After the sublime delights that were Mark Gattiss's The Unquiet Dead it's back to Earth (literally) with a bang with the RTD penned two parter.

As the Doctor takes Rose back to visit her mum, domesticity threatens to overtake the show and an absurd alien invasion begins to take place. Add to this UNIT operatives with less personality that a de-activated Auton and, I'm sorry, we have the weakest story of the run so far.

The premise is a good one ... the augmented pig isn't. The cast is stellar ... the flatulent Slitheen are not. The effects top notch ... until we get men in rubber suits with very dodgy masked and zips on foreheads.

This looked spectacular, but, in keeping with the other parts, it also features the weakest Eccleston portrayal to date. He's just too flippant.

When Doctor who was on tv in the eighties there were moments that make us all cringe, things that are cast up by people who don't like the series to prove it was "rubbish". The Magma Creature, The Kandyman, Dobbin in Warriors from the Deep.

It seems RTD has created his own version of this.

We'll just have to get through next week .. and wait for the Daleks.

Having recovered from the shocking decline of quality witnessed in "The Unquiet Dead", I'm glad to say that this was a return to form. I am worried, however, that all the episodes I've liked thus far have been by the same writer. It doesn't give me much hope for the non-Davies episodes.

In any case, there was a genuine sense of excitement to this episode, something which was lacking from the previous two. For once, I wasn't already ahead of the characters as they were puzzling things out. And I loved the city of London's reaction to the extra terrestrial visitors: the excitement is palpable, but underneath it things