Big Brother. The Weakest Link. The "Anne"-droid. Trinny n thingy...I had a vague feeling beforehand that this episode could've gone either way. Gripping, suprising, satirical and totally "out there"; or "Oh dear, that didn't quite work, did it?"

Oh me of little faith. So apologise to RTD and the production team for such doubts.

Loved it. *Lived* it.

After a brief reminder of events from 'The Long Game', we have a wonderful 'teaser' that disorientates Doctor and audience alike as he falls headlong into the Big Brother House, encountering two (understandably as it turns out!) resentful housemates and one who is merely concerned that he is alright. I loved the look on Chris' face as he sat in the big red 'diary room' chair and said "You have *got* to be kidding." We are off to a flyer...

Now we have The Weakest Link taken to its logical extreme ("Social Darwinsm" as my friend Dave has noted) I liked the way that Rose clearly found the situation bizarre and really funny...until the first death. Again, superb use of light and shade. ("This is sick!")

The 'Annoying One-droid" and "The Other Annoying One-Droid" (my names!) giving Jack a, um, "dressing down" worked for me too. Okay, it was pretty cheeky stuff, and would've been even more 'cheeky' if the beeb hadn't intervened (a wise decision, I think. The scene worked fine withouth a 'full backal' ,new word!, and this is a family show...) but I found it fun and John Barrowman continues to impress throughout the episode. (the highlight for me being his fury when Rose..well, more about that it in a bit.) I did clap my hands when 'Thingy and Whoever' got their heads blown off. (Only because they were androids, I hasten to add!!)

Lynda ("with a Y") was very appealingly played by Jo Joyner, and she seemed to have an immediate rapport with the Doctor; clearly companion material...so at this stage in events, I fear for her. (or has she got something to hide? Is she just too sweet? Hmmm....)

Loved the Doctor pointing at the camera behind the House's mirror and saying "..and then I'm gonna find *you*." You believe him. Chris Eccleston is going from strength to strength, and only 45 minutes to go. Ah well...

The 'Eviction' scene was very well done and I liked the scene where the Doctor holds his hand out to Lynda and she decides to put her trust in him. Might sound silly, but I thought it was a small but strangely iconic moment.We'll see if it was the right decision in due course.

'Bad Wolf' Corporation...the appearance of 'the Controller'...The Doctor's realisation that his actions in 'The Long Game' have had awful consequences (and not just for Adam! Sorry...let it go...) This is already feeling like a rollercoaster ride; and then...

Rose flaming dies! Dies running to protect the Doctor...we fans know that Billie is coming back, but I still found this moment intense and superbly done, and I bet there were some kids and others not "in the know" who's jaws dropped at this point. Maybe some tears too...

Chris Eccleston's acting at this point...wow. I am talking Patrick in 'Tomb...' , Tom in 'Pyramids...' , Peter in 'Caves...' Um, I am talking brilliant, basically. When the guard drags the Doctor to his feet and he is *limp* with shock; you can see it in his face. Very powerful stuff.

On we roll. The Controller dies knowing that she's made a huge difference in seeking out the Doctor...Rose is alive...the Dalek fleet is revealed...the Doctor says "No."...the rousing "Stinking Dalek..." speech....the invasion begins....and I'm exhausted!

Charlie Brooker in the Saturday 'Guardian' wrote "Best. BBC. Family. Drama. Ever." And Charlie's not easily pleased (think sort of a 'Bill Hicks with TV column' if you've never read him!)

I'm including the whole long history of the show when I respond..."Yep."

I might calm down a bit when the series has finished, but it's so nice to get caught up in the moment. Ten out of ten, again, and thanks to all concerned. There are always stories/ moments that you prefer to others in a season of 'Doctor Who' (Was it ever thus) but....we are coming to the end and I just want so to say;

I think this series as a whole has been a Bl**dy triumph!

I suspect next Saturday is going to be rather involving.....

