My hats off to Russell T Davies and his team for supplying us with a great first episode. Don't get me wrong this isn't the best piece of writing we have ever had on the show but it introduces the show to a whole new generation of kids with considerable skill. It was sexy and funny and fast and all the great things about modern television.

I remember seeing a drawing in DWM of the eighth Doctor being rampaged by Autons on the streets of San Francisco and I remember thinking what a great pilot that would have been, certainly infinitely preferable to the story we eventually got. Obviously Russell T Davis had the same idea and he utilises the Autons skilfully in this first episode to really get the kids attention. When they come smashing out of the windows and shooting innocent bystanders I am certain that today's children will be equally as enraptured as those of the 1970's.

What Davies has done that is especially clever is to introduce the series through so much that people will recognise. You have a recognisable main character (Rose) in a recognisable setting (London) with a recognisable monster (shop window dummies). How can anyone fail to understand that? It was the domestical scenes that impressed me most about this episode to be perfectly honest; there was a lot of subtle touching between the actors that suggested real intimacy between them and the grounded, believable performances sold the story just fine. The gritty, down to Earth locations (the flat, the garages, the restaurant exterior) were well counter-pointed by the more fantastical locations (the beautifully lit London Eye, the Nestene Lair) and made them seem wonderfully otherworldly.

Christopher Eccelston is such a brave chap to take on a role with such baggage and I have to congratulate him for pulling it off with so much charm. I wan not sure about him for the first ten minutes or so, he seemed to be a bit goofy and McCoy-ish but he soon settled down and behaved as if he had been playing the role for yonks. I especially liked his scene on the Thames and his sudden burst of anger, condemning the human race as stupid apes. And the Doctor's huge grin when he realises just what Rose is trying to show him behind his back is to die for. Simon and I both agreed he was totally hot.

A huge round of applause though for Billie Piper who after the initial shock of her casting I was behind one hundred percent. What a revelation. Warm, witty, believable and totally hot. Forget Mary Tamm Rob, this is the girl that would turn a man straight! This episode is all about Rose and I would argue that the success of the pilot rested on Piper's shoulders as much as Eccelston's and she managed to connect with the audience with effortless ease. There were too many scenes where I was punching the air with delight but her "We can't hide inside a wooden box!" and "You were right, you ARE alien?" were superb moments. Billie makes entering the TARDIS an EVENT, which is something that was far too often forgotten in the series after AN Unearthly Child (except, amazingly, for Tegan in Logopolis) and I loved how the story explored how she loved being caught up in the excitement of it all (she is grinning like a nutter when they start running around London). Davies capitalises on the wish to escape our humdrum lives and leap into adventures with outer space and I found impossible not to identify with Rose. Ooh somebody has been watching far too much Farscape! The new TARDIS interior is certainly eye catching, probably not as much as the TV Movie's attempt but they have captured the scale and the awe of that last attempt. It has a very organic feel to it that I liked a lot, for once you get the idea that this isn't just a giant computer but a living organism in its own right. I could certainly see a lot of scope for lots of imaginative camera work in upcoming episodes.

Too much humour? I don't think so, this has to appeal to the kiddies after all and burping wheelie bins and gaping Mickey's are just the right way to go about it. Whilst Eccelston and Piper are playing their roles for all the depth they can get away with (well in a script about a 900 year old alien who fights shop window dummies) Noel Clarke goes for a much broader performance and he has come in for some heavy criticism which I think is a mite unfair. Whilst I could have done without his "P..pizza!" pronunciation I really enjoyed the wheelie bin scene, which was as silly and as scary as it needed to be. I also quite enjoyed his reluctance to help the Doctor, why all the people who meet him some around to his way of thinking?

Didn't you just love Jackie Tyler? What a hopeless character! All that guff about compensation was hilarious (well Simon laughed). And her reaction to the Auton massacre was perfect, utter confusion and then sheer terror (the poor actress looked like she had walked into the wrong programme at first!).

