I suppose I could be described as a lifelong fan of Doctor Who, having watched it since William Hartnell first stepped out of the Tardis in 1963.

However, I did lapse during the Peter Davison/Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy years, only watching occasionally, but never really losing the bug. Then when I heard that Doctor Who was coming back, I must admit I was sceptical at first, thinking that it would probably be "Americanised" or in some other way spoiled beyond recognition. When I heard who would play the Doctor and his companion, I sank further into gloom, thinking that neither would be right for the roles.

Then came Episode One, and I was blown away.

From the second that Rose got out of bed for what seemed like another ordinary day at work, I was glued. From the second the Doctor held Rose's hand and said "Run", I was bitten. "Lots of planets have a north" will go down in history as one of the finest one liners. Since then, I have marvelled at the total believability of Chris Eccleston's Doctor, and been totally amazed by Rose's character, and the chemistry between them is magic. If this isn't already a superb platform for Billie Piper's acting ability, then it soon will be, and I expect her to be in greater things in the future, because she is one of the best young actresses this country has, and we should be proud of her - and she is beautiful into the bargain.

As each episode has been aired, the characters have gone from strength to strength. I have not seen a bad episode yet, but there has been one slightly weak one, that being "The Long Game". The secondary characters in this episode were not allowed to develop into knowable people as they have in other episodes, in particular the Editor and Cathica. However, "Dalek" was absolutely and utterly awesome, and more, and I thought it could not be bettered.

Then came Episode Eight, and I could contain myself no more.

This to me, is classic Doctor Who brought alive for todays audience, and I have to say I did not expect to see such brilliance. Shaun Dingwall has been great in other things, and is a much underrated actor, but as Pete Tyler he was a revelation. The scene where he recognises Rose for who she actually is produced one of the finest facial expressions yet - only equalled when Rose first entered the Tardis - and there have been plenty of these moments in the series so far, with each one being magic and completely believable. Rose's look of horror when the reaper devoured the Doctor on the church floor really made me feel her grief for a heart thumping moment, and was another massive piece of the jigsaw which is the relationship between the Doctor and Rose. This goes deeper each episode, reminding me somewhat of the wonderful chemistry between Mulder and Scully in The X Files, it really is quality stuff.

The continually reappearing car that eventually kills Pete Tyler created just the right level of uneasy frustration that time was somehow on hold, waiting for the event to happen, thus putting things right once more. One could really feel for him as he ran headlong, knowing he had to die for his daughter, and everyone else to survive.

Also, what's all this about Camille Coduri only being an average actress? I suggest her critics watch her episodes again. Jackie Tyler is the perfect lovable rogue who seems as if she has not so much grown up, but been dragged up, and is now trying her best to make life as comfortable as possible in the face of all these things that keep happening to her since Rose met the Doctor. Camille Coduri plays the part to a T.

Altogether "Father's Day" was as great as "Dalek", and that took some doing. It had all the things we expect from Doctor Who; an ordinary day turned bad, well portrayed secondary characters, a seemingly unsolvable problem, scary monsters, humour, dark moments, and the moving emotional scenes which are fast becoming a staple of the new Doctor Who. All these will keep me watching, but I am sorry there are only five episodes left of Chris Eccleston's Doctor, who is probably the best one in 900 years.

Father’s Day, like Dalek, was one of those episodes fans were waiting to see and their wait was well rewarded. The episode wasn’t without its flaws, as is the case for most programmes, but it was still a highly enjoyable but deeply moving episode.

The concept of the episode is interesting and one that was bound to come up sooner or later in the new series. Rose decides to use the power of the Tardis to visit her dead father. And it’s a perfectly reasonable and understandable move by Rose. She has the means to visit someone she doesn’t remember and if I were in the same place I would do the same. It’s also something that wasn’t really tackled in the last series. The nearest they came to tackling it was with Barbara in the Aztecs but that was an accidental landing and Barbara attempted to use the situation and her future knowledge to her advantage with little success. Here the situation is slightly different. Rose, unlike Barbara, isn’t planning to change time on a massive scale and doesn’t intend to change it at all. It’s only when the situation presents it self and Rose realises, perhaps for the first time, that she actually can change time and save her father that she does.

