It is now fairly safe to say, that in a crowded room, perhaps in the middle of a bombastic party , conversation can be halted quite readily and changed dramatically by the simple utterance of the name of Russell T. Davies.? Uncle Russell moved into the household three years ago, bringing to the table? the? idea of resurrecting the tired DOCTOR WHO format, with? a sense of Fan Boy passion . Davies managed to do this, while retaining the critical respect he garnered? for previous escapades on British Television that had already left him on the lips of? the talk of the industrial crowd, like a lingering wine of very fine vintage.? He even managed to survive the Slitheen ! Davies is a unique mixologist taking elements of classic Doctor Who and tendering it against the lines of stark unapproachable, envelope ripping outrageousness that makes it thoroughly modern and mindlessly enjoyable to watch DOCTOR WHO. It has made DOCTOR WHO accessible to the masses and the success it is.

Anyone watching DOCTOR WHO on the BBC? and partaking in Uncle Russell's latest carnival, SMITH AND JONES cannot deny the ride was enjoyable, mindbending and? without question witnessed? the strongest opening debut episode of the first three years. Yet scratching the surface of many elements of Doctor Who Canon, it merely was an institution that readily served the purpose of introducing Martha Jones to the good Doctor Smith, a welcome alias whose myth is fancifully buried in the original series and resurrected here to good measure. Once again, Russell Davies has created a strong, self sustaining character in Martha Jones? and perhaps in many ways, she could be considered perhaps too similar to Rose Tyler. Her somewhat confused and dysfunctional family only lightly contrasting Rose's own little cultural cul-De Sac of a disjointed family.It is entirely clear that Martha's soap operatic family will feature prominently in the latest series as a formula that has worked well in past seasons, yet dangerously treading over past success a bit all too obvious. SMITH AND JONES also sees the mechanical insertion of this years? "Badwolf and Torchwood" arcs with the introduction of mention and posters of "Saxon" whose identity has sparked a whirlwind of speculation. The obvious "formula" that is being followed here could ultimately be very damaging to the series? and perhaps another vision and different angle needs to be explored in coming years.

Because the series is so expensive to produce, the necessity of? a mainstream audience is vital to its success . This of course, is the biggest compromise the true DOCTOR WHO fan must make today. Of course the series is far more contemporary than its ever been? yet? at times, the show is written to excess? with these elements in mind.? Far less however than that which occurs in the Christmas Specials which really have? to reach such a broad demographic that it may as well be called? a song and dance variety show! .With this in mind,? I am absolutely delighted the episode took itself seriously with? comic relief coming from The Doctor,? who seems much more eccentric and sillier than Tennant's Doctor has ever been. Perhaps traveling without Rose and the Lonliness of the Long Distance Timelord has left the Doctor A little stir crazy. Suspension of disbelief is in order here on as many levels as a parking garage with Russell Davies consulting absolutely no one about anything that occurs in the episode. No Hugo nomination on this one!?? The episode was very well directed at a breakneck pace hitting its agenda of introducing the new companion and bringing the Doctor and Martha? together quite nicely .The episode has an aire of believability until it becomes totally unbelievable, of course. The "invasion" scenes were especially effective and all the "cataloguing " that was going on reminded me a bit of 'THE SONTARAN EXPERIMENT" The Doctor is instantly taken to Martha, impressed instantly by her intelligence and resourcefulness. There is a nice play on the fact that Martha is studying to be a Doctor and, of course the Doctor is the definitive article so to speak. Of course the Series has often featured Hospitals as a background to the story. SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE and? THE INVISIBLE ENEMY and the 1996 film ENEMY WITHIN? come quickly to mind. However since its reintroduction, The Doctor has been hanging around hospitals quite a bit in recent years.(ALIENS OF LONDON, NEW EARTH etc)so much so as to be overly concerned whether they have "gift shops" in them or not.? The Story background of the Judoon transporting the entire hospital to the moon to help discover a wayward alien criminal provided necessary fireworks and the scene where the patients? look out the windows to their mutual realization and horror the Hospital has been transported? off the earth is a genuinely scary, well realized moment. Even scarier with a sense of total wonder, but not as well realized is the suspension of disbelief I spoke of earlier, when you realize how on earth, or the moon,is the electricity still working in this hospital to begin with. But lets not think about this, as it ruins all the fun.? ?anyway!