I do have to comment on the special effects which were much, much better than imagined after listening to some ungrateful gits over at Outpost Gallifrey bemoan the quality of the production (and if that sounds like dismissing other peoples opinions Mikey, good!). Nothing made me go "WOW OH MI GOD THEY MUST HAVE SPENT MILLIONS ON THIS!" but there were certainly enough great set pieces to confirm that Doctor Who has entered the new millennium. I loved headless Mickey smashing up the restaurant and the Nestene creature, both were highly convincing pieces of CGI. The lighting was excellent and gave the entire episode a real sense of style; Davies' comment that he would rather watch beautiful images than ugly ones certainly looks as though it has made it on screen. The whole episode was a delight on the eye.

The direction could probably have done with tightening up at bit. Compared to eighties Doctor Who this was a triumph but compared to other SF shows that are on the market these days (I'm thinking of the slick and quick Battlestar Galactica and the trippy and sensual Farscape) it didn't quite have the oomph all the time. Certain scenes (such as the montage at the beginning and the wonderfully frantic climax) had real energy and style whilst others (the more domestic scenes) were directed more akin to a modern soap.

I don't want to walk away from this review sounding negative however because this was everything I had hoped for and more. Considering he had to introduce all the core elements of the series and try and tell an individual story (which was a little thin but perfectly serviceable) as well Russell T Davies has done us proud. This is everything we could have hoped for and more, distinctly British in flavour but far more interesting and well made than anything I have seen in Britain in ages.

This is Doctor Who for fans and the mainstream audience. I never thought the series could make the connection between the two but I have never been more pleased to be wrong.

They may not have noticed the Nestene Consciousness glooping away under the their Eye, or the first suburban street in ‘sowf’ England where wheelie bins outnumber cars; or even the back of a department store that looks like a Bananarama set; but they will have noticed that Doctor Who was back. If you are going to reintroduce a brand (wistful, irrelevant aside to the Marathon chocolate bar), then you need all the mass marketing you can get so that the audience dusts off the nostalgia and buys into the product. Throw in a faux ratings battle; get the press paralytic at the press launch; and deck the billboards with reams of paper; and before you know it Joe public has an inkling that the only place they should be on Easter Saturday is squared eyed in front of the telly, swirling down the odd vortex, whilst choosing the right Celebration (must be low on sugar).

So, the success of the first Doctor Who TV episode since the millennium bug had us all looking at our Argos watches in shame is one of brand and marketing. Without some unsung hero dashing out the copy; building the profile; marketing the brand, the opening night would have had all the wrong signals.

The BBC Production Team seems to have mirrored this frantic oversell. Rose, as a first episode, has a lot to do in terms of positioning characters, revisiting core components of the series, whilst modernising the experience for a family audience with attention deficit disorder. It succeeds on all these levels, which is why we all shrug our shoulders and ignore the absence of story.

It is nice, therefore, not be given the time to think. One of the terrors of the old Who format was that the audience was given precisely that. Stupid plots ambled away, as some extra hilariously gurned their face off to the sound of someone tapping a teaspoon on the side of a cup. Episode one of the new Doctor Who was a cold water splash of wink, wink; say no more. Those silly Nestenes, always the wheelie bin, never the bride (hang on...).

Now, one cannot have style and no substance without some decent characters popping up, or popping off (screen), to ride us through the romp blindly. The entire better if they are grounded in reality by way of the better Carry On films. Some of the fun sequences in the opener belonged to Jackie Tyler and Mickey as they quickly reminded the audience how good comedy was in the Seventies. For a moment, in Rose's flat, it looked as though Christopher Eccleston was about to join in (Carry On Shameless, anyone?), but, no, this was a tease; just one of many in the opening script to conjure up the collected experience, and stop the eyes from drifting to the land of long sewer sequences filmed with daylight effect bulbs. As it turned out this new Doctor (soon to be old) was a bit of a fruit loop, desperately trying not to be Tom Baker. He succeeds here (not without fighting the urge to flash his pearly whites all over town), because, below the line, he is complex and alien. His also totty, which, in this age of living plastic (holds sides) is going to get bums on seats in the same way that a starved monkey will blank the banana if shown female monkey porn.

