After over 15 years of waiting, Doctor Who returns to our screens in a burst of creative ideas, visual effects, and a firm foundation into the 21st Century.

'Rose' is one of the band of Doctor Who stories that really needs a second viewing in order to really get into it. The initial shock of how different the series relates to the stories of yesteryear takes some getting used to, but upon second viewing, one can really appreciate the programme as a whole.

'Rose' follows Rose Tyler’s journey as she faces walking shop dummies, and a mysterious stranger known as the Doctor, who isn't all that he seems.

The acting of the episode is top notch, but the portrayal of Mickey just doesn't seem to fit in. He represents the clown, and, apart from giving Rose a purpose in helping the Doctor, serves little to the plot.

The humour of the episode is very strongly played, and is digestible with an open mind, but the burping wheelie bin gag is just too OTT in order to be accepted. The plastic Mickey is a good concept, but has clownish faults, which detract from the possible drama of the episode.

The Autons are a welcome return to the series, but the invasion at the climax to the programme suffers from being over-shadowed by its predecessors of Spearhead From Space and Terror of the Autons. However, the sequence does work well, as do the scenes with the Nestene Consciousness, which (albeit possibly intentional) is inaudible, a factor that detracts from the piece yet does abolish the stereotypical Doctor Who ideology that all Aliens appear to speak English (which is further picked up by the next episode) 

In all 'Rose' is a good story, but not a great one, but in all it is fair to lament that it is Doctor Who and it is back.

Doctor Who made it's long-overdue return to our TV screens last night and it seems fair to suggest that Rose and the following twelve episodes constitute a real 'make or break' period in the show's history; should it flop here then it seems inconceivable that the BBC would later choose to resurrect it yet again.

What then should we make of Rose?

The opening title lacked a feel of grandeur; after a nine year absence I was hoping for something a little more impressive but it was reasonable enough. I still can't get used to the new logo however, it looks horribly amateurish. Moving onwards, the opening few minutes were fairly impressive; Rose becomes trapped in the basement with a room full of Autons and this was just the start the series needed - something to get viewers hooked from the start. The tension was destroyed somewhat by the already well-documented technical problems involving Graham Norton, however I'm sorry to say that he wasn't the real culprit in destroying any menace that the planned Auton invasion carried...

The Doctor bursts onto the scene to save Rose and it's certainly a dramatic first appearance; after maniacally telling Rose to 'run for her life' he then proceeds to blow up the entire department store. He later catches up with Rose again in a slightly surreal scene which involves him peering through the catflap. At this stage, the undertones of a very zany type of humour really rise to prominence and proceed to manifest themselves far too regularly throughout the rest of the episode. The Doctor is propositioned by Rose's mother; to the best of my knowledge the series had managed to go the previous 160 serials without something like this and it feels alarmingly out of place - as if the show feels the need to keep itself 'fresh' or 'relevant'. This certainly isn't the way to go about it; it came across as completely contrived and an attempt at cheap humour. Perhaps it wouldn't have felt so ludicrous if it was portrayed with a little more subtlety and not inside the first ten minutes of a new show but unfortunately it stood out like a sore thumb.

Things generally took a turn from the worse from here on in. We have an interesting discussion between the Doctor and Rose regarding the spinning of the Earth and this hints at a darker, more serious side to the Doctor but there is painfully little else in the next twenty minutes or so to support this proposition. What we're presented with instead is an alarmingly arrogant, self-righteous Time Lord who appears to have lost any sort of fond regard for the human species (the dislike shown here is much stronger than any previous incarnations have shown) and who isincapable of sustaining any real prolonged conversation with his companion; we instead have some throwaway dialogue that consists of Rose asking questions and the Doctor giving fairly banal responses.

Some of the problems with this episode can be overlooked as perhaps being atypical of the season - how many times will the team need to try and create a scene with a wheelie bin swallowing a human being, for instance? But other criticisms are more worrying - the completely overworked humour being a prime example: why do we need to see the wheelie bin burp afterwards? Why do we need to see the Auton Mickey swerve from side to side; it's already obvious that he's not the genuine article. There's a strong contrast here between the constant humour which really erodes away all menace from the Auton threat (compare auton Mickey with Scobie's Auton duplicate in Spearhead from Space) and humour which exists to just break up the seriousness of the situation. 

The new series risks making the mistakes already made by Doctor Who and other sci-fi shows in the past. We've seen a very confident/arrogant Doctor with a very dismissive attitude to the human species and a proposensity for zany, slapstick humour. The last Doctor who made such an immediate impact, for better or worse, was Colin Baker and we've seen the impact that such a dramatic departure from previous norms can have. Much more needs to be made of the Doctor's darker side and the humour needs to be toned down or the series will lose it's 'hide behind the sofa' appeal - the very thing that drew children into it back in 1963. 

