After the disappointment of the 2-parter, the hype surrounding "Dalek" had me having the same sort of fears as accompanied "Rose" a few weeks back. Was it to be a travesty? Would it belittle the metal meanies? Would CGI overcome plot?

Thankfully, "Dalek" is a return to the high standards set in the first 4 weeks of the series. A clever script, if the opening minutes are a little familiar to anyone who has listened to Shearman's BF audio, "Jubilee". Luckily, the episode veers from that plotline fairly quickly.

There is pace, a battle scene that will have former members of "Havoc" weeping openly, huge emotion, and this week, the subtext remains just that. We start to see elements of the Doctor's darker side emerge, and the back story of the Time War receives its greatest fleshing out to date. Continuity freaks will doubtless use this episode to debate that following events in Resurrection, the Daleks did indeed launch an offensive against Gallifrey, that the 7th Doctor's use of the Omega device was simply an opening salvo, and that ultimately, all-out war was declared. Me, I just loved the NOW.

The new Dalek actually delivers what previous models have said on the tin - that this is a highly technological race, designed for survival, and dedicated to destruction. This Dalek doesn't just fire at everything in sight: it calculates, strategises, and pulls more than one surprise out of its polycarbide armour.

A new emotion emerges from behind the sofa, too. It may seem strange, but at points you actually start to pity this embodiment of evil, and find yourself doubting some of the motivation behind the Doctor's actions. A Dr Who story that challenges viewers' expectations? Wow!

A strong supporting cast complement sterling performances from Billie and Chris, and Gold's quasi-operatic score adds an atmospheric death that leaves you in no way nostalgic for those plodding Dalek themes of yesteryear.

And finally, the best news of all - for the first time on TV since Death to the Daleks, there's no Davros. Although,there is a cameo from another of the Doctor's nemeses.

All in all, then, a splendid return to form for the show. With the announcement that the final episode is titled Bad Wolf, another reference is dropped in to tonight's episode. It seems that Aliens/WWIII were just abberations.

There were always going to be two big episodes-the first episode and the one where the Daleks come back. Neither disappointed, which is what counts.

The focus of the story is course the Dalek-it would have been suicide to do otherwise! And they really did suceed here. The plunger now has effective use, and the scene where the tortured gets 'suckered' is probably one of the scariest the series is ever going to produce. The rotating sections are really showing how mordern technology has benefited Doctor Who and enhances the feeling of the terror the Daleks create-the 'behind the sofa' factor if you will. The extermination scenes are the key points and they are lovely. I could go on for ages, but the bottom line is the Daleks are back and frankly could not have been done better.

Now on to the rest. The opening scene is very nice and retrospective, yet not interfering in the slightest. Its also special to me-the Cybermen were always more important to me than the Daleks, and if I could write for anything, screw te Doctor its these babies I want to write for. But thats another story. The guest cast is worth consideing. The soldiers are precisely what they should be, Von Straten is a complete hadcase and Diane has great potential. Then of course there's Adam, who we can see more of. He looks promising in adding a new dynamic to the TARDIS crew.

The sets are very nice, with the sprinkler sequence showing off the full scale of what they can do.

If you're going to borrow, borrow the best, and this is what Shearman has done. He has taken Power & Evil of the Daleks and melded some of the best sequences from them into a 45-minute crackpot. The downside to this is the rather predictable bit of the piece which allows for the ending. One feels a final climatic battle would have been worth it. The War bits are especially good though f you consider how strong the Daleks were getting as a result of time travel and the inevitable consequences.

This is truely a good dalek story, and a strong gun for this season, as it should have been. Lets hope the Doctor is wrong, and the Daleks will come back in force.

We know our place in Britain. We make quirky films and television shows, we make intense dramas and, occasionally, we make the odd caper movie. What we do not do, cannot do and should never attempt is flat out, balls to the wall action shows. We are not capable of making shows that fly along at a breathtaking pace while retaining storyline and character. Most importantly of all we cannot allow shades of grey to colour our heroes and villains.

Someone needs to tell this to the Doctor Who crew because at seven o’clock this evening they ripped upped these rules, set fire to them and merrily danced on the ashes.

Dalek was the best episode of Doctor Who ever. Underline, write it up in bold uppercase. The action was intense, the pace was relentless and the effects faultless. Did Joe Ahearne know this was for television? Christopher Eccleston’s scene with the Dalek was intense and his reaction to Rose’s “death” poignant but he is an ensemble actor, generous in his ability to allow his co-star the chance to shine and she took her chance. Billie Piper is officially forgiven for recording “Because we want”. Goddamned this girl has got some acting chops! Here’s hoping that we get another series out of her because she is going to be a star.

But after the action and carnage, the script, direction and acting that we mere mortals do not deserve the thing that will stay in my mind for weeks to come is the Dalek opening up to experience sunshine.

I pity next week’s show because this ain’t gonna be topped!

LetВ’s face it... Put a Dalek in a Doctor Who story and you are going to get peoples interest. We have waited for over a decade to get these things back on our screens, and by God, did they do it with style!

What we have been treated to is something so much greater than just the return of the Daleks. This story had real body and soul. This is an episode from which all the Doctor Who fans the world over can say, В‘We told you soВ’ with a grin firmly planted from ear to ear.

From the offset itВ’s quite clear that this isnВ’t the script of RTD. No slapstick humour, no grafting on of pointless jokes, no cringe worthy lines of dialogue, just pure and simple sci-fi drama. This was a great flight of fantasy. After all, Doctor Who was not meant to be too intelligent at the end of the day, thatВ’s what В“Sapphire and SteelВ” was about (please can someone bring that back too?). But while it was nail biting edge of your seat stuff (and I assure you I was on the edge of my seat) it had real heart.

