With the teaser trailer setting expectations high, Aliens of London fails to deliver as much as it promised - with moments of silliness marring an otherwise solid plotline.

The episode starts off wonderfully, with Miss Piper continuing to shine as Rose. It is one of the highlights of the new series to see the companion acting realistically, struggling as someone really would, amidst numerous interactions that arise from her normality clashing with extreme situations. This is particularly joyous given the tendency to excess of Mr Eccleston as the Doctor. The scene with Rose's late return was wonderful, with plenty of amusing comic moments and cultural references thrown in. I thought that Mickey was much better here than before; the viewer was able to sympathise with his anger, relief and resentment of the Doctor.

The overall concept for the alien invasion was intriguing with a suitably surprising and salivating plot twist to keep the viewer interested. Much to my surprise, the augmented pig actually worked... although I am guessing not everyone will agree with me on that! The Slitheen plan is well organised, planned in detail and highly manipulative. Continuing with the positives, the special effects were again superb.

Unfortunately, the story was greatly weakened by the cabinet ministers at the centre of the plot. Rather than enhance the sense of mystery or suspense, they destroy it. The farting was part of a wider problem with their portrayal, with none of them managing to prove convincing at being members of parliament. Disappointing.

The potential for the news footage to add to the realism of the occasion and overall sense of panic was again wasted. Perhaps they feared a War-of-the-World panic should anyone have inadvertently tuned in and it was too believable, but it was sometimes embarrassingly bad and it was often unclear about the passage of time involved.

Aliens of London was yet again good entertainment but failed to match the previous stories, frustratingly because of a basic but important weakness to make the menacing and calculating aliens sufficiently believable as human leaders. The episode ended up being lighter than I had anticipated but, following from the particularly creepy Unquiet Dead and with the (hopefully) scary Dalek to come, perhaps this is not surprising in retrospect. If the new Who is to appeal to a broad audience of children, it can't be too dark. And despite the failings, it is still a fantastic romp and - dare I say it - much better than a great, great deal of the old series!

Given the announcement was this week, I would also like to state my support for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Aside from being a fine actor, he is also enthusiastic about the show which I think is important. Let us hope that the quality and, moreover, the great fun of the show continue and that everyone can get behind Mr Tennant as they did Mr Eccleston.

Aliens of London gave me hopes and concerns before transmission. The series up to this point had been strong and the effects shown in the trailer were good. The concerns I had were that the episode was set in (all but) real time and with a new alien threat. It therefore had elements where Doctor Who had gone wrong in the past.

It also had the risk of being a double parter, if it was good then it had the bonus of a good traditional cliff hanger, if it was poor the risk was two weeks to live with.

All in all the story had a lot to live up to and overall I thought it was a complete and utter disappointment. The ridiculous farting aliens and the immature laughing scenes made me feel ashamed to be interested in Doctor Who, I felt I was watching a drama for the pre-school, never mind a programme for the family.

On the plus side, an area where I expected to feel uncomfortable worked well. Billie Piper acted her socks off in the domestic settings of her home. She turned the good element of the plot of the missing twelve months into a realistic plot twist and all in all Billie came out with full credit.

Christopher Eccleston Doctor was not so good. In a couple of shows he looked an alien, but unfortunately not as a Timelord but as an actor in a show he had never seen. His overall performance to date however gives me faith he will recover before the series climax.

Alarmingly the supporting cast acted well, especially Penolpe Wilton. This I say is alarming as it means the poor characters appeared to be due to the quality of the script, and the therefore RTD.

My other areas of concern were the aliens. The zips in their heads and rubber suits belonged in another movie set, but where? The minute their over computer generated bodies appeared it became clear ... Men In Black.

From the above it would be easy to say the episode had nothing to offer, but this isn't quite true. The Doctor fixing his problematic TARDIS, the acknowledgement of UNIT and the Doctors excitement by history offered something for the traditionalists. The great graphics, the Rose family story line and fast moving plot offers something for the casual / new viewer. The appalling farting for the children.

All in all however it didn't pull together, and unfortunately from my discussions to date upset everyone from the casual viewer to the die hard fans. Roll on the Daleks and get ready to grit your teeth next week!

Ah. Well, may be a cynical, embittered, rapidly degenerating old man. But against all my doubts and concerns, the new Doctor Who has had a disturbingly powerful effect on me. Mark Gatiss (a fellow North Easterner!) delivered the first knock out blow with the wonderful third episode and I've been punch drunk ever since. His story was scary, dramatic, funny and genuinely moving.

With this new episode I expected to take a step back. I was barely convinced by the first episode, I loved the sexy desperate mum, but was far from convinced by Mickey and the 'real world'. So I entered episode episode 4 with a real lack of great expectations. How wrong could I be? Mickey was great. The actor is very likeable and engaging, and in this episode he became more than the annoying boyfriend he was in 'Rose'. I really felt for the poor bloke. Again, the joy of the series characters' is that they rises beyond the 2-dimensional expectations.

The 12 months missing storyline was excellent, as was the doctor stuck in the uncomfortably 'human' environment. Haven't we all felt like an alien in other peoples homes?

Like a fantastic pudding, it was only enhanced by countless chocolate chip features like a mention of Unit, the doctor flashing up on the computers as 'recognised', the doctor telling his sonic screwdriver to 'shush' and his endless enthusiasm, which finally for me seemed entirely joyful to watch. I'm not a big fan of farting, or of farting jokes, but you know, this really didn't bother me!

It all built to a lovely climax, ruined only be the trailer for next week. Doesn't Russel T Davies know I'm a broken man and I no longer have the will to turn over even when I know I should.