When she does save her father I think the audience completely sympathised with her actions and would have done the same. In a programme you have to identify with the characters and by putting Rose in this situation the audience immediately sympathises with her. It’s a brilliant move and one that works so well as throughout the episode you feel what Rose is feeling, this is certainly a really emotional episode and you can feel what Rose is going through. The emotional turmoil that she’s facing and the realisation of what she’s done mixed with the fact she’s meeting her father for the first time but with dire consequences. There’s one slightly programme I have though and it’s not with the idea or concept but more to do with The Doctor’s reaction to it. The first Doctor was furious with Barbara for attempting to change time and warned her “You can’t change history, not one line of it”. This seems to me to suggest that its impossible for time to be changed although it’s real meaning might merely be its plain stupid and dangerous to play with time. After all at that point in time the Doctor was effectively on the run from his people and Barbara changing time would have altered the Time Lords to his presence. Anyway the First Doctor was furious at Barbara’s actions, though he did sympathise with her, but Eccelston’s Doctor didn’t seem that furious. Christopher Eccelston tried very hard to seem angry that Rose was changing time and was betraying him like Adam just had. But he failed. The line “another stupid ape” didn’t have the amount of anger it should have had. It didn’t come across as the Doctor feeling betrayed and angry but instead it came across rather lame. Similarly the line “my wish is your command but be careful what you wish for” should have come across more as a note of caution rather than a joke.

While Billie Piper, Camille Coduri & Shaun Dingwall are strong throughout the episode Christopher Eccelston is strong in parts but weak in others. While telling Rose that he could save Gallifrey and his family if he wanted but couldn’t because the laws of time forbade it Eccelston was strong but in the aforementioned parts he was disappointingly weak.

The Reapers while a good idea were poorly realised due to the fact they looked like computer generated creations, which is a shame. They were a nice addition to the episode as they created an extra level of tension, held everyone up in the Church and even eat the Doctor, a twist that I didn’t see coming. The story suggests that since the demise of the Time Lords creatures the dwell in time have become much more of a threat to the Universe and there’s nothing that can really stop them. It will be interesting to see if this idea is carried on into Season Two and it will also be interesting to see if the Reapers appear in the future or not.

I’m surprised there wasn’t more of a reaction when Rose came into contact with her own self. The last time something similar happened was with the Brigadier and that event caused a massive amount of temporal energy to be released and was dangerous enough for the Black Guardian to order Turlough to follow the Doctors orders. This time around the consequences of such a paradoxal contact allowed the Reapers inside the church and to sallow the Doctor before hitting the Tardis and leaving Rose to cope with the situation on her own. Without the Tardis the only way to end the situation was for Pete to sacrifice himself and allow the car to run him over. The last few minutes were extremely emotional as Rose said goodbye to the father she had only just regained. The consequences of Rose turning up in 1987 was that time was altered if only slightly.

A truly brilliant and deeply moving episode that deals with an idea that surprisingly hasn’t been tackled in this way before. It adds a new lawyer of depth to Rose and was brilliantly acted by Billie Piper but also added some much needed emotion into the series instead of the needless humour of previous tales.

Father’s Day is a rather unconventional sort of Doctor Who story, not least because of the fact that the Doctor is killed off ten minutes before the end, leaving others to save the day in his wake. This, it goes without saying, rather bucks the trend of usual Doctor Who adventures, although it doesn’t buck the trend set so far this season of the Doctor being at times a rather ineffectual figure, being captured or confined and having to rely on others to carry the burden of doing the actual heroic legwork.

However, this is less of a problem in Paul Cornell’s script than it has been elsewhere, as the Doctor has so many other chances to shine. I think one of the things that’s most apparent in Cornell’s writing is how much he loves the character of the Doctor, in his traditional archetype form of the hero. Eccleston gets some truly wonderful scenes to perform here, making it hardly surprising that the actor went on record in several interviews at the start of the season to say that this was his favourite episode of the thirteen he’d shot.