I think RTD needs to look up the word В‘satireВ’ in the dictionary В– somewhere in the definition the word В‘ironyВ’ is mentioned. Now irony doesnВ’t seem to feature much in this episode. Nor does subtlety for that matter. RTD presents us with satire for the under 5s: instead of extrapolating the philistine dross that is Big Brother into a future scenario in which it takes on a different guise with a different name and set but detectably similar theme which the audience can pick up on and compare to their contemporaneous equivalent, RTD decides to simply reproduce exactly the same programme, along with its other cousin reality TV monstrosities, replace its hosts with androids who are obviously modeled on the real life presenters, and place it ludicrously over 200,000 years in the future. What we get then isnВ’t satire at all, but just direct replication of said programmes presumably as a vehicle to further cement New Who in the commercial public consciousness by meshing it with other TV brandnames (no doubt in a further misguided attempt to get teenagers identifying with it) without any notable sense of irony whatsoever. This is laziness of the imagination on a stupendous scale. Robert Holmes provided biting tax-related satire in The Sunmakers with references such as В‘inner retinueВ’ and it is rather despairing to deduce from this episodeВ’s satirical failure just how RTD perceives his modern day audience: incapable of detecting subtext. Either RTD is overly cynical about his audience or society really has degenerated intellectually in the last 15 odd years to a clutch of atavists who need everything literally spelt out in front of their eyes. So we also get The Weakest Link, also with exactly the same sets and an absurd and pitifully written reference to В‘Call My Bluff В– with real gunsВ’. What the hell possessed him to write that line? It is amateur beyond belief. Greatest Show in the Galaxy was the last great Who satire, and, despite some fairly cringeworthy scenes here and there, demonstrated quite consummately how Who really can do this difficult genre to great effect. Happiness Patrol, despite its garishness, was another consummate satire (though it included some incongruous embarrassments script-wise with lines like В‘no more queues at the post officeВ’). For GodВ’s sake, even the fairly staid and lifeless Colin Baker era produced a reasonable satire В– and surprisingly prophetic take on the future of (reality) TV, specifically voting programmes, not properly manifest back in 1985 В– with Vengeance on Varos. One must ask then what exactly RTD was trying to say here? This is not polemical in particularly, only possibly in its rather lazy and unimaginative take on terminal versions of reality game shows, but this is 16 year old stuff. There is no satire here, at least not noticeably, because RTD doesnВ’t seem to be saying anything at all about the nature of reality TV, only reproducing it on a slightly more extreme level В– therefore one can only assume it is yet another symptom of his all-too-blatant obsession with stamping popular culture all over the face of a once truly escapist and eccentric series. RTD missed a brilliant opportunity to truly criticize and comment on the insidious nature of reality TV here В– a massive disappointment.

Nevertheless, the Trinny and Susannah scenes were actually quite well done and more understated than the clumsier others; their android equivalents were nicely designed and reminiscent of the Kandyman (which isnВ’t necessarily a criticism). Ann RobinsonВ’s robot alter ego was also well realized despite the ludicrous red wig it had on. And a nice touch with the Big Brother eye symbol was the milky way swirling within its pupil on close up. So, the direction of these scenes В– JackВ’s prancing around nude and picking a gun from his arse aside В– just about managed to override the simplicity and satirical barrenness of the scriptorial concepts; the better elements of these scenes reminded me a little of some of the McCoy era В‘oddballsВ’ such as Happiness Patrol and Greatest Show. There was a feeling of menace too, which was a masterful achievement for a director given such embarrassingly one-dimensional material to play with. Of course you may take it as read that I absolutely detest reality TV and regard it as the death of quality programming, and that I cringed at the sound of the Big Brother theme in some of the scenes В– an horrendously sterile and visceral electronic racket of a theme В– and find the only irony in this part of the episode being, unnervingly, the fact that the ultimate in unimaginative television gets a plug in В– what was once and still could be В– the ultimate in imaginative TV: Doctor Who.