Billie Piper is also totty, but one that squints in lifts to indicate that the scene is going to change, and that she is going to have to wander in to a dark warehouse clutching the Lottery money, rather than go to the shop and buy the ticket . Rose is an intelligent Vicky Pollard; family friendly tinkers at social policy are off the cuff and quickly zipped along so there is not too much explanation around why her black boyfriend is a useless, cheating (?) git. One can only hope that the guy she gave up her education for had a bit more going for him; otherwise one seriously has to question her taste in men. Oh yes, that’s right, she goes off with the Doctor in the end to film a Timotei advert. Still, think of all those parents sagely rattling off the benefits of education as a prompt after the first episode, completely decimating the audience for Doctor Who Confidential looking at work behind the scenes.

Speaking of which, perhaps one of the production team can shed some light on why much of the ‘human’ drama was filmed using techniques more akin to Danielle Steele’s ‘Secrets’. Did someone borrow the soft focus from a Cosmopolitan shoot? Boak’s direction was similar to that used in NY: LON, until there were more than three words of dialogue when by all accounts he panicked and just left the camera running, or had some poor guy walk backwards with a steadicam at pace. At times there were breathtaking movements where the direction aided narrative simplicity (93 seconds of Rose huffing and folding jumpers as synapses connect for the viewing public), and the big set pieces were, well, big; but there just wasn’t much time for Boak to imprint this episode with much identity. Such a monster piece of television, with the cry for more monsters, promoted as a monster hit.

Which, of course, it was. A huge hit, and there is none more excited than licensing division of the BBC; or Russell T Davies; or all those lovely creative folk that brought Doctor Who back into the mind set of a nation who were more surprised it was coming back , but could tell that it had been away. Chip-eaters up and down the country suddenly found themselves thrown into a world of fantasy, romp, camp idiocy, thrills and sugar rush. They could pretend for 45 minutes that they were not the dysfunctional unit they knew themselves to be, but a family screwed up in front of the telly in a rare vacuum of shared experience. Fake and artificial, maybe, but not at all dissatisfying.

Well. That was quite good, wasn't it?

Watched it first with my parents and my sixteen-year-old brother, then again alone in the dark. Enjoyed it far more the second time, and thus this short review draws from my second experience of Rose ...

The opening sting and title sequence were perfect, and I loved the mad rush down to Earth and through London. Music seems very Eighties, very Keff... but I think that's perfect. Billie is adorable, and even her opening shots with Mickey were very sweet. How cute did Billie look when she was in the lift trying to keep her eyes open! The first Autons sequence works beautifully when you're on your own in the dark, and I'm sure it'd scare the hell out of many a young 'un. (Did I hear some Graham Norton??? Someone, please check again... I'm sure of it!)

Then someone grabs Rose's hand, tells her to run, and BAM! We've got a new Doctor. And from the word go, he's our Doctor. Surprisingly, I loved his arrogance and his accent. Why? It's different. Refreshing. And all that. When the department store blew up, I immediately relaxed about the effects in this series.

Okay. Next morning. Billie is looking adorable again, even first thing in the sodding morning. (My girlfriend somehow manages to do this too... ah, women.) Sadly, Jackie is a little over-the-top... didn't have to be. The news report... the building blew up, so all Central London was closed off? Isn't that over-reacting a little? I loved it, actually... to me, it's a nice subtle little "kiss" to the Seventies Pertwee era, when they went to such extremes on the show.

Ooh! Scratching at the door... scary music... is it the monsters? Nope. Our Doctor. We have a nice little tete-a-tete at the catflap, reminiscent of the TV movie (I prefer the latter sequence), and the Doctor bursts in. And, of course, we have the (now) oft-quoted Jackie/Doctor meeting moment. Huh. Jackie even seems quite attractive when trying to seduce him! (Pretend I didn't say that.) I enjoyed Billie's ignoring of the Doctor's antics in the living room, though Eccleston seems to be rushing through these antics a little. Things pick up when the Auton hand smothers him, though. Yay, the sonic screwdriver!!!