The Doctor works so well because we get to see so many different aspects of his personality. There’s the anger he feels towards Rose after she’s saved the life of her father, and his threat to abandon her in 1987 and head back to the TARDIS. The fire in his performance here makes you feel that he really means it, and is a reminder of the sometimes unpredictable nature of the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell, particularly his threat to turf Ian and Barbara off the ship at the end of The Sensorites. Then there’s the more contemplative side to the character, best displayed here in the truly wonderful scene where he talks to the bride and groom at this ill-fated wedding, Sarah and Stuart. Given the attitude he’s sometimes displayed earlier on in this season, it’s heartening to see the Doctor being so nice to the ‘little people’ of the world again, the flotsam and jetsam of the human race who he happens to encounter in his travels. The sense of wonder, longing and sadness in his “I’ve never had a life like that…” moment was a superb piece of work. Finally, of course, we get to see the Doctor as a true out-and-out hero, as it should be – delivering his plans from the pulpit and sacrificing himself to save everyone else in the church as the Rose paradox allows the Reapers to enter…

Speaking of the Reapers, they are excellently realised. It’s almost a shame that they were no more than a sideshow to the episode, but that had to be the case as it was really all about the relationship between Rose and her father, and the consequence of Rose’s actions. The creatures were particularly effective in their red-drenched point-of-view shots, although it has to be said that the initial killings they inflict were somewhat less than effective – I’m not sure a spilling drinks bottle gently rolling away or a pair of hedge trimmers dropping to the ground is really particularly dramatic, somehow.

But as I said, good though The Mill’s CGI creations were, this was never really about the monsters. It’s about Rose and Pete, and Piper and guest star Shaun Dingwall really excelled in their roles, both utterly convincing, making the father-daughter relationship really rather touching. Pete’s self-sacrifice was well-played, never seeming too cheesy and definitely on the right side of believable. The final member of the Tyler trio was played as ever by Camille Coduri. Before I saw this episode I had some concerns, knowing that the same actress was going to be playing Jackie the best part of twenty years younger, but Coduri does indeed just about pull it off. I think it’s down to the hair…

It’s a shame in a way that the forty-five minute running time didn’t leave room for more scenes with the rest of the supporting cast, as they were all very good as well. The aforementioned Stuart and Sarah, in particular, are worth mentioning, as is Stuart’s father, who was in a way a nice touch of light relief and as such more poignant when he was killed off, although he was of course brought back at the end.

In a way though, such bringing back – hitting a kind of re-set switch – is my main problem with the story, although of course it always seemed fairly obvious that the story was going to have to be resolved in that kind of a way somehow. Time travel is a very complex idea to try and get your head around at the best of times, and Father’s Day certainly throws up a good few questions – were the Doctor and the others to be taken by the Reapers actually, properly dead until Pete threw himself in front of the car? Why don’t Rose and the Doctor forget the events that have taken place as everyone else does? And what happens to the ‘first’ Doctor and Rose to witness Pete’s death, as they conveniently disappear as soon as the ‘second’ Rose runs out to save him? All very confusing, and probably best not to think about too hard unless you’re a theoretical physicist. It does seem highly convenient in terms of plot, however, that the solution to all the problems – the car that runs Pete over – kept going around and around outside so temptingly.

The whole premise of the episode and the way in which it was treated – someone mucking about with time and evil forces using the breakage caused to come through and create havoc – was not so much Doctor Who as it was Sapphire & Steel. I’m not complaining about that for a second, mind – I’d love the show to be more like Sapphire & Steel from time to time. That famous ITV series most came to mind when the phones would only repeat Bell’s “Watson, come here, I need you,” message over and over again. I’m not sure that makes much sense plotwise, but it was a wonderfully effective idea that worked very well indeed, and was really quite spooky.

Production-wise, Joe Ahearne’s direction maintains the high standard he set out in Dalek, with one exception – all the times we saw it, not once was I convinced that the car which ran Pete down and killed him was doing anything more than about ten miles per hour. I suppose it might be possible to inflict fatal damage on a person at such a speed, but it’s a shame that such a vital sequence always looked so comparatively undramatic on all of the occasions upon which it appeared. Perhaps a full-on hit-and-run would be a bit too harrowing for such an early evening timeslot, but surely there was something in the middle that would have been a bit more effective?