Still, letВ’s just say RTD might just about have got away with his soundbite, commercially-preoccupied take on Who this time round В– why? Well, because other aspects to this episode were well-realised and sufficiently intriguing to help the viewer В‘get overВ’ these cringeworthy reality TV intrusions; namely the behind-the-scenes programme riggers and particularly the excellently realized woman wired up rather like the Emperor Dalek in Evil of the Daleks, and the very impressive and vast sets they inhabited; and of course the impressive scale of the cliffhanger. What this episode had over all the other RTD episodes was a genuine energy, sense of menace and suspense, and engaging forward-moving drive to a genuinely thrilling climax. That, and the brilliantly realized What Not To Wear androids, rescue Bad Wolf by a hairВ’s breadth from being taped over on my video recorder (metaphorically speaking) and confined to collecting dust along with Aliens/War III and End of the World, the latter completely ruined by inclusion of a Britney Spears song, which is a pity as otherwise it stood up as a reasonable episode. Bad Wolf is easily RTDВ’s best episode so far, despite the appalling failure at satire by just duplicating contemporary reality programmes down to theme tunes, sets and logos (was RTD saving on the budget or what?) and placing them in a completely unbelievable future date, as usual. I hope this Relative Time Disorder is eclipsed by what promises to be a big climax in the next episode В– letВ’s hope Captain Jack doesnВ’t take a shine to DavrosВ’s nodules!

Bad Wolf is a remarkably strange way of beginning an epic two-part regeneration story, showing the return, en masse, of the Daleks. It consists almost entirely of a pseudo-postmodern reality-TV-satirical run-around, with utterly bizarre imagery; robotic replicas of twenty-first century third-rate personalities menace the Doctor and companions - in the year 200,100! If it wasnВ’t for the setting and recap to В“The Long GameВ”, which tenuously confirms of the internet suspicion that Adam, a person for whom these shows would be current or recent history, is somehow involved in the series climax, I would be complaining vociferously that everybody in 200,100 dresses, acts, talks and has the TV-watching habits of people now. As it is, there is not much to complain vociferously about.

I didnВ’t like it В– donВ’t think that!! I was never excited by this at any point. I just wasnВ’t overly upset or disappointed by it (apart from in one respect В– more later). It is average. 5 out of 10, so to speak. That is if you judge the episode on itВ’s own merits В– as part one of an В“epicВ” two-parter, it is baffling. We spend almost all of this instalment undergoing the aforementioned not-particularly-clever but very valuable and welcome satire of the godless drivel festering on our screens these days, and build up to a cliffhanger that is, in effect, the reveal of the Daleks and their spacefleet В– a fleet that was seen in last weekВ’s trailer (probably В‘cos itВ’s the only even faintly В‘wowВ’ moment in the whole episode). The upshot of it all is, we know where weВ’re going, we know whatВ’s going to happen :В‘Bad WolfВ’ is nothing but filler. That it takes 45 minutes to get there В– half the story В– seems like a very odd choice for RTD to have made, especially considering how many action set pieces, plot threads and revelations they are going to cram into next episode (judging by the trailer).

The fact that the Daleks are not in it much is not half so disappointing as what happens when they do appear (see, told you В‘more laterВ’). Because, with these shiny Daleks, we are back В– ironically В– to bog-standard normality. After the shocking, bold and brilliant experiment that was Dalek, that showed 8 million people just how dangerous and capable even one of these mighty machines is, this feels like the unwelcome bump at the end of a long fall back to Earth. The lead Dalek shakes when it talks; despite making the cool heartbeat noise, the inside of the Dalek spacecraft looks absolutely dismal; when informed by the Doctor, in a melodramatic monologue which sadly falls down a little bit, that he intends to defeat them, the Daleks react in panic (hmm, perhaps they didnВ’t expect that cunning twist), apparently to the extent that they decide to proceed with their plans even though they are not ready; and the Daleks say they will kill Rose if the Doctor does not co-operate, only when the Doctor does not co-operate, they scatter in all directions В– and THEY DONВ’T KILL ROSE. In the teaser for next week I also saw Jack being surrounded by Daleks, who clearly had him in their gunsights В– but they werenВ’t shooting him, either. Not good, not good at all. TheyВ’d better have a good reason for that.