The introduction of the "Plasmavore" alien almost begs for a return unwarranted? appearance like the Slitheens, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them again by the end of Season three.(although we really haven't "seen" them at all) One would have hoped for a more interesting mosaic? of background? on the Suspected Plasmavore? than? her motive? of doing in an intergalactic princess? as vengeance? against her "pink cheeks and blonde curls"? which is just another dose of Uncle Russell's irreverent need to inject controversy into the series and? perhaps even a disguised reference to the demise of Rose Tyler . Either way, the remark is a trifle racist and the episode has its share of reverse racism at play? with its attitude towards' dumb blondes" as providing comic relief? in the form of Martha's Dad's? tryst with a? blonde waif? and getting caught at it no less.? Once again, however we get this rushed resolution of the plot in the final minutes which felt amazingly similar to the end of THE RUNAWAY BRIDE , in revelation and pacing., a RTD trademark.? The Doctor's resolution however was in fact brilliant when you consider that all he managed to do to save the earth from destruction was merely to pull the plug.? What did leave me? with a question mark was the Doctor, seemingly dead and drained of blood? did NOT regenerate . This no doubt will be a hotly contested element of the story for months to come and is evident that Uncle Russell will sacrifice everything for the purpose of the advancement and resolution of the plot.

In closing,? high? marks? go the? production team for turning in a fast paced , brilliantly and artistically? designed episode and a strong start to Series three. The Judoon were brilliantly designed and executed? and? it was a nice touch to see them talking in their native language until they assimilated the language.The JUDOON could very easily have been the Sontarans and I believe this oportunity was lost or even intended as? Uncle Russell will reap all the financial rewards for their creation.? Overall, SMITH AND JONES? exhibits the total confidence in the creative teams behind Doctor Who? in the series, and the evolution in the Doctor's character in declaring to Martha and the TV audience, unabashedly,? that he is a Timelord. The episode suffered most in its thin "schoolyard idea"? plot? but written well enough around the idea to be blissfully entertaining!? The chemistry between the Doctor? and Martha is tremendous and I believe we are in for a real treat, and the sparks will certainly continue to fly on occasion, as the Doctor certainly has found a new lady to take his mind off of Rose a bit. Welcome Martha Jones, and Thanks once again to Russell? Davies? who can never be taken for granted.

So, series 3 of Doctor Who has finally began, and this is pretty much exactly as I expected the first episode to be.? Light-hearted, fun and chock-full of witty humour and comic aliens, as well as making the new assistant, Martha Jones, extremely likeable.? I was not surprised at the result of Smith and Jones, though I was perhaps slightly disappointed.

The main focus of the episode is obviously Martha Jones, played brilliantly by Freema Agyeman.? She genuinely acts as a strong-headed human being would in that bizarre situation, disbelieving, scared, and yet determined to discover what exactly is going on.? All the looks of surprise, anger, amusement and sadness on her face are all so believable, and her intelligent points make it obvious that she is the perfect companion for the Doctor, and she is so unbelievably likeable that Billie Piper, wonderful as she was, has been more or less forgotten.? The whole point of the episode was really to get the audience to warm to Martha, and this could not have been done more successfully.

David Tennant also does well here, though his comedy performances seem a bit forced at times.? Having said that, he does make for some genuinely funny moments and gives an overall entertaining performance.? His acting here is very well done, and one of my favourite scenes with him is after he has just barely regained consciousness after the kiss of life and stares up at the controls that are wrecking the ship.? He looks genuinely sick and rather ill, and I was surprised at how convincing the expression on his face was.?