Speaking of the timeslot, perhaps the one question about this episode is whether it’s really the sort of thing that would keep the younger part of the audience watching week in, week out, with its high quota of character based drama and low monster and adventure count. On the other hand though, you should never underestimate the intelligence and tastes of even the youngest audience members, and besides, the occasional Doctor Who episode like this is a nice change of pace. You couldn’t make Doctor Who now in 2005 like this every week, but I don’t suppose it will do the audience figures any harm to do it like this every now and then. The fact that the new television series is not only this good, but can accommodate stories as wildly different as this and last week’s The Long Game, is a real testament to that ‘infinitely variable format’ fans like to go on about so much, but which was only occasionally true of the classic series.

In short then, Father’s Day was a real gem of an episode – well-written, well-acted and well-produced, it fully deserves to stand up there with the best of them.

I love the new series of Doctor Who. It is exciting, occasionally scary, funny, romantic, cheesey, but above all else fun. At last, we have a television series that people actually like and enjoy. With ratings justifying a second series, and rival networks competition failing in their battle to rule Saturday nights, every Saturday the tension is almost unbearable as I sit with some friends awaiting the Doctor's latest adventures.

It was with a massive disappointment, then, that 'The Long Game' seemed to be a real downturn in the programme's ambitious scope. Whilst I applaud Mr Davies for helping to resurrect the series, I find that his latest script suffered from acute 'sameness' from two recent storylines. Basically, he has said that Doctor Who can go anywhere and anytime - truly, the basis behind the programme. Yet, the journey with the wonderful Rose and annoying Adam was simply too similar to previous outings. So... where to begin?

First: A giant space station revolving around the earth. Whilst the special effects were marvelous, wasn't the viewing platform which showed the 'magnificence' of the planet the same one as in The End of the World? Far too similar in concept and design to be an error on someone's part? Or was it just a 'running out of concept sketch ideas' for this? Mmm...

Secondly: The whole end concept - 'The End of the World' and 'World War Three' concerned the ruling of the planet/selling of the planet FOR ECONOMIC GAIN. Which is exactly what seemed to be the point of 'The Long Game'. Whilst it is nice to see that journalism and the journalistic empires of media barons can be attributed to being callous, manipulative and harmful, the fact that the ruling or governing of the planet was all part of some banker's get-rich-quick scheme seems to indicate that this story, as well as having similar thematic elements as those listed above, was too stuck in a certain period of actual-history i.e. the 1980s. Admittedly, Mr Davies has said that his story was a re-hash of an earlier story submitted to the then-production office during the Murdoch empire-building years. Yet it is stale for modern audiences. If, for example, the story had been set on earth during the eighties, still with the monster etc (although various elemts would have to be 'tweaked' to become contextually real rather than fantastical) then a direct critique against the power of television could have been made (a forgotten example of media manipulation is John Carpenter's 'They Live' which although short on many a dramatic situation, useds the idea of media manipulation adroitly). It just did not seem to have a decent enough 'hook' to justify the entire story. I know that 45 minutes is a short time to develop an entire story, but it can be done. However, this story seemed incredibly rushed both in execution and storytelling. For example, the Doctor and co immediately get taken to the television chamber where Cathica 'plugs' herself into the network. What happened to the plot exposition scene which shows how the Doctor et al got there? Poor, poor storytelling. It's okay to suspend disbelief, but let's have some credibility in there somewhere, if only from a directorial point of view. And talking of poor directorial abilities...

THIRDLY: Whilst 'Dalek' and 'World War Three' were given a sense of a director in charge of his material, 'The Long Game' seemed to be sadly lacking in most instances. For example, when the Doctor, Rose and Adam first step into the space station, the resultant imagery is so jumbled (yes, I suppose the space station is overcrowded) that any sense of 'place' is actually dissipated. By using a rapid-editing style, the audience is fed the message that the place is bustling. Yet, I cannot believe this at all. Perhaps if a better image of, say, a high-shot looking down at crowds of (CGI crowds of) people had been used then this would give a better example of 'a crowd'. If one takes the end scene of 'The End of the World' in juxtaposition to this, which sees Rose wanting a bag of chips (mmm... chips!) then a simple two-shot of the Doctor and Rose walking through a crowded street is done simply and economically, with no hint of directorial 'fussiness', which is unlike the similar opening scenes of Saturday's episode. Admittedly, there were some nice directorial sweeps - the finding of the dead body in that freezing ante-chamber stands out as simple yet effective, rather than fussy and rushed; yet, the whole directorial tone was steadfastly uncontrolled unlike say, 'Dalek' which was a high-point in the series so far.