It is not unusual for the Daleks to come off worst in stories that feature other monsters and villains В– the groaning, shuffling, dark-wasteland-haunting Exxilons were much scarier than the comedy Daleks in В‘Death toВ…В’, for example, as were the... wait, thatВ’s the only good example. But you know where IВ’m coming from. You presumably also know where IВ’m going, but IВ’ll say it anyway В– the robotic Anne Robinson was rather scarier than the off-colour Daleks were. The callous way in which it disposed of people was quite unnerving, although the В“GoodbyeВ” was an indulgence too far, and the terrified and nervous reactions of some of the contestants was good, particularly the first woman to go В– at that time there was no reason to think she hadnВ’t been vaporised, which made her tears and begging rather upsetting. The only bad thing about that is that none of the others seem to be that concerned, or even angry that they are being swept to their deaths totally at random, at any other time В– I suppose they mustВ’ve got used to it. Maybe Russell was trying to make that disturbing in itself; maybe for some viewers, he succeeded. Not me though В– but equally, it didnВ’t detract from my enjoyment.

In conclusion, this was an uninspired and unambitious, but solid, reasonably entertaining episode of Doctor Who, better than all other offerings from RTD except Boom Town (some of the themes of which it developed, with some limited success). Whether or not it was a waste of 45 minutes we will have to decide on next weekВ’s success or failure.

ThereВ’s an old interview with BlakeВ’s 7 star Paul Darrow, in which the actor talks about a certain scene he filmed for an episode of that series, in which his character had to suddenly produce a gun. Simple enough, you might think, but evidently the costume the production team had seen fit to furnish Darrow with for this particular episode was rather tight-fitting and had no pockets, meaning that there was nowhere on him he could carry the prop. As the script necessitated its appearance, there was no way around it, and a solution was sought. The problem was solved by having a scene hand crouch behind Darrow, just out of shot, and pass the gun into his hands behind his back. This В– while undoubtedly a neat solution В– had the unfortunate effect of, as Darrow put it, В“making it look as if I had plucked the thing from out of my backside!В”

I have no idea whether Russell T Davies has ever read that interview, but if he hasnВ’t then Captain JackВ’s novel way of dealing with the year 200,100В’s robotic equivalents of What Not to WearВ’s Trinny and Susannah is certainly something of a coincidence. It ought to be an utterly ludicrous moment, but somehow it works, in no small part to because of the manner in which it is played by John Barrowman. The actor has been a real treat ever since he was added to the new seriesВ’ line-up, and heВ’s at his best here В– whether it be flirting with anybody who comes into his path, playing the action-adventure type role for which he was devised, or В– in one of the finest moments of a fine episode В– screaming with rage, anger and indignation В“DonВ’t you touch him!В” to the Game Station guards as the take hold of the Doctor after RoseВ’s shocking В‘deathВ’.

Barrowman is merely one of the beneficiaries of what is without a shadow of a doubt DaviesВ’ finest script for Doctor Who to date. I do not mind admitting that when news of some of the elements of this episode leaked out В– mainly the inclusion of mocked-up versions of various contemporary reality / quiz shows В– I was less than convinced. It all sounded a bitВ… WellВ… Silly. However, perhaps that helped В– I wasnВ’t expecting a great deal, so when the episode turned out to not only be decent but excellent, I was even more pleased than I otherwise might have been. There is perhaps an issue of whether the references to various current shows will date the episode В– never mind why these shows are still going in 200,100 В– but then all TV sci-fi has a tendency to date very quickly, and the shows are very easy to make sense of in the internal context of the episode. IВ’ve never watched a full episode of Big Brother, The Weakest Link or What Not to Wear, but I didnВ’t have any trouble understanding the basic concepts and following what was going on.

