On the worldwide interthingy I go by the name “dalekpete”. This was an impulse when looking for an identity almost a decade ago. I use an avatar of Abslom Daak to suggest that my electronic persona is anti-Dalek; after all who could ever have sympathy for that race of destructive killers?

Under the circumstances I awaited the episode “Dalek” with more anticipation than normal. The BBC short trailer where the chained Dalek recognised the Doctor made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Not for a moment was I disappointed.

I never thought that I would end the story feeling sorry for the Doctor’s greatest adversary. That the Timelord might charge around waving a gun and, in deranged way, attempt genocide seemed inconceivable; but for all we recognised the Dalek’s plight, we know he was right. This was a Dalek, the greatest killing machine known to history, and it wreaked havoc within the bunkers that housed a roughly contemporary collection of alien artefacts. However it was a pitiful, tortured being, easily out done in the despicability stakes by some of the humans.

In finding there the last remaining member of that mutant race and recognising that it was a threat the Doctor was surely doing the right thing. We all knew that Tom Baker erred in not destroying the Daleks, didn’t we? It is just that Rose has her doubts and in her few minutes with the creature she sees more than her svengali has learned in 900 years. This was the central premise of an outstanding episode.

I am sure that many will dissect the whole “Time War” aspect and wonder whether this advances the Who concept or not. There was certainly enough to satisfy aficionados of the show with references to the past. What shouldn’t be debated is that this was first rate Doctor Who and brilliant television. It was both gripping and emotional. Not just because it featured a Dalek but because it was complex in the characterisation and it altered our understanding of the Doctor and his current companion.

The Dalek was superbly visualised with the “repairs” sequence looking wonderful. An explanation of some of the finer details about the abilities of the “killing machine” only added to the fascination of the Daleks. It was voiced to perfection by Nicholas Briggs, this was an emotionless being that had to find a soul. Eccleston was outstanding, never more so when beseeching action from the other cast members in the close ups. Piper was also sound, particularly when she had the moral upper-hand. Of the non-regulars Corey Johnson was impressive, while Bruno Langley nicely underplayed his role and in joining the Doctor’s trip might be considered a companion.

While that status of Adam might be disputed, the status of this episode as a classic shouldn’t be open to question.

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.

OK, I will admit it, I didn't want to get my hopes up for this episode. Whilst I have found the new series enjoyable, I haven't quite clicked with it yet, nor have I entirely warmed to Eccleston's blokish portrayal of the Doctor. I will admit to being a long standing fan of the Daleks so the approach of a new Dalek episode filled me with mixed emotions. I wanted this episode to be good so badly indeed, the news that it had been written by Rob Shearman gave me hope but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.

After 45 minutes of sitting on the edge of my seat, I realised that you can truly a judge a man by the quality of his enemies. "Dalek" didn't just entertain me, it blew me away! For the first time in the new series, I was utterly immersed in the story. I was no longer simply watching Christopher Eccleston playing the Doctor, I was watching the Doctor come face to face with his oldest enemy and loving every minute of it (despite the urge to duck behind my sofa).

RTD may be very good at drama but his writing of the Doctor has been slightly hit-and-miss for me and this is why I have taken a while to get into the new series. Rob Shearmen on the other hand nailed the character precisely. For the first time, I truly accepted that Eccleston was THE Doctor and not just A Doctor. The dialogue is sharp, the character is spot on and the tension is relentless.

The supporting cast are introduced in one of the sharpest 10 minutes of television I have seen. With a few economic scenes, we are introduced to the Dalek's captors and given a handle on their motives. The egotistical billionaire collector, his sycophantic second-in-command and the likable english boffin who catalogues his collection.

Shearmen doesn't mess long-time fans about, like the Doctor, we know that carnage and mahem is waiting the minute the Dalek bursts its chains. The scene where Doctor and Dalek come face-to-face for the first time is electrifying. Eccleston's immeadiate terror is replaced by sardonic mocking that would have made any of the doctor's earlier ascerbic incarnations proud. His diatribe against the Dalek contains the biggest revelation of the series so far. The Daleks were the antagonists of the much-mentioned "Time War", it appears the war ended with the Daleks and the Timelords wiping each other out leaving just the Doctor and this sole surviving Dalek.