Plotwise, the story is alright.? Pretty easy to understand.? The Judoon transport the hospital that contains an evil alien to the moon(not sure why?the moon was chosen of all places)?so they can scan all the humans to find out which one is the alien who killed some princess.? A few unecessary sub-plots, like with Martha's rather annoying family who I hope we've seen the last of, and that rather worthless and unfunny comment about the princess, but overall the story was OK, but not one of this episode's strong points.

Another let-down are the monsters featured in this episode.? None of them are either interesting nor original.? The Judoon are basically a rehash of the Sontarans, with Dalek-like speech(or is that Cyberman)who don't pose as much of a threat, even when they are trying to kill the Doctor, and after they kill the foolish man who attacks them, this makes a very minor impact, possibly because it was so predictable and now an over-used cliche in the show, or because it wasn't a very dramatic death scene.? There are also the insignificant and incredibly boring Slabs, which are the new Adherents of the Repeated Meme, only far less menacing and intriguing, and the Slabs are pretty much a boring and forgettable race.? As for the Plasmavore, this probably works the best out of all the creatures, though it could have been creepier and more disorientating, and the whole idea of it borrows heavily from the classic series' Curse of Fenric.? If they are going to redo this, they could use better special effects and make the idea of it scarier.? At its core, this could make a pretty freaky monster, but the whole idea of it is thoroughly wasted.

This is a so-so episode, the strong points being the excellent performances from David Tennant and Freema Agyeman, spoiled by the mediocre storyline and dull monsters. 6/10

To start on a positive note, I’m glad to say that finally Tennant seems to be coming into his stride in the role of the Doctor – apart from one or two inappropriate bursts of manic energy, overall he gave a far more restrained performance than in many previous episodes, and I’m glad to see his hairstyle was more restrained too (combed flatly forward rather than gelled up into a spiky quiff as in the previous series).

This episode’s good points first (seeing as it’s the season of goodwill). The plot, though ludicrous, seemed fairly tight and to fit together adequately, with some attempt at explanations towards the end. The Queen of the Racnoss was well realised – if one overlooked the blatant black lipstick up close – bearing a passing resemblance to Tim Curry’s Devil in the Eighties film Willow. It would have been nice to have seen her scuttling about, but you can’t have everything. The Racnoss spaceship was well-designed too, and it was a nice festive juxtaposition to have it shimmering in the Cardiff night sky like a star. The Santas are always effective, even if rehashed from last year’s Christmas Invasion (they’re obviously freelancers too). There were occasionally strong and successfully witty exchanges of dialogue between the Doctor and Catherine Tate’s Donna, who didn’t turn out to be as irritating as she could have done. It was also nice to hear a mention of Gallifrey towards the end. The scenes with the Doctor showing Donna the creation of the universe was extremely well done, not rushed, quite slow-paced and very convincing – reminding me of the Fourth Doctor showing Sarah-Jane the devastation of Earth by Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars (though as opposed to Tom Baker’s gloomy gravitas in said scene, this time we get a slightly annoyingly enthusiastic and awestruck take from the current TARDIS incumbent. However, Tennant’s line about the human race’s way of making sense of the chaos with ‘Christmas trees and calendars’ was actually quite touching and accidentally poetic). And, even though I’m not really bothered about action scenes in Who, the TARDIS was put to very good – and pivotal – use, especially in the well realised taxi chase scene. In short, this episode, though ultimately superficial and camp (see below), is still an improvement on last year’s far more pedestrian and Star Trek-esque Christmas Invasion. This time, not a simple alien invasion, but something more intrinsic and complex – though why wasn’t the Queen flushed down the plughole, which would have been a nice touch, rather than blown up in her spaceship by a tank (cue the old UNIT denouement cop outs)?