ItВ’s all dispensed of fairly quickly anyway, as the Doctor and Jack make their way out with new pseudo-companion Jo Joyner in tow as Lynda, В“with a yВ”. Lynda is, as the Doctor says В“sweetВ”, and in the old series you could have imagined such a character joining up with the TARDIS crew at the end of the story. However, the modern series has been somewhat less traditional with its TARDIS crew, and as Lynda is nice, endearing and the Doctor has already promised sheВ’ll get out of Game Station alive, I am rather afraid that this has marked her down for death before the end of the next episode В– an episode I suspect is going to be something of a blood bath all round.

Doubtless soon to join that body count is Jo Stone-Fewings as the male controller, another excellent performance, although Fewings does seem to be basically playing the same character he did in DaviesВ’ 2004 ITV serial Mine All Mine. HeВ’s also made surprisingly likeable for a man whoВ’s been overseeing the deaths of thousands of people in the Game StationВ’s deadly programmes, but I suppose as the Doctor said to Rose back in The Unquiet Dead, itВ’s a different morality.

Speaking of The Unquiet Dead, we get to see a snatch of that episode as well as the various other instances of the В‘Bad WolfВ’ theme present throughout the season, finally brought to some sort of conclusion in this eponymous episode. ItВ’s perhaps not quite what we expected, but it has led somewhere В– indeed, that would be a neat description of this episode as a whole. And boy, does Bad Wolf really lead somewhere. The last ten minutes or so of this episode have an electric tension to them В– you know whatВ’s coming, and when it finally arrives you can only sit there caught up in the excitement and the tension as the whole series is cranked up a notch ready for the apocalyptic battle to end all battles that weВ’re going to get next week, if the trailer is anything to go by.

The unveiling of the Daleks as the main threat near the end of the episode is one of those fantastic, В“Yes!В” kind of Earthshock moments, both for new and old fans alike, although of course neither set of fans will have had the true Earthshock experience as we all knew it was coming. Not, just for once, simply because we old school fans always know too much from message boards and the like, but because the production team rather oddly decided to give the game away in the preview at the end of Boom Town.

Even had you not seen that, Ahearne unveils the Daleks a little early, not once but twice В– the eyestalk view with the plunger coming into shot as the Dalek approached Rose was just about okay, especially given its nice resonance with the very first view we ever had of them in The Dead Planet, but then he goes and really spoils things by showing the reflection of the Dalek which exterminates the Controller. AhearneВ’s previous reflection-based shot В– the CybermanВ’s head over the Doctor in Dalek В– went down really well with fans, but I canВ’t see this one being a similar hit. Why not save the pepperpots for maximum impact in the wonderful closing minutes, instead of emulating Peter MoffatВ’s similarly unimpressive revelation of the Sontarans back in The Two Doctors?

Really though thatВ’s a minor quibble, of course, but I need to pick holes in something as on the whole it was such an excellent episode. Elsewhere AhearneВ’s direction is well up to the standards he set previously in Dalek and FatherВ’s Day, and once again this appears to be an instance of everybody really giving it their all as they build up towards the cliff-hanger, setting up the episode to end all episodes В– well, for this season, anyway. Christopher Eccleston deserves particular praise В– we all know now how difficult the many months of shooting on Doctor Who was for him, but right to the end here heВ’s really putting everything into the character, with some terrific material to work with. As with Barrowman, his high point in the episode perhaps comes with the В‘deathВ’ of Rose in The Weakest Link game, as he runs his hand through the dust on the floor that appears to be all that is left of his best friend, shocked into silence. His confrontation with the Daleks at the end of the episode is also worthy of a mention, and he proves equally adept at the lighter material В– not that thereВ’s much of it in the episode В– in the Big Brother house near the beginning.