From that point on the episode proceeds with relentless inevitability. Rose's compassion and ignorance of what the Dalek trigger's its release. It quickly goes on the rampage and proceeds to slaughter its way through the personel who try to stop it. Desparate to prevent the Dalek getting loose comletely, the Doctor tries to lock down the bunker and trap it. Unfortunately he traps Rose too who quickly comes to regret her earlier pity as she finds herself cornered. The Dalek however fails to exterminate her (to its own suprise as much as Rose) and instead demands its release in return for Rose's life.

Unwilling to see her killed, the Doctor releases both Dalek and hostage before heading off to find something powerful enough to destroy it. The Dalek and Rose reach the surface and Rose comments that she never expected to feel the sunlight again. The Dalek appears curious and shockingly unseals it's casing, allowing the mutated creature within to bask in the sunlight.

The Doctor rushes up with an alien weapon, determined to put an end to the last Dalek once and for all. Rose however refuses to let him simply gun down the creature. The Dalek is increasingly exhibiting human emotions including fear and pity. The Doctor realises that the Dalek has become contaminated by Rose's DNA and is slowly mutating into something new, a fate that is worth than death for the xenophobic creature. Unwilling to become what it despises, the Dalek self-destructs. The Doctor and Rose leave but not before taking the resident boffin with them.

This episode was undoubtedly the best in the series so far. The scripting, pacing, acting and story were excellent. However there were a few minor quibbles. The redesigned Dalek was a masterpiece. Without changing the basic design, the new-look Dalek looks considerably more sophisticated and dangerous than its plywood predeccessors. Unfortunately this good work is largely wasted in the second half of the episode when this menacing metal monster is inexplicably replaced by a sloightly dodgy looking CGI Dalek. The purpose of this appears to be to show off the Dalek's ability to hover to negotiate stairs. This is a total waste as the CGI work is nowhere near as good as the physical Dalek. A single scene with the Dalek climbing the stairs would have been adequate and then they should have switched back to the real Dalek. The poor CGI work mars the last 15 minutes of the episode unecessarily.

The other problem with the story is that it borrows heavily from Shearman's own Big Finish story "Jubilee". The premise of the last surviving Dalek being imprisoned and tortured by humans before forming a strange bond with the Doctor's companion will be very familiar to any fans of the audio series. I cannot entirely fault Shearman for this however since Jubilee was such an excellent story and deserved to be enjoyed by a wider audience.

The last few points are niggles but bothered me anyway. It is never explained how Rose's touch managed to regenerate the dying Dalek, nor how her DNA became mixed with it's own. Also the revelation that the Daleks are responsible for the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords shocked me somewhat. The Daleks are powerful and deservedly a threat to the cosmos but the idea that they could go toe-to-toe with the Lords of Time just feels wrong to me.

Still an excellent episode and the trailer for next week has Simon Pegg in it so I finished the story on a positive note.

Wow. It could be a one word review and it would probably sum up how I feel about the slice of Doctor Who that I have just been served up but unfortunately the review guidelines indicate that no short reviews will be entertained. OK. I admit it. I had doubts. Well, you know how it is, you get all excited, you can't help it. You don't really want to because you fear disappointment but the inner child in jumping up and down inside of you and it won't be stilled. You count the days. Dr Who is coming back. It's gonna be bigger, the sets won't wobble, some of the production stills look magnificent, you think the lead actor is brilliant, and then you get the TV Movie. Been there, done that. So, a new TV series. Great lead actor, gorgeous looking stills, a genuine fan at the helm and one of the most talented men in TV Drama, to boot. It's got to be good this time hasn't it? Well, hasn't it?

So, for me Episode One didn't really gel for me. The Auton threat wrapped up in a few minutes. Solved by brute force rather than brainpower. A LOT of smirking. Burping wheely bins. I enjoyed it. A few, well quoted, good one liners. It was OK but it wasn't great. It did not inspire awe and wonder. I *thought* we would end up with a series that looked good and wasn't bad but that it would never be great. But it got better. I wouldn' t say much better but better. The second story was more interesting and then we got the The Unquiet Dead. Well, now that is more like it. Dickensian London, gothic ghost story. A smattering of Weng Chiang with a dusting of Sapphire and Steel much more like it. Then we had a cliffhanger! Hurrah for that. Been missing those. Things are warming up nicely. I am still not blown over but I am considerable impressed. I am excited about the next episode. I am feeling positive about the series. Proud of it. Able to defend my dirty secret Who habit. Able to discuss the episode with collegues in the staff room who are also enthusiastic.