On the downside – and with all RTD stories, there’s always one of these (bar perhaps Tooth and Claw) – the script, though fairly breezy and amusing in places, is still littered inevitably with legion popular culture references and maddening bursts of the very kind of mundanity one watches Dr Who to try to escape from. Yes, Lance’s mocking of Donna’s spoon-fed philistinism – so endemic a part of our modern culture – was admittedly quite funny, and yet RTD is not a writer who actually offers any really viably challenging alternative to such mediocre TV fodder, in spite of his holding free reign on one of the few series’ with potentiality to do this. This was exemplified by the complete crassness of the Big Brother scenario in the first series’ season finale – surely even Channel Four’s ratings for said ‘programme’ couldn’t ensure a four billion year run? (No doubt only the equally interminable Coronation Street could manage that). In short, RTD just can’t do polemic – or possibly can, but just can’t be bothered. Ironic then that a writer who consistently brings in banal pop culture references into his stories, and who opportunistically cashes in on the popular consciousness in terms of scenarios whenever he can (ie, Big Brother, Weakest Link and Trinny and Suzannah) – to save money on sets and time on the hard work of mapping out decent polemic – should in turn mock the very sources of his plagiarisms whenever the whim takes him. This is clearly a writer who doesn’t really take anything that seriously – including, unfortunately for us, Doctor Who. If he’s not pointlessly dragging in the most infuriating aspects of modern culture into the series (the Tylers, Kylie references and so on), he’s then sending them up and laughing at his own mock-creations (Jackie, Micky, Donna and so on). If the Graham Williams’ Whoniverse was like the Home Counties, then RTD’s is firmly entrenched in the peroxide blandness of Essex. Well, not all British people are from Essex – or Cardiff for that matter. Self-indulgence then is RTD’s greatest flaw. It sometimes seems as if he is making the series just to play to his mates over some beers.

Apart from one particular flourish of Gershwin-esque music at the Thames Embankment scene, which was fairly ok (though utterly ill-suited), Murray Gold has continued to excel himself with another truly atrocious and inappropriate score, dominating practically every scene so you sometimes have to strain to hear the dialogue (yes, I know Dominic Glyn and Mark Ayres used to do this too, but at least their scores were evocative and imaginative). I think Murray Gold is the lovechild of Keff McCulloch and whatever troglodyte bangs out the excruciating scores for Harry Potter. This is Doctor Who – not a Hollywood blockbuster! Some atmospheric music please – and less intrusively at that! Murray Gold should simply not be allowed to write another score again. He gets worse and worse and clearly has absolutely no feel for Doctor Who at all. His music is generic, tinny and dramatically dampening; it shows little originality or sign of true engagement with what he is scoring. It’s just bad music. Get rid of it.

The real solecism of this episode is of course the continuing re-emergence every now and then of the Doctor-Rose ‘romance’. This is just getting beyond the joke now. She’s gone for God’s sake. Just drop that thread – it was tedious and irrelevant anyway. The Doctor’s tearful look at the end of the episode when mentioning her name again could only be the expression of someone mourning a lost love affair – there’s no other way to interpret it, and apparently all concerned with the production of the programme today have absolutely no problem with this needless and undermining intrusion into the traditionally Sherlockian Doctor. Well, it’s a great pity it ever happened in the first place, and I just hope to God the same cheap plot device doesn’t resurface with the new companion in 2007. The writers just have to rise above such easy slush, and get on with decent story telling and more intelligent focus on the Doctor’s true character and nature.

What with heartache, a Doctor drooping like a lovelorn dog, stray brides and romantic flashbacks in discos… I don’t know. What’s going to be next? Four Daleks and a Funeral (well, he’s got those glasses)? Who, Actually? Well, we’ve already had Doctor in Love.

Overall then an inevitably break-neck and frivolous episode but admittedly fairly successful as pure children’s entertainment. And thankfully, apart from the slightly lewd comment from the Doctor whilst Tate’s cleavage bulged into view, ‘they’re bigger on the inside’, no other inappropriate sexual innuendoes were evident this run. Hopefully we’ve seen the end of the Kenneth Williams’ Doctor, and are going to see more of David Tennant’s from now on.