So now we're outside. Great lighting and photography. (Do I sound savvy yet? Didn't think so.) And here comes some wonderful chemistry between our two leads. I could get very used to seeing these two together. But (as my father pointed out in the first viewing) why do we have fast music here? It's not needed. The Doctor's "world turning" speech... I nearly wept, it was so good. And there was the original TARDIS noise! (In the first viewing, my brother cheered!)

Rose comes to see Mickey... a great line nobody's mentioned: "Don't read my emails!" I let out a huge guffaw. Wow... Mickey, an almost unanimously reviled character (at least in this ep), made me laugh! This is good. So she goes to see Clive... and Mickey tries to look hard while sitting in the car. (Don't make that dirty, guys.) Another big guffaw from me. Clive surprised me too - loved his characterisation. Those photos of Doctor-sightings, especially the JFK ones... they could've tried a bit harder! Yes, the wheelie-bin looked vaguely cartoonish, but I still enjoyed it. Cute. But then Rose comes back to Mickey, who's all plastic and... well, to me, hilarious. "Pizzaaaa!!! Pph! Pph!" Like some demented Ninja Turtle.

In the restaurant, I laughed out loud again at the clone-Mickey's terms-of-endearment malfunction. And "doesn't anyone want my champagne?" You know, I had no idea that'd turn out to be the Doctor in that reveal. That was my "hero moment". I got scared when the disembodied head opened its eyes. And I'm 22!! Loved the mallets aswell. (For the record, I'm still vehemently anti-CGI. But hey, this worked.)

So we're running away from the Mickey-Auton, and the Doctor casually strolls into the TARDIS. Oh, to be young and unknowledgeable! When Rose steps in, steps out, then runs in again... it's a breathtaking moment, even for someone who knows what she's going to find. I loved the Doctor's "No no no no no!!!" as the TARDIS did silly things - very Doctorish. Now we're on the Embankment for a bit of necessary exposition for those who aren't familiar with the whole "aliens-from-dying-world-need-our-well-everything" plot from old sci-fi. ("The Invaders", anyone?) Loved the triple-take London Eye gag. And the one about the breast implants.

But then... suddenly... we're in the Nestene lair. Er... that was a little... quick. Oh well. Wasn't so concerned the second time round, to be honest. But still jarred a bit with me. Anyway, the Doctor talks to the Consciousness... a bit of Doctorishness, a bit of exposition, a bit of reference to the oncoming story arc... and the TARDIS is revealed. Again, I didn't know this was going to happen (and I'm a spoiler FREAK!). Meanwhile, in Central London, the dummies are coming alive again. Which, to me, doesn't get frightening until they're out in the street. And then it is QUITE freaky. Love the brides. And the atmospheric FX stuff with the London Eye - very TV movie, and very effective.

Billie saves the day in very Buffy-ish style, but I'm not complaining. All is well, and Rose declines the Doctor's offer to come with him. The TARDIS fades away, then of course reappears. The Doctor forgot to mention something... and as someone who's been enamoured of the whole concept of time-travel since I was quite, quite young, I shared Rose's excitement - and her huge grin - as she ran towards her future in slow-mo, accompanied by our favourite sting. And how about that voice-over at the end! I love my ABC.

So, Rose has dumped her plastic life and joined the Doctor on his "anti-plastic" adventures. (Nice allegory - was I the only one to notice?) A very good introduction to the characters and - to a lesser extent - the set up of the series, Rose achieves in forty-five minutes what the TV movie tried very hard and ultimately failed to achieve in over twice that length of time. I love this Doctor, this companion, this team, this TARDIS... I know the next few months are going to be the trip of a...

See? Didn't say it.

Whilst the privileged in the U.K. are, at the time of writing this, pouring over last night's Empty Child and anticipating next Saturday's Episode 10, we poor Australians have only made it to Episode 1, Rose.

Actually, what could be better? 12 - not just 4 - more episodes to look forward to, following on from a very promising start.