Fourthly: Characterisation. I love Rose's character; witty, funny, spunky and a 'real' companion for once, which throughout the series has only ever happened twice before with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Rose is meant to help and guide us through the adventures. The character does this with style. The Doctor? Well, I like the fact that he's nasty and irritable, fun and adventurous, chivalrous and romantic, morose and manic - a good melding of previous incarnations. It seems to me, however, that Mr Davies has turned these two into Mrs Peel and John Steed of 'The Avengers'. The last scene of 'The Long Game' is testament to this (as well as the red and black outfit worn by Ms Piper which suits the iconic status of the similarly-garbed Diana Rigg in various episodes of the said 'The Avengers'). For example, with Adam (thankfully) booted out of the way, the Doctor sais that he will only accept the best of companions in the TARDIS. Therefore, a friendship akin to Steed and Mrs Peel has grown between the two characters, and for this, Mr Davies is to be applauded. Yet, in this story, every character was either under-used or badly written/performed for. Why was an actress like Tamsin Greig only allowed two rather ineffectual scenes? She had all the aura of becoming a sinister character, yet this was not followed through. Adam? Badly written, poorly performed and exhibiting all the hallmarks of an Adric. Thank goodness he was gotten rid of. Yes, I know that Mr Davies has said that he wanted Adam to show the good and evil in everyone, but the part was so underwritten, that unlike say Turlough who had the ability of a long-ish run of stories to stand him in good stead for developmental purposes, or Grace from the telemovie, who became instantly likeable with a backstory to create empathy towards, this character of Adam had all the hallmarks of something not properly thought out. I can't say it's a shame, because I thought that Mr Langley's acting style was not particularly good, compared to Ms Piper or Mr Eccleston's. And what a waste of Simon Pegg - so obviously a great choice for the Master. Whilst obviously relishing the part of the Editor, it seems that again, his role was underwritten. Yes, I know that 45 minutes is difficult to get information across, but why 'waste' such a good actor and a well-known one at that in a role that demanded more screen time, rather than concentrating on the Cathica and Suki characters who were bland to the point of inconsequentiality? A shame.

I suppose that there would be downpoints in every Doctor Who season. It's such a shame that this story, which had some nice touches, has come off the back of 'Dalek' which was the highpoint of the series thus far. Whilst some parts of 'The Long Game' were genuinely nice and enjoyable, I get the feeling that perhaps Mr Davies has taken on the mantle of 'saviour of Doctor Who' a bit too far and is relishing his job or 'aura' more than actually concentrating on the drama that has made the programme fantastic. Whilst Mr Gatiss and Mr Shearman have made 'complete' narratives, with beginnings middles and ends, it would appear that whereas Mr Davies has created two great characters in the Doctor and Rose, giving them lovely touches of back stories and great emotional dialogue, his actual storytelling skills have let him down. That's not to say that his stories are unenjoyable, far from it. It's just that with him being the guiding force behind the programme, perhaps writing six or so of this seasons stories was simply too much for him. With him only writing five of next years stories, then this must surely be a blessing for the programme, for without good storytelling, which he seems to strive for yet not quite attain, then the programme may collapse inwards into self-referential twaddle which it is on the brink of doing now. Whilst I applaud Mr Davies for helping (and I stress helping) the show into the new televisual age, perhaps he should now concentrate on good storytelling or executive producing - for to do the two jobs simultaneously would surely be to the detriment of the programme. And that is something no fan wants.