All in all then, another stunning effort from all concerned, making brilliant what could so easily have been embarrassing. The final battle is just around the corner В– and IВ’m thrilled to say I have absolutely no idea what happens nextВ…

I have a strange relationship with Reality TV Shows and Quizzes. I find myself frequently watching the things, even enjoying them В– but then resenting them for the hour of my life just lost. To watch them for a while therefore, part of me must like them, but there is another part of me that switches over too. Whatever, there is something amazingly addictive about them, something that draws the viewer in like a tractor beam.

Many comments I have read about this episode, before it aired, have dismissed it already. The frequent comment being that Doctor Who shouldnВ’t be lowering itself to such TV fare. Yet this high and mighty attitude is quite farcical. For a start itВ’s judging something before sampling it, which I find very strange on its own. Another problem is that just because someone hates some TV or other, it doesnВ’t mean that someone else will hate it too, or that it doesnВ’t have a place. There are plenty of fans of Reality TV and Quiz Shows В– itВ’s very narrow minded to dismiss them out of hand, just because they arenВ’t your viewing preference.

My initial thought about Bad Wolf, before it had aired, was that this could very well be a satire on current TV. Doctor Who tapping into the collective consciousness of modern popular culture. I was intrigued whether the show would glorify these kinds of TV, or have something cautionary to say about them. The closer transmission came, the more intrigued I became, especially when reading the preview from Heat magazine В– surely one the most positive articles about new Who, and possibly the greatest indication that Russell T Davies is a genius for pitching new Doctor Who exactly at the right level for now.

The shows referenced here are fairly representative or their genre. Big Brother, What Not To Wear and Weakest Link are also very well known - itВ’s great kudos to the makers of DW that original presenters all voice their android contemporaries from the future. DW is again the show to be in В– and is relevant for the mass media. After years in the relative shade itВ’s all rather weird.

The episode itself took a little getting used to. The first half is chock full of the above mentioned TV shows, complete with android hosts. The reason for them being there was an excellent idea. Like in the previous episode Russell T picked up strands of previous stories of new Who В– to produce an often surprising result.

Christopher Eccleston was splendid as he tried to escape from his confinement in the Big Brother House. His clear boredom and restlessness at where he had ended up, quickly turned to concern for Rose. Rose is also her lovable self in the Weakest Link part. Yet she pulled off the giggles turning to horror supremely well as the truth emerged. Jack got to strut his stuff in the What Not to Wear segment В– a highly appropriate place for him.

I particularly liked the Doctor in the Big Brother house segment. The lovely Lynda with a Y was delightful. The Doctors exasperations were hilarious. Due to the short lifespan of the 9th Doctor I think I am enjoying him more, like a friend who comes and visits every few years, and you cram in as much as you can in the short time available, because you know they soon will be gone. The Weakest Link and What Not to Wear segments were less successful I thought. Rose and Jack were ever watchable В– but there were very little laughs, and it strayed a little too close to the real thing for my liking. The androids in charge were novel creations В– and after watching Confidential I couldnВ’t help but feel admiration for the actor inside each suit. The reality shows and quiz segments were highly unusual for Doctor Who В– and the premise behind their inclusion highly original.

As our heroes emerged from their respective shows, then the episode seemed to up a gear again. Jack was excellent as the Doctors muscle В– clearly loving the adventure, and highly heroic. Christopher Eccleston showed how well he can do pathos, as he thought his world had turmbled down. The last 15 minutes of Bad Wolf were amongst the best of the season, as the Doctor, Jack and Lynda charged through the Gamestation trying to find answers. The Doctors rant at the Daleks (with its Abslom Daak inspiration) was glorious. Then that Cliffhanger to finish the episode off, and whet the appetite brilliantly for the Seasons Finale.

What also impressed me about this episode was the Music. IВ’m more used to Murray Golds style now, and appreciate it far more. The TV Shows riffs were already there, but his adaptations were subtle yet effective. The Dalek chorus was terrifyingly atmospheric, and the whole scale of the oncoming battle pushed up a few notches as a result.