I probably went through most people's initial reactions when learning, months ago, of the new Doctor's contempory costume and pop star Billie Piper's role as his companion. And what was this "coral" idea inside the TARDIS? And what sort of title is "Rose" for a Doctor Who story anyway?

But even before the series aired there was time to reflect on all these changes. For instance, the Doctor's character would be more important than his costume, not to mention that a low-key leather jacket seems preferable to multi-coloured long coats and question marks! Billie? Well, let's see her act before passing judgement (though it was a relief to read, prior to the show's debut here, a slew of positive reviews posted on this website). Eventually some picture snaps of the TARDIS interior came out, banishing that concern. So it became a case of wait and see, coupled with a growing feeling that just maybe they weren't going to miss the mark (no further mention of 1996!).

Now, with a warm and happy glow, I can talk about the episode itself. First and foremost: it was Doctor Who in both name and character; one can imagine a whole new generation of frightened kiddies, over-protective mothers turning off the TV, and emergent protogeeks (sorry guys - and gal - but we are, to the boring blinkered rest of society), thanks in no small part to a particularly lovely, nasty Auton killing spree at the end. For this show to be true to itself, it must have teeth; I'd be worried if there were no complaints about violence at all.

The domestic scenes were certainly atypical for Doctor Who but thankfully so well handled that one could actually enjoy them. I even liked Jackie - didn't think I would! - and I'll have to watch it again to discern Mickie's terrible acting, for he seemed to serve his role as far as I was concerned first time around. These slice of life elements also serve well to foster a sense of identification for the new viewers, providing them a base from which to start, lending perspective to the stranger concepts and, by contrasting the Doctor's entirely different character, helping to illustrate his vaguely alien presence.

Which leads me to the next most important ingredient: the Doctor, of course. He must be smart, eccentric, sometimes childish, sometimes serious. A sense of humour helps, and he should in no way come across perfect. Christopher Eccleston seems to have created his own indelible character within the broad parameters of this framework and so far I have no complaints. If he improves with "settling in" as every other Doctor has in the past, we're in for a very interesting Time Lord. Similarly, it's great to see, as so many reviewers have so far pointed out, a strong and likeable character in Rose; her decision at the end to join the Doctor after initially declining had one member of our little household audience clapping with delight.

The story itself had admittedly more style than substance, with a two-parter here perhaps being justified. Still, what was in it was generally good. Bringing the Autons back was a smart move, as most fans can readily accept this familiar enemy whilst adjusting to all the new changes. For the uninitiated, it's difficult to imagine a better introduction to the dangerous world of Doctor Who. Setting the drama from the companion's point of view was certainly one of RTD's best ideas, harkening back to the very first story, An Unearthly Child - for Rose, of course, now has to serve the very same purpose as pilot episode for a brand new audience.

And this is a crucial point. However much the aging fans of Doctor Who (such as myself, alas) wish it otherwise, the show is no longer targeted for them and them alone. But a smart show aimed at intelligent youngsters is far better than a dumb show aimed at mindless adults. Doctor Who has always been the former. Let's face it though, it only intermittently lived up to it's potential, and I'm not just referring to poor set design or low budgeting; often the scripts themselves were illogical and contrived. But always imaginative. If this new series does no less, I won't complain. With a little bit of luck we'll be served something even better, if the producers have managed to learn anything from the sophistication of such shows as Star Trek, Babylon 5, Buffy and Angel. My prediction is something in between - there will be improvements and good moments, mixed very probably with ideas better left on the drawing board. I doubt, however, it will every old fan's dream. Doctor Who will be aimed primarily, as it always has been, at the younger generation, but it will have been suitably updated into a style and format it's new audience, raised on a diet of quality American productions such as those just listed, can better appreciate. I see little wrong in that.

For now, here's looking foreword to the End of the World!

My first impressions of 'Rose' are very mixed. I got the feeling that Christopher Eccleston was playing The Doctor as a bit of a smug goof. I can only think this was a gimmick for his initial performance, because there were moments of intensity which made me think, yeah, this is The Doctor after all. These being the skin of the Planet speech, and the regret in his voice for worlds he was unable to save. From the things I've heard I get the impression that these undercurrents are going to slowly accumulate. So, for now, I'm reserving judgement on Christopher, because I think he can be a great Doctor if the script is permitting.

