin as soon as Carys is safe. It's nowhere near as good as 'Everything Changes'; fortunately however, any fears I might have had that it marked a downward trend in the quality of the series were swiftly alleviated by the following episode?

After the fantastic ending to Series 1, or 27, I was on a huge high. Like everyone else, I wanted to see David Tennant go to the plant Barcelona. Right now. Not in six months.

Over the next few days and weeks, everyone slowly recovered. I watched the episode again next week and instead of the sheer happiness I felt last time,I now felt a little bit worried. For some reason, I really wasn't liking Mr.Tennant. I needed to read up on him and get a feel for his character. I watched ITV1's Secret Smile which didn't really help, because he was a villain. Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire didn't really bolster my confidence either. I was seriously worried that this new Doctor was going to be some sort of maniac.

6:59, Christmas Day. Too late now to worry. I ran upstairs and pressed record on the video, then ran down again, on that same high from The Parting Of The Ways. And it begins. The TARDIS makes a bizarre but thrilling landing. The Doctor calls Mickey by his name. He continuously hugs Jackie. I like this Doctor, I'm thinking. For a couple of reasons.

One: I loved Chris Eccleston's happy-go-lucky style, but David Tennant brings something more. He keeps quiet when he's not needed, and tells people what they need to know, while Doctor 9 would hide the truth and convince everyone that everything will be fine. He tells Harriet Jones and Rose straight that Earth is being noticed and they are not safe. I like this, because Chris' unacceptant nature was the one thing tat really annoyed me.

Two: His friendly nature. I keep mentioning this, but I love the way he's willing to be a member of the Tyler family. I was very happy indeed when he sat down for Christmas dinner with the family. It shows that this Doctor is more of a family man, and I prefer that to the Eccelston Doctor's attitude, which was frankly, rude.

So. The episode. I really find it hard to faullt it, but I'll get my little cons out of the way.

I didn't like how much Earth has drastically changed within the space of six months. Harriet Jones has already not only become Prime Minister, but wrote an autobiography. She has been a busy lady!

This episode was all very "christmas special'. The rules for this sort of special are that no one dies, it concentrates on unimportant characters, the enemy is completely harmless, and it's all just a bit of a trailer for the next installment.

But enjoyable. I loved absolutely everything else about this episode. It has humour, horror, drama, weepy scenes and two quotes from The Lion King! And a refernce to Hitchhiker's! What more could one want?

It might have been a teaser, but it definitely worked. If the rest of the series' episodes are this good, i'll be a very happy bunny. They probably will, judging by the series trail. There's a lot more of this to come! YAY! You've done it again, Russell T. Davies...

Like all the stories from the pen of Russell T Davies so far (with the possible exception of The Parting of the Ways), David TennantВ’s debut adventure, and the seriesВ’ very first official Christmas special is a mixture of the sublime and the awful. There are big concepts, witty lines and memorable moments, but there are also cheap looking set pieces, embarrassing throwaway gags and too-easy-by-far resolutions. ItВ’s the sort of hurried mishmash Andrew Cartmel would have endorsed.

The Christmas Invasion opens with the TARDIS popping into the real world above RoseВ’s council estate and literally bouncing off the buildings and crashing on to the street. ItВ’s a great effect and one cannot help but wind it back and watch it again. The newly regenerated Doctor tumbles out, wide eyed and Tom Bakeresque. But the moment is ruined when Jackie exclaims, В“The Doctor? Doctor who?В” How many police box travelling Doctors does she know? It is clear that Rose is claiming the newcomer is the Doctor both Jackie and Mickey have met before. The gag doesnВ’t work as well as RoseВ’s, В“DonВ’t you ever get tired of being called Doctor?В” retort in Stephen MoffattВ’s excellent The Doctor Dances. Here it hits the floor with all the subtlety of a thud.

Then itВ’s into Murray GoldВ’s rather lovely arrangement of the theme music, with its perfect blend of Delia Derbyshire inspired sounds and brand new orchestrations (the best rearrangement since the Pertwee/Baker version?), synchronised with that stunning re-imagining of Bernard LodgeВ’s slit-scan time vortex title sequence; together they slap a smile on the face and fill one with wonder and anticipation.

The Doctor is out of action and recovering from the regeneration process, and so itВ’s over to the soap-styled realism of the everyday, and in particular the strained relationship between Rose, her boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie. There are some nice touches, with Penelope WiltonВ’s Harriet Jones making a welcome return as Prime Minister of a new British golden age, and some lovely continuity in the form of scaffolding around a recently restored Big Ben (it having been extensively wrecked by the Slitheen in Aliens of London).

Rose and Mickey go Christmas shopping and then all hell breaks loose as aliens dressed as trombone playing Santas open fire. This scene would easily be at home in a Sylvester McCoy serial, with upbeat poppish music accompanying a flurry of sparks and a lot of running around. Indeed, Rose continues to bear more of a resemblance to Sophie AldredВ’s Ace than any other classic series companion. All she needs is a rucksack full of Nitro and some out-dated slang and sheВ’d be made.

The Santa scene is guilty of what critic Bonnie Greer claimed of EcclestonВ’s debut adventure March last year. It looks cheap and staged. It doesnВ’t look real. A bit of tinsel, a few lights, and virtually every extra carrying a wrapped present В– it isnВ’t convincing at all.

Another McCoy era staple is littering stories with fanciful ideas seemingly for the sake of it. Davies equally prefers fantastic visual imagery over proper plotting and character driven drama. This is served up as a homicidal Christmas tree В– a tremendous special effect, and one that will stay with people for years, but there only as a bit of superficial nonsense.

The adventure comes to life momentarily as the Doctor bursts from his regenerative sleep, expels the killer fir tree and engages Jackie in a genuinely funny comic routine. However, the moment he returns to a comatose state, so does the viewerВ’s interest.

In fact, I would say the first half of the special, with the exception of one or two moments, is a bit boring. This isnВ’t helped by the amount of incidental music supplied by Murray Gold. The composer does what he does exceptionally well, but is it really necessary to point up absolutely every emotion? Sometimes less is more, and here GoldВ’s music is too generic. It creates an effect opposite to the one desired.

And despite all the attempts to keep us hooked in, one thing becomes sparklingly clear: Doctor Who without the Doctor is rather dull.

The story only really becomes absorbing when the Sycorax reveal themselves and people are ready to jump from the roofs of LondonВ’s buildings (and by implication roofs all over the globe) like hypnotised lemmings. Harriet Jones and her aids are teleported up to the Sycorax ship and their exchange with the alien leader is mesmerising.

The scene where Rose breaks down and mourns the loss of the Ninth Doctor is genuinely touching. There she encapsulates how many a youngster might well have been feeling as they waited for the Doctor to recover (Piper proves she deserves all the accolades heaped upon her. Never before has a companionВ’s emotional response to the Doctor changing his face and personality been so real).

If the story only really picks up at the half-way point, then it becomes must-see telly in the last fifteen minutes. The moment it all changes is a simple one: David Tennant emerges from the TARDIS fully born as the Tenth Doctor. Witty, unpredictable, staring, smiling, euphoric, angry, like Eccleston before him, he convinces us he is the Doctor and we embrace him. Our hero has come back to life. By the time he has chosen his pinstripe suit, World War Two trench coat and worn his old fashioned British National Health glasses, we have forgotten there ever were any previous Doctors.

As the closing credits roll, one cannot help but await with great eagerness the onset of Series Two. The Christmas Invasion is not the best Doctor Who adventure ever to grace our screens, but it is better than any first outing for a new Doctor since Robot and sets the pace for what is to follow.