Perhaps the biggest problem with Rose however is not the portrayal of the Doctor, which may evolve over time, but the limitations of the 45 minute format; we were presented with a very rushed serial that gave little to no explanation of the Auton threat or the antiplastic used to counter it. Despite the short duration however, the scenes involving the Doctor being held captive still somehow managed to feel overblown. While future serials won't need to introduce new characters, Rose didn't feel like 5/10 minutes short of being a complete story - it felt some way off.

As it stands, I believe the show is quite firmly in the last chance saloon and the Doctor may have encountered a threat that even he cannot prevail over. The possibility that there might be no more incarnations of the Doctor seems feasible if the problems of slapstick humour, a dislikeable Doctor and rushed feel are all not addressed quickly.

We need to review the Who

In ways more than two!!

Would it frighten the 2005 child

And with fright send them sofa bound, eyes wild?

Auton dummies were unnervingly scary,

Menace spoilt by the bleed through 'fairy'!!

More scenes of plastic destruction to build up alien danger

And less perhaps of Grace Bros, Mr Grainger,

With 'corny' hand grabs the neck frivolity

Stopping the creepiness from escalating properly.

But shade and light calms the fright

Giving release from terrors being remembered into the night

By the young 6 year old who now keeps on the light.

Frighten the nippers too soon

And parents will not allow them to return to the room.

Rose was good, and pacily introduced with English buses red

Plotlines zipped along and never slowed to lead.

Roller coaster riding with an 'odd' sequence by a pit

With the good Dr doing nought whilst Rose's Mum had a fit.

Nice to contrast Cardiff's (sorry London's) plight 

With the inter-cut Doctor's fight

But too long the camera dwelled 

On our good Dr, by dummies held

Weak and ineffectual he appeared- too slow..

More snappy editing would have moulded our hero!!

Wheely bins were just the 'familiar' object to send a shiver

Up my spine when next I deposit my litter!!

Boyfriends to be eaten was an obvious story-line

Only tempored by the sticky sequence with effects so fine,

Until the actor turned around -and then 'oh dear'

We could see the creaky effects, expensive and dear.

And alarm bells start ringing with a clang

For this is one reason why the series went 'BANG'

All the good acting, effects, and work can be undone

By one misplaced and gremlin air brush or CGI gun.

Romantic memories of wobbly sets and scenic flaws

Either pleases fans or is manna for detractors.

Don't take this rhyming rubbish as a moan or complaint,

More a worry and concern for series TWO - reality fient?

Preview clips promise aliens and themes enjoyably scary

But images appear pasted on - be wary!!

They should look part of the background-involved-real

Not a CGI effect of fire in a department floor- surreal

Why not blow out an old stores' floor? 

But whoa- I should not whinge - there's more in store

I have not seen, and judgement should wait.

There is hope and more to praise than berate.

So a quirky, at times glib, and Dr - maybe antagonising 

With a defined excellent sidekick will have their fling.

Kids will see for the first time elements of what fans know

That writers and co have lovingly recreated 'our' show.

But the biggest blunder by the BBC- we need a rolling neck-

Was to play viewer battles with Ant and Dec!!

Why make the same mistake as they did with McCOY

And so possible lower ratings is another argument to employ

By those in power who want only one series.

Please Beeb give it a chance - be proud please.

Program carefully, help the young fans you want access the Who

And then fans, old and young alike will get Series Two!!!

Oh dear. After the rather whizz-bang exposition in "Rose", this was the episode I was expecting to calm things down a bit, deepen and widen the scenario, bring in more of the wide-eyed wonder that is also part of "Dr Who".

It started well enough - the grandeur of the sets, the strangeness of the aliens (even if The Steward could have walked off the set of "Olde Tyme Music Hall"), the visual spendour of the expanding sun held back by gravity satellites.

Then come the spiders, which are beautifully realised all the way through, and obviously Not Good News. And the mystery of who is controlling them - and for what reason...

The building rapport between the Doctor and the tree lady, which culminates in the revelation that Gallifrey is destroyed, and he's the last of the Time Lords, is also wonderful stuff.

But the unfolding storyline is where it rather fell flat for me. Why kill The Steward? The siders had control anyway, they could have just locked him up, or held him hostage like eberyone else. 

The fan room was so obvious that the climax, later, was no surprise at all. And putting THE crucial manual switch at the end of a walkway with them in the way didn't really ring true either. 

The Lady Cassandra, it turns out, is seriously twentieth century obsessed. Her perfect 5-billion year old jukebox (or replica) plays precisely those tunes we the audience will recognise. Her motivation is something any modern business person with few scruples would understand perfectly. And yet, this is 5 billion years into the future? Fans of Michael Moorcock's "End of Time" series must have wept to see such an opportunity missed.

So, for me - like "Rose", this is another curate's egg - full of wonderful moments and touches, yet as a whole, lacking something. As "Casanova" demonstrates brilliantly, Russell T Davies can write wit, comedy and romance to weaken the hardest. But edgy, twisty, genuinely novel thriller stuff ? Still not convinced...