Rose herself, well I knew Billie Piper could act, and she does a good job of making Rose a character who is very self-aware. I thik that's her strength, she has no illusions and also she is very curious. There is one point in the episode where her boyfriend holds her back from helping the Doctor. This seems typical man on the street mind your own business stuff. She isn't like that though, she 's like the Doctor and will not mind her own business, she will get involved. For me Billie was the best thing in it, there being a real sense of her joy as she rushed for the Tardis door at then end.

Supporting characters, well Clive was just Mr Exposition, who met with a tragic end and I didn't care at all. The boyfriend was annoying, cowardly, and the actor who played him was far better as the Auton. Nice body movements and menacing smile, all subtlety was lost, however, when he started speaking too fast. Oh and Rose's mum I simply found annoying, like she wondered in from a certain East London soap with her talk of benefits and shopping. She was a caricature, so again, fear for her safety or caring for her character, nill. Social realism, matter of opinion, yes annoying people like that do exist. IFor me Rose was the only member of the human race who made any emotional impact. The episode sorely missed a human authority figure, who goes through the stages of suspecting, threatening and then trusting the Doctor.

Being a Doctor Who fan I suppose I'm used to a slower buildup of facts, and I even like the padding. There was no padding in this, and as I said, no subtlety, no real buildup of darkness or threat. I'm going to hear things like, this is tv for the 21st century and needs to be fast and sharp, but for me it was missing something. I understand though, that's it's a first episode, and it's going to take a little time. I was very pleased to see the dummies break through the shop windows, nice throwback to Spearhead in Space.

So... mixed bag, but I haven't given up. This was my first taste, and it may take a few weeks to get into. It's good to have the Doctor back and the title sequence was very Tom Bakerish. Shame about the BBC3 audio bleed, as Rose enters a darkened room filled with dummies there is riotous applause.

The anticipation was almost overwhelming; the reality of it almost too unbelievable to be true, but yes after 16 long years it was finally back. The years in between had been almost impossibly bleak years of vague hopes, that made even the most ardent of us consign this series to the graveyard of TV history. We went off to watch Star Trek, Buffy, Babylon 5 and the X Files, but sitting in front of the telly tonight I realized that still nothing had stirred the feelings, had quite stimulated those fan boy urges as much as Doctor Who could.

Video recorder poised and we were off. 45 minutes later, it was all over, and time to be honest. Yes it was enjoyable, yes it had some great moments, but no it was not perfect, and nor did I really expect it to be. I had similar feelings to those I first had when watching the TV movie, very modern, very slick but not edge of the seat stuff. At times I felt the series was trying to be too hip, the lightness of tone was perhaps just a little too flippant. But this time I am not worried because there are 13 more episodes to come and I feel sure that any problems inherent in this first episode can be ironed out.

Eccleston has yet to prove himself but didn't do anything to put me off either, I think after a few episodes he should settle in. Piper too, as Rose gave a solid performance as I was always sure she would. Tardis was great, theme tune and titles were the best since the original, and there were some great moments of humour. It was possibly the first Doctor Who where I have laughed out loud and it worked for the most part. 

I am confident this show is in good hands, but I think that the production team should be confident that they have a winning concept and not feel the need to pander to every conceivable demographic. I think this first episode was trying to throw off the stigma some people have of Doctor Who by throwing too many things in the boiling pot, forgetting a little of that atmosphere just like the 1996 movie did. It was great to see the Autons, but they were to be honest shoehorned in and for the most part played for a bit of a joke. The show needs to slow up just a little, and do its own thing. The audience will go with it if they are allowed, but if every episode plays as if it's seeking admission to the trendy club then there could be problems ahead. But well done Mr. Davies and co, you have done the almost impossible thing and reinvented Doctor Who without it being total crap and that surely deserves some praise. Just one request, please start putting the Doctor's face in the title sequence!