Is it RTD's secret wish to rename the show Doctor Rose? If RTD was so obsessed with needlessly infusing New Who with just a hint of Buffy (a deplorably stupid programme in my opinion anyway), and have the series give a nod to Girl Power, why didn't he go the full hog and have a female Doctor? God, and to think some of us used to tire of the serial emphasis on Ace in the McCoy era! At least, to be frank, she was a more interesting and troubled character than Rose is, especially in the latter part of Season 26, and though at times Sophie Aldred's mock-cockney vernacular could be grating to say the least, at her best she was truly engaging and had a more natural attractiveness about her than the heavily made-up, paroxide blond Rose. (A female friend of mine, new to Who, recently commented that she thought the series looked quite good, but was put off by the cliche of having a blond, Buffy-style girl in one of the main roles!) If the Doctor was to get infatuated with one of his female companions couldn't it at least have been one more enigmatic and genuinely attractive such as Tegan, who at least had some grit and charisma about her? I don't say much for the Doctor's taste to be honest. Yes, Ms Piper can act, so what? That doesn't in turn make her character any more interesting does it? The character of Rose is quite mediocre because although Piper infuses it with some energy and believability, the basis/background for/of the character just isn't very interesting. I would have preferred a grittier, more cynical kid from the council estates as a companion. In my opinion, excepting Sarah, Romana, Tegan, Turlough and Ace, most companions have been traditionally irritating and superfluous anyway, and while Rose is certainly one of the more fleshed-out of companions, to me she is increasingly irritating, especially in the general air of smugness which she shares with her Timelord travelling companion in The Long Game, much to the detriment of TARDIS Temp Adam, who at least has a vaguely distracting curiosity and ambiguity about him (reminiscent of Adric's and Turlough's disobedience in various Davison stories), only to be swiftly deposited by the Time-Travelling New Avengers (perhaps Eccleston should start donning a bowler hat and umbrella?) in the rather pathetic and implausible denouement of this weird and scrambled episode. The Ninth Doctor is an elitist, even a Social Darwinian (like the villains of Season 26); previous incarnations, especially the Fifth Doctor (as evidence in his retaining an obviously treacherous Turlough in his TARDIS crew in Season 20), would have kept Adam on board precisely because of his suspect character - this Doctor dumps him back home because he threatens to upstage his more superficially appealing sidekick. Plus, apparently, and unforgiveably, he appears to fancy her. This is all rather absurd and I predict potentially detrimental to the series in the long run. What's the point of building up such an over-written and over-emphasized rapport between Eccleston and Piper when he's going to change into David Tennant in a few months anyway? Or is this superfluous and highly intrusive thread to RTD's New Who going to be stretched out into the Tenth incarnation? I sincerely hope not.

After the virtually immaculate Dalek, and the best performance so far of Eccleston as the Doctor (bar a couple of clumsy scenes which portrayed him as a gung-ho assassin), RTD brings the Ninth Doctor's characterisation back down to base level with a thump! We're back to the self-consciously emphasized 'working class blokeishness' of Eccleston's other RTD-episode portrayals, with plenty of 'Oi you' and 'tough''s and even a 'grub' or two. There's nothing really wrong with a Doctor sporting a regional accent as long as articulation isn't compromised, which it is sometimes with Eccleston's Doctor (though not as much and as gratingly as with Rose with her constant and equally self-conscious t-dropping), but why the constant use of bloke-ish vernacular and expressions? All class issues put aside, this just isn't right for the Doctor I'm afraid. It just doesn't convince; it just doesn't work; it just detracts from the character and grounds him far too much in present day Earth, or rather, Salford. I would be one of the first to say it is a welcome social wake up call to the complacent middle-classness of classic Who to have a more obviously 'ordinary', more casually spoken incarnation - but you don't need to take it to the absolute extreme from the RP Doctors 1-6 do you? McCoy's Doctor had the right balance of approach: more casually spoken, with a hint of regional accent (rolling R's etc.), but still essentially lifted in manner and (on occasions) gravitas of verbal command and vocabulary than the average parochial drawl of the apolitical man on the street who mistakenly thinks it is socially progressive to drop your t's. Apart from anything else, in the same way that the so-called BBC English/classless accent makes it hard to pin down where someone has come from in English real life, I feel the RP of previous Doctors translated onto screen in a similar way, adding to the alienness of the character in that on a sort of metaphoric level it emphasized how his own special categorisation was hard to pin down. This over-emphasized regional accent of Eccleston's Doctor is all the more noticeable when surrounded by the received pronunciation of incidental characters - why not have everyone in Who, including the aliens, talking in Salford accents? Why just the Doctor? Of course his attire also needlessly gives even more emphasis to his bloke-ish persona. One can only assume when he had first regenerated from his 8th incarnation, the 9th Doctor must have releaved a paralytic bouncer of his clothes and steel-toecaps! The Doctor was not particularly likeable in this episode, and wasn't even particularly interesting either (Simon Pegg outshone him in a far more enigmatic performance, albeit a completely unsubstantiated one - what exactly was his motive? I suppose he was as much a slave as everyone else. Wow, what a profound message.) We had, as one reviewer has observed already, a manipulative Doctor giving Adam all the green lights to inevitably meddle with the future, only to smugly berate him for it at the end! Does he have a bit of an Old Testament God complex this 9th incarnation? He's very good at dangling the fruit of knowledge at people, encouraging them to 'throw themselves in' to time travel, only then to be judgmental and pompous by the end. What's the point? Or doesn't RTD ever redraft his scripts and spot all these inconsistencies and holes? Obviously not. We also had the Doctor threatening to beat up the Editor while - perhaps then justifiably - restrained; and he did seem very physically intimidating pushing Adam back into the TARDIS at the end. I thought he was going to shove his face up to him and holler 'Are you looking at me?'