Then Dalek. This IS Doctor Who and it ain't average. It is great. It is real, I feel it beginning to connect with the Doctor Who of the past. I can hear Tom Baker intone, 'have I the right?' The story is moving. Cerebral. Well acted. Genuinely edge of the seat stuff. It is top notch. It isn't a pale reflection of what has come before, it is vital and it is beginning to add to our mythology. It is not merely Doctor Who, I mean Trial of the Timelord was Doctor Who, it is the programme at it's best and it is more than capable of holding it head up in the company of the old series, Dalek has the hallmarks of the best of the best.

I can't wait to see what we are going to get next. I see Simon Pegg is in the next episode. He's great. This programme is becoming better with each airing. I think there is more to come. I was upset Eccleston had decided to call it quits but anyone who had the pleasure of watching the fabulous 'Casanova' is probably getting quite excited about seeing Tennant in the role. I know I am. I think he may add a touch more subtlety to the portrayal than the current incumbent. Better and better. Wow!

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.

The long wait is over. At last we can finally rid ourselves of the cheap tacky image of the Daleks, evolved over decades of derision by the same old critics. Now they can climb the stairs. Now they can sucker a man to death. Now all the functions of a Dalek do seem to be practical. But does the excellent realisation of New Dalek merely dilute its traditional message of menace, in the same way that New Labour was seen as a dilution of socialism in the late 90s?

Robert Shearman's answer is an emphatic NO. 'Dalek' sees a fantastic rebirth of a televisual icon in every possible way (I couldn't possibly comment on the rebirth of the Labour Party). In many ways this is the best characterisation of the Daleks since their debut in 1963, certainly since Power of the Daleks. The sheer scale of the species' capability is explored far more than it ever was in the original TV series, making one genuninely awestruck at the potential that just one machine could achieve. Everything is covered. Intelligence in its distress calls and downloading, Cunning in its duping of Rose, Pitiless in its destroying of all the militia in the underground facility, Ruthlessness in its holding the Doctor to ransom in order to escape, Confusion in its coming to terms with Rose's emotions. I could go on, but you get the idea. Where could one get this scope in most of the Daleks' previous stories? And yet that was what made them so appealing in the first place, that there was so much more to the obvious fascistic side they presented. Shearman and RTD deserve immense credit for going back to the roots of the Daleks' attraction.

Special credit is also due to the faithful reproduction of Raymond Cusick's original design. Any production team would have be tempted to start afresh, but thankfully RTD and friends have resisted this, appreciating that the original attraction of the design was the key to the Daleks' appeal. The modifications they have made have all improved the effectiveness of the design, in particular the blue eye, and for me, the speech indicators with the poorer lit scenes being highly effective. The classic old ring modulator is also retained, and Roy Skelton has been well and truly left behind in the voicing stakes by Nicholas Briggs, who produces a fantastically emotional performance, highlighting the Dalek's paranoia superbly.

Of course, all the other elements to Dalek ensure that this is a story of the highest quality. The mood is considerably darker than any of the previous tales and suitably so, since we are now beginning to explore in detail the immediate background to the Doctor's present situation, and the painful effects of the Time War. Gone are the inane grins from Eccleston and cheesy jokes (well most of them), to be replaced by an intense performance of the highest order. This is what many would have imagined Christopher's Doctor to be like from Day One, but the contrast from the first 5 episodes lightheartedness makes this even more effective.

Billie Piper continues to surprise with her acting, and shows she can equal Chris in the intensity stakes. Corey Johnson is superb as Van Statten, smarminess and ruthlessness incarnate, and pleasingly preserved instead of dying the usual villain's death. Only Bruno Langley fails to impress here, performing with too much innocence and naivety for a self-pronounced genius.

The story's location is another excellent feature, the bleak long corridors echoing all the old classic Dalek stories, and providing those much-cherished moments of suspense. Shearman says that the stairs scene was the first thing he wrote, and it's easy to understand why. This scene is directed and acted to perfection, and is the final put-down to the critics.

From a production point of view only Murray Gold's music disappoints, with a lot of over-playing in certain scenes - the Adam/Rose scene a particular weak point. That said, the choral sequences are highly effective in conveying the awesome potential of the Dalek and the rebirth of its power.

After this revelation, I for one hope that we see more of the Daleks in this series, and despite having zero knowledge of the stories to come (spoiler-free is much better you know), something tells me we will. The series will be all the better for it. It's so gratifying to say that the Daleks haven't been brought back just for the sake of it - the possibilities are endless. When one considers that the Daleks' origins go back 42 years this is truly a special alien.