I'm now at the stage where if I heard RTD had cast a whoopee cushion as the next assistant, I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled off some magic and revealed a depth to a piece of wind-breaking latex I hadn't previously considered.. You know, I've been having way too much fun to indulge in criticisms, which makes this an awful review I know. But if I could have just said 'Hurrah!' and had it printed I would have.

Thanks for cheering this miserable old git up! We still have nine episodes, a christmas special, another doctor and thirteen episodes more to go.

Aliens of London' seems to signal a return to 'Doctor Who's origins. The double episode felt a lot closer to the old format, allowing a slightly more complicated plot, more character development and a cliff-hanger ending. The A-plot also returned to prime 'Doctor Who' territory, refreshed with 21st century cgi, whilst the novel treatment of the companion -- torn between old & new attachments -- made a great soapy counterpoint. The extensive use of news reports contributed to the contemporary feel that has characterised this series, and I adored Andrew Marr's cameo & the snatch of 'Blue Peter'.

The action plot, however, was rather pedestrian, with too many of the twists being oversignalled & overlaboured. Much of the action required a degree of idiocy that stretched plausibility ... even for civil servants/MPs/military, sacrificing any tension & menace. The pacing sagged in the middle, & even towards the heavy-handed, repetitive climax. (And someone should inform the BBC that running spoilers for the upcoming episode over the credits works spectacularly poorly with a cliffhanger.) In the heavy focus on the two leads, secondary characters have all been relegated to cardboard.

Billie Piper is continuing to do a fine job, and I love the ambiguity she's projecting in her feelings for the Doctor. I pray, however, this strand remains ambiguous (I don't think I can bear another Buffy/Angel scenario). On the other hand, I felt at times Eccleston was walking through his lines in this episode. I'm not yet enjoying Davies/Eccleston's version of the Doctor, with the ubiquitous grin -- I think it's high time for those dark secrets to come out.

After the dark-toned 'Unquiet Dead', 'Aliens of London' was definitely heavy on the humour. One or two one-liners stood out (in particular the one where the boyfriend says he isn't seeing anyone else because everyone thinks he's a murderer); however, there was way too much schoolboy humour for my taste. I'm probably not the primary audience for the series, but a little of that kind of thing goes a long long way.

Overall, a mixed bag. By no means my favourite of the series so far, but I'm beginning to feel the connection with the old 'Doctor Who' at last.

Russell fleshes out the back-story of Rose in an admirable attempt at making the Doctor and Rose more believable. The pre-credits flashback re-introduced us quickly to the events of 'Rose' and the revelation of a 12 months absence made me chuckle like an eight year old again. The plot shone through as great SF and could have been taken from a Pertwee (or early Tom Baker) episode - Aliens duping the public with a false 'first contact' crash landing in order to gather all the experts togethor at Number 10 - Genius (or as the Doctor would now say 'Fantastic)!

The effects were good - certainly an improvement on the good old days, but that is to be expected. Billie continues to impress with her great acting and gutsy exposition. Chris, whilst swaggering with confidence and his Northern yet other-world mannerisms, sometimes makes me cringe with some decidedly un-Doctor-ish dialogue ("trying to save the world", and don't get me started on the 'when did it become acceptable to use the word 'fart' topic'). I can't help but think that he struggles with the more eccentric and esoteric qualities required for the role. I also cringed at Russells beief that the kids absolutley require burping/f*rting (I hate that word) in the mix to entertain. When I was an eight year old, Doctor Who would never employ such cheap, tacky devices to keep me interested and entertained. Please Russell - no more wind gags! It just isn't the Doctor.

Knowing that Chris has 'thrown the scarf in' we can hope that the tenth Doctor will maintain that manic grin but temper it with a more confident darkness (something that even Sylvester McCoy managed to do well eventually). The Unquiet Dead remains my favourite so far (not a whiff of Russell and his wind gags) and was definitely genuine Doctor Who for my money. Maybe Russell should consider taking a step back from the scripting (although his plots are great) and allow writers to remain more faithful to his oft-quoted Doctor mythology. I look forward to 'Dalek'.

The views I have had with the first three episodes was that I initially loved them unreservedly, but then upon rewatching them started to nit pick - but that’s not to say I didn't love them.

Just to clarify I love the theme tune, love Billie as Rose, Love Chris as the Doctor, Love the wind effects the TARDIS makes, love the style, love the in-jokes to Who past and other media. Just LOVE IT.

But on first viewing of Aliens of London I just didn't like it. But to explain , I was looking at it through the eyes of average Joe Public and not mine.

So, although the effects were brilliant at the start, the pig alien and the comic farting aliens embarrassed me from their smirking and giggling "Human" disguises to the child entertaining farting. It didn't help as I work from 7pm on Saturdays in a social club but put the telly on so I'm joined by my peers.

Furthermore, although generally impressed with Chris Eccleston, (and I'll say now, at least with him leaving we can get on with a regeneration story) he was just a bit too smarmy in this story.

The climax was disappointing too as the effects were a bit ropey , the aliens still like men in suits and too many cliffhangers! Finally being spoilt by next week's preview.

However, That was after my initial viewing. I watched it again when I got home from work (and more times after) and discovered that I actually do quite enjoy the episode.

I understand the point of the pig and it was realised quite well and quite spooky in it's build up. I understand why the aliens fart (but still don't like it - but then I've never found farting funny - prude maybe).

Billy is still Brilliant - Chris was a bit manic but not as bad as I first thought.

I still stick by my opinion that there were too many climaxes and the Doctor's was actually the weakest but it was played out better than I first thought. The aliens did become more realistic on their second showing and I'll have to reserve final judgment when they get more screen time next week.

But I do think the program should abandon trailers for two-parters and tone the music down.

Not the best of the four to date be still a whole lotta fun and so much better when I watch it for myself then what I would presume the general public would think of it! I’m going rate it fourth, though, after The Unquiet Dead, Rose, and The End of the World.