The Long Game itself? Seemingly retro in realisation with a very 80s view of the future about it - the twist about human society being held back 90 years could have been much more convincing if, given the ludicrously ambitious year of 200,000 (RTD seems to suffer from an inverse parallel ailment to the equally though prematurely ambitious Arthur C Clarke with 2001; not to mention whoever invented Space 1999), if the society had been stalled at something like 900 years ago at the very least! Again it just doesn't hold up datewise as in End of the World. RTD might also stand for Relative Time Disorder! To hint at the retro aspect to this backward society, we have Suki (her other names were actually quite imaginative) dressed like an extra from The Good Life; not to mention a (nicely satirical) private healthcare system for non-emergencies, but does the satire backfire timewise here too as this seems very similar to how things are today in terms of NHS ethics.

What the hell was the Face of Boe doing a) in the year 200,000 when we have seen him in the year 5 Billion? Is his lifespan really that long? and b) doing being pregnant? Ok, he's an alien, maybe male Boes or whatever they are can have babies, that's probably perfectly possible, but that just leaves one other nagging question: How can a 'face' procreate? I'd be interested to know how RTD was graded in GCE Biology.

Good things about The Long Game? Apart from the Editor, there were some well-realised sets, particularly Level 500's Logan's Run-esque ice-scape; an admittedly brilliantly realised alien which did look genuinely convincing considering it was CGI again - however, I think the story would have benefited from an alien who was more accessible and less unwieldy, something more like a floating Moxx of Balhoon type thing, and also an alien whom we could actually understand (what's happened to the Doctor's TARDIS translation component then?); there does seem to be an interesting parallel between the parochial vernacular of the Ninth Doctor and his alien enemies' equally parochial vernacular in that they speak untranslated in their own home tongues re: the Nestine, Face of Boe and 'Max' (sounds a bit like Mox doesn't it?) The Moxx managed to speak near-perfect English, as did (perhaps unfortunately for us) the Slitheen. Puzzling to say the least.

Other flaws: Adam apparently knowing everything about the Doctor down to him being the last of the Timelords: is the Doctor likely to have related all this to a companion he'd only just met and who he obviously didn't want to recruit in the first place anyway? Also, why did entrust the TARDIS key to Adam? Also, what's happened to the isomorphic nature of the TARDIS key? In the classic series only the Doctor could use the key (see Pyramids of Mars) and it could not be used to open the TARDIS by any other hands (unless he willed it so). Are we to take it then that he would have willed the Editor to use it? No, of course not, hence no real threat there.

Overall, a fairly average sort of episode with an admittedly very good twist that the whole space station was a life support system for an alien - that was certainly a redeming feature to an otherwise uneven and typically clumsy RTD vision of the human future. A few quirky stylistic touches were not enough to lift this story beyond mediocrity, though it is certainly better than all the other RTD offerings so far in that it didn't embarass at any point, only mildly irritate (particularly re the Doctor's portrayal and Rose's growing smugness) - it definitely required two episodes to develop it properly and is thus also let down by its brevity and half-hearted, semi-developed but ultimately completely implausible setting in time. I'm sad to say after Eccleston's superb performance in Dalek, that The Long Game was, in extreme contrast, let down by his unlikeable and unengaging performance.

Oh, and it's also quite ironic that RTD, an expert press manipulator and spin Doctor himself, decides to dedicate an entire storyline to attacking the media - though admittedly this was a fairly nice satirical turn. 5/10.