So, after so long, so many novellos, audio adventures and hiatus, the Eight Doctor whose first adventure involved a motorcycle chase through San Fransisco and shouting in a cupboard for 30 minutes has arrived in modern day London with a very different appearance and a very different dynamic ethos. Welcome to Doctor Number 9, Christopher Eccleston. 

Of course, with all the older episodes and nostalgic look backs during the lead-up, it is inevitable that comparing "Ghost Light" and "City of Death" and "Dragonfire" with "Rose" is like comparing apples with pears. This is glossy and modern, with the investment and computer technology that all previous Doctors so desparately needed. "Rose" is just as much a Doctor Who experience as any previous serial, but this looked and behaved as any 40 minute drama serial would; short, sharp and sexy. A new era indeed. And when this episode was over, apart from feeling giddy and exhausted, the feeling was of relief that finally Doctor Who has all the right elements together to make a new series work. 

Christopher Eccleston is perfectly cast, and acts fantastically, as the Ninth regeneration. Almost everything he did seemed right on the nail, with perfect interaction with Rose and flawless behaviour within the well realised story. There will be countless reviews which suggest that Eccleston has elements of each and every Doctor before him; they are right. You can sense all from Hartnell to McGann in the eccentricities, humour and stature. The "regeneration mirror shot" - such a small little tradition - was done with great humour. 

Billie Piper is the natural sucessor to Sophie Aldred; Ace is now Rose and there are so many possibilities for Rose's character it is a certain bet that novello writers are already penning idea for her. She was able to put across the stunned bemusement and attracted curiousness in good measure, and distanced herself from the "scream and gleam" companions along whom she strides as a confident and classy young woman. 

As those who saw the TV Movie will testifty, narrative is all. Good actors can try all they can but a narrative has to be a sound structure. The return of the Autons and the conclusion was breathlessly rapid; perhaps a little too short and sweet. The "anti-plastic" solution seemed to be introduced and executed quickly with an element of "fake tension" between cutting shots that didn't quite have the desired effect. As an introduction to the two main characters, the story did work well. Rose was very quickly in a situation she could not control, the Doctor was very quickly introduced and importantly did not automatically sweep the shop assistant of her feet and into the TARDIS. With time to develop, the relationship seems more real and the script really helped here. How many times are we going to see quoted "Nice to meet you Rose, now run for your life!". 

Maybe die-hard 'Whovians' are going to groan at the idea of a glossy, CGI-aided version of Doctor Who. But with all the possibilities that the new era holds, this new series could be the start of a relationship taking the concept well into the 21st Century. Paul McGann's Doctor could have been everything and more Christopher Eccleston is promising; let us take the journey with him and find out.

You watch this episode with the knowledge that this Dr is already "dead"... he's going to regenerate at the end of this series, or maybe in the Christmas special, regenerate into Casanova it seems...and that knowledge is going to colour your views of this and further episodes this series... but what can you do? Its Dr Who, you have to watch it out of love and so I did, but for the review, here, I want to look at the episode as stand alone, through the lens if possible of 'market forces'... because at the end of the day they didn't bring Dr Who back to please the fans did they? They brought it back so that they (and the they is not some hidden secret society but the BBC) could make some money and gain some recognition out of it. And I don't hold that against them (nor should we)

That said there was plenty for the fans in this one - the news that Gallifrey lost a war and is gone... against who? Was it the daleks? I think we should be told... The noise of the Tardis inside the control room... just like the good old days! Although, as an aside, I think the new design of the control room is just too...alien? Despite the roundels in the walls, it would have been nice to have a bit more continuity here I think...but maybe thats just the fan in me.

Was the episode any good? I watched it with my wife and I think it is worth bringing in her views here. Why? because she can't stand Science Fiction. For every SF film/programme I want to put on the DVD I have to sit through the equivalent amount of RomCom. To date the only positive comments she has ever made are about X2 and Spiderman and lets be honest you would have to be a dour geriatric actuary from Auchtermuchty with your adrenal glands removed not to like those films. Of the end of the world she said "well its better than last week" and yes, by Xoanon, it is!! 

After this episode, there's hope! Some humour (e.g. the Dr's rescue of Rose as the Sun glare goes up and down), some good ideas (the "300G time battery" thing that the Dr puts in Rose's phone) and some weIrd and tragic action (the Dr & t he tree lady in the fan tunnel) these are the kind of ingredients that make the formula that took Buffy to the top, that meant Star Trek kept its franchise going too, sorry, so, long. The stuff in short that makes a winning genre series

After last week (i.e. episode 1) I have to admit to being disappointed - but now I live in hope that, along with the ipod/jukebox collection of records in the sky+box/video the last television series on Earth could well be Dr Who!