Every week for the last 12 weeks I have looked forward to Saturday like I used to when I was younger. For that alone the creators of new DW are forever in my debt. After Bad Wolf that expectation has been heightened further. The big explosive finale, with an ending we kind of know, but one that isnВ’t any less exciting.

This new series of Doctor Who has been a revelation В– a real rollercoaster ride, full of surprises and thrills, yet remaining essentially the same programme I have always loved. Onto the last Hurragh for the 9th Doctor В– it will be brilliant. 8/10

So, 198,095 years into the future and TV is still dominated by 'reality' shows? A tad unbelievable...the only shows still likely to be running then are Coronation Street and Countdown. However, if one is going to play with such topical references then Big Brother, Weakest Link etc are as good as any I suppose. The Big Brother House did, however, look lame - were they finger paintings by contestants on the wall or was that left-over art from Playschool? And the contestants were way too articulate, and over-dressed. Has RTD actually watched BB recently? The female contestants should have been surgically enhanced and falling out of far too skimpy bikinis and the male contestant ought to have been screamingly gay. Actually, it came across as a Blue Peter version of Big Brother....nice young people with finger paintings. Pity the BBC had not hired Jon Tickle to appear - he would have introduced an element of the bizarre.

I hope that the Doctor's apparent flirtation with Linda was simply intended to provide some dramatic counterpoint to his feelings for Rose when it appeared that she had been killed, since there was no sense that Linda was likely to be a particularly interesting or strong replacement for when Rose leaves the show. As for Rose's 'death'; that was less of shock than a reason to puzzle briefly about how she was in fact not going to be dead given that we all know Billy Piper will be back in part of Season 2.

Once again, I was left wondering what the point of Captain Jack is, except for providing some very bland eye-candy. Jack remains a one-dimensional, sexually ambivalent, occasional action-man. Sexual ambivalence does not, in this instance, make him interesting and looking self-satisfied and delivering one-liners does not provide depth either. Whilst a third occupant of the TARDIS may be required to help move the plots along, how about introducing one whose character actually evolves and has some shading?

In comparison, the characters of the Doctor and Rose have continued to grow over the series - with an exception this week for Rose, who was mainly reduced to giggling and looking horrified (thankfully without the pig-tails). It is, of course, the character of the Doctor which has developed most - and the all too-frequent inane grinning of the early episodes is almost gone, to be replaced by a sense of darkness and torment. All credit to Christopher Eccleston for his characterisation.

The Daleks...please God, if they are going to be the supreme Evil Beings in the Universe, can they not speed up a bit and stop being so simply peevish. In 'Dalek' the novelty of seeing the lone Dalek elevate was diminished by its speed...Adam and Rose could have run off, put a brew on and settled down to a nice cup of tea and a packet of chocolate hobnobs in the time it took to rise up the stairs. Thora Hird on a Stannah chair lift would have been quicker, and probably more alarming. This latest bunch don't look much more competent either. Simply getting into a hissy fit because the Doctor refuses to comply with their evil plan...ooh, I'm scared. Whilst I appreciate that they are iconic villains, I guess I've never been overly impressed with the capabilities of the Daleks and I suspect this is not going to change next week either. What I am looking forward to, however, are some impressive set-piece visuals and plot revelations.

Re-reading this, I am conscious that this is sounding overly negative. However, to put in context I'd say it was much preferable to anything featuring Slithereens, not as effective for me as 'The Empty Child', but nonetheless an entertaining precursor to what will hopefully be a glorious Season Finale. It was Dr Who as fast-paced light entertainment, operating at several different levels. More than a nod at the topical and humorous, but with continuing development of a deeper plot for those who are paying more attention, and through the series as a whole, an ongoing sense of revelation of the character of the Doctor himself. Just what is needed for a Saturday evening....any evening in fact.