In В“DalekВ” we had elements of AsimovВ’s В“RobotВ” and Philip K DickВ’s В“Do Androids Dream of electric SheepВ”. Yes, it really was that good! A Dalek all-alone dealing with emotions for the first time. Long time fans will be amazed how beautiful and emotional tonightВ’s episode has been. New fans will just see why we have all wanted to see the return of this show for so long!

I really must say this. Thanks RTD for bringing back В“Doctor WhoВ”, but there is a big difference between writing for В“Doctor WhoВ” as a fan and writing for В“Doctor WhoВ” for the fans.

Well this was it. This was what the fate of the entire series was resting on. Seems a bit odd that they kept it back to episode six frankly, especially after the abysmal effort that was episodes four and five. (I'm so ashamed I can't even refer to them by name any more).

The Daleks are definitely back. Bigger, badder, bolder and bronzer than even Kilroy-Silk. Let's get one thing out of the way. In order to help itself regenerate it needed "time traveller DNA", though how Rose's DNA would have been changed by time travel is a mystery to me. The Dalek knew it needed this but seemed surprised when it, apologies for substituting one dastardly tag line here for another, assimiliated Rose, and got all sorts of girlie thoughts in there as well. For heaven's sake! The bloody thing had assimilated the entire internet. Did it just skim over the websites for Hello! magazine and Top Shop? Frankly if I were looking for aliens on Earth, I'd probably start with Hello! magazine.

I definitely approve of the upgrades and it seems the Mill have finally sorted themselves out with the special effects, and are producing effects, not only that the series deserves, but that viewers want to see.

It was frankly a single premise story but it was very interesting to note the helicopter at the beginning of the episode was referred to as "Bad Wolf" and now with the Grafitti from last week and episode twelve, another big Dalek one, also being called "Bad Wolf" I know this is going to turn into something interesting, and I hope they manage to keep it a secret until the time is right.

It was good to hear more about the time war. frankly anybody with a brain could have figured out it was the Daleks' fault. I sincerely hope they don't just keep referring to it however, and actually show us either it, or some refugees and consequences of it. It's a bit like hearing about Somalia on the radio but never seeing the full horror of it for yourself on TV.

So there you go, my review. I liked it... alot! It was precisely what I've been waiting for and was in my opinion the strongest episode so far. Cool to see a girl from Stargate in it too, never hurts!

No-one could accuse Russell T Davies of lacking commercial sense. An old monster in Episode One to reassure the fans. Half the budget thrown at Episode Two to convince the CGI generation this stuff is worth watching. A gloriously historical Episode Three to flex the BBC's period drama muscles. Then relax with a money-saving two parter, coasting on the show's newly established success... And then, just as the rating starts to sag with the traditional mid-season slump - WHAM! Hit 'em with a Dalek.

Now THAT'S Doctor Who.

Previews suggested Dalek would be the pick of the season, and expectations were consequently enormously high for this episode - although perhaps not much higher than they would have been anyway, with the iconic nature of this, the Doctor's oldest foe. The BBC's pan-media publicity outlet ground into action once more after a lull for Aliens of London / World War III: a new-look Dalek graced the cover of the Radio Times; trailers popped up at all hours of the day; Blue Peter worked its usual behind-the-scenes-feature magic; Newsround Showbiz carried a feature on the story, although not until after the show aired... Even BBCi managed to make a story out of it, focusing on the monster's new abilities.

Ultimately, the episode probably ended up commanding almost the same level of public attention as Rose, the new season's opener - and much like that story, it succeeds absolutely in recreating an icon for a new generation, mixing the traditional with the innovative to invent a whole new, even more satisfying creation. The tight cast, high production values, impressive direction and top-notch visual effects are everything people had been demanded of the new Dalek, and indeed everything they should now be coming to expect from the series, but it's the writing that's the real start of this episode. It was always going to take more than a bigger laser to evolve the Dalek from a prop that crops up in Kit-Kat adverts into a really scary alien, and Rob Shearman absolutely cracks it, creating instead something that goes beyond all that and becomes, at times, genuinely moving.

The self-consciously traditional prop/costume design belies a new direction for what is a supposedly a 'monster' story, with a tense, claustrophobic storyline that makes the most of its 45 minutes by filling it with moral greys and difficult decisions rather than great big explosions. Gone are the massed armies of yester-who, the 10,000 Daleks waiting just off camera to annihiliate the universe - here we have a single lone Dalek, against a single, lone Doctor; both of them intelligent, and both of them dangerous. The result is an exquisite pair of performances, each one bouncing off the continuing wonder that is Billie Piper, and each character (and yes, it is a character) bringing out the best and the worst in the other. Between the three of them - amongst all the mayhem, and despite the occasionally overbearing incidental music and now-traditional wobbly editing - they create what are undoubtedly some of the strongest moments ever seen in the series.

Genuinely, it's hard to say much about this episode other than how good it is. It's scary, it's funny, it's tense, it's almost impossibly involving, and it's got lines that will send a thump of energy right through your tragic geeky heart. And it's got the best cliffhanger ever written, right there in the middle of the episode. And not only has it got all this, and profound emotional arcs, and powerful, moving moments of drama, AND great big explosions, it's also got the cute gay bloke off of Corrie.

Never mind aiming at the eyepiece, this one hits you right between the eyes - and stays there.