Well after 27 episodes with Billie Piper in the role of 'Rose' I've got to say that when sitting down to 'The Runaway Bride' on Christmas Day I was a little apprehensive - What would it be like? Would I like it? How would this first episode without Rose compare to the previous 27? Well let's say now, all things considered I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

David Tennant put in one of his most confident performances yet as the Doctor. He seemed very comfortable with his role - something that lacked a little during Season Two. He's no longer the new kid on the block. Meanwhile Catherine Tate seemlessly fitted into the role of Donna, the instantly likeable loudmouthed, and dare I say extremely naieve bride about to be married. It's summed up after the Doctor finds out she missed the events of 'The Christmas Invasion' and 'Doomsday' - 'That big picture Donna, you seem to keep missing it'. Between the two of them they created a fantastic rapore with each other throwing in honest humour, drama, shock and the occassional flashes of darkness that set this episode apart from some of the others.

Of course the dyanamics between the actors that have contributed to the success of the episode would be nothing without the plot to hang it on. Here we had exactly the right balance. The honesty is that this plot was something light - like Christmas wrapping paper, something to wrap all these relationships together whilst staying in the background until the big climax. This allowed the opportunities for the writers to linger over some parts to give explanation, to develop the unsaid, whether it be the brief moments spent discussing how the Doctor spent last Christmas, or whether it be the moments looking at how Donna's relationship to Lance developed. I know that some people may not have liked this - but it's ideal for the series longevity because here we have a story which any viewer could watch regardless of whether they'd seen any other episode of the series.

How have I made these judgements? Well, the eureka moment so to speak is when Lance's true colours have been revealed. You know the relationships built up throughout the episode are successful when you get that genuine sense of sympathy for Donna that Lance has treated her so badly. This all brings things to a thrilling climax and one that leads to the Doctor finally saying the name of his home planet - fantastic!

This episode was the ideal Christmas romp, providing the right injection into the show to cope with the loss of Rose. Of course we know the series has a bigger mountain to climb now - we can see the success in one episode, we have even had a sneak preview into Season Three - the tantalising glimpse of an old foe, and a new companion. How these episodes will gell together though is anyone's guess, but if this is anything to go by we shouldn't have any problems...

I've always been a champion of Russell T. Davies. While there have been a few elements that have mildly irked me - the over-reliance on earth locations being the main one - I've always defended him against the "sack him now!!" brigade. He put in huge amounts of effort and love into bringing Doctor Who back to the screen, and has provided the country with good quality Saturday teatime entertainment time and again.

My loyalty is slipping, perhaps. Last year we were given a Christmas Special; this year I felt like it was more of a Christmas Ordinary.

Averageness is not something I necessarily object to per se - we all have off-days, not everything can be cream of the crop. What I didn't like about this Christmas special, though, was that it felt like Russell Davies by numbers, it felt like a repeat. It worried me that, at a time when RTD should have been dazzling us with newer and greater things, he was so clearly saying, "well, it worked last year..."

Wouldn't Christmas have been the perfect time to have finally lifted off from the surface of the earth and have seen magical worlds of wonder? But no, more 2006 London ordinariness. Yet another mouthy Cockney (Rose Tyler Extra Strength; or a terrifying concoction of Rose and Jackie) whose plans with a somewhat hapless black boyfriend are shattered by the arrival of the Doctor. Those robots Santas, who last year were so creepy in their fleeting role, now just feel reheated and too much autons/cybermen/clockwork robots. The killer Christmas trees again (the baubles are bombs this time? Did a 10-year-old write this?). A big ugly alien with a big ugly spaceship floating above London. Yet more running and screaming as a casualty-free massacre erupts in the city streets (don't these people get tired of running and screaming? And the little girl with practically minutes to escape the marauding laser was sadly laughable.) A very familiar-feeling final confrontation in a very familiar-feeling underground lair. At least we were spared BBC News 24 on this occasion.

As for the ending... well, the Doctor has always had dodgy taste in women, as we know often preferring whiny airheads over proper companionship, but Doc 10 going all gooey-eyed over Donna's refusal to join him in the TARDIS was a low moment, even by his standards. I was half expecting him to say, "Donna, would you like to... ah, uh, never mind". Now, that would have made up for a lot.

So, what of the rest of the episode? David Tennant was good as ever, Catherine Tate had some moments (I'm not a fan of her show, but she was okay in this), and the spider costume was impressive. But it was all dramatically redundant - The Doctor saved the day by knocking some robots out with his sonic screwdriver, pocketing their remote-control bombs and using them against the baddie. Yes, it was as easy as that. There was never a real feeling of peril to any of it. Even The Doctor's rage as he flooded out the spider's nest - while nicely acted - felt like yet another box checked. Oh, and we mustn't forget to mention how great humans are.

So, it was okay. No big crime. Except... I just hope this isn't RTD out of ideas. Does he have anything else in him? Could he do a Castrovalva or a Warrior's Gate or an Enlightenment, or example? I'm beginning to see the template now; it's beginning to be a bit too obvious how the magician does his tricks.

Where last year's 'The Christmas Invasion' was about rebirth, renewal and starting again, 'The Runaway Bride' finds itself faced with the task of getting the Doctor past his grief over the loss of Rose.

As far as that goes, it is quite successful since, as ever, the real gold in this Russell T Davies episode is the emotional payoff at the end.

However, it says a great deal, I think, that halfway through the episode I found myself feeling sure that I would find the ending hugely touching and was willing most the episode away so that end would come sooner. This wish came mostly from the presence of two other RTD mainstays - the 'knockaround' opening full of chav jokes and the relatively simple main plot.

Davies proved last season with 'The Christmas Invasion', 'Doomsday' and 'Love and Monsters' (to some extent - it's great writing, just not necessarily Doctor Who writing) that he can develop an interesting plot in an interesting way but once again he seems to have fallen back into the habit of simply writing lots of chase sequences and having a villain do some posturing before he can finally get to the emotional payoff which he really wants to write. The TARDIS road chase set a new benchmark for the series and the trip to the beginnings of the Earth was lovely, but neither made up for the fact that the majority of this story was set around a wedding reception disco and a poorly-realised, rather bland basement.

Just when I thought the plot was taking a nice twist as the Empress of Racnoss (beautifully put together and played but, again, oddly written - a primal creature from the beginnings of the universe who does little more than make poor jokes throughout) ascended back into her ship, Davies goes for the cop-out option and has the Doctor rattle off an explanatory line about her power being used up so she can be very easily shot out of the sky.

'The Runaway Bride' isn't bad, as such, and the numerous glowing reviews in the press seem to put me in the minority, but it just felt very by-the-numbers and uninspired to me. When the Doctor and Donna are bantering or sharing their pain it is a beautiful piece. It's just a pity that the main bones of the story are so reminiscent of a bad Christmas present - very prettily wrapped but the present inside is nowhere near as exciting. And whoever came up with the ridiculously incongruous moment on those two-wheeled motorised things should be let nowhere near a TARDIS again ...

As far as the rest of the production goes, the crew struggle mightily with Davies' expectations and only half-succeed in finding locations which don't just look like large empty spaces given 'spooky' lighting. They are also fighting against the time of year, the summer's heatwave clearly interfering with the Christmassy feel which last year's special enjoyed. Tennant and, surprisingly, Catherine Tate are both very good and Sarah Parish's Empress is extremely watchable. Murray Gold's score, after the searing beauty of last year's highlights, is a little annoying in places but it is entirely possible that is due to Davies' direction that this episode feel like a 'romp'.

As for the season 3 trailer - didn't give much away, did it? The shots of The Globe and the black Dalek were very pleasing but the rest just seemed to be lots of running and screaming all spliced together. It does look like season 3 will be a darker one, though, giving Tennant more to play with.

Overall, then, the show seems in very good shape. It can do breakneck adventure in its sleep now, which is exactly why it should be pushed further into darker, edgier scripts. I'm not forgetting the intended family audience but there's a world of difference between a 'Girl in the Fireplace'/'Satan Pit' and a 'New Earth'/'Runaway Bride', so lets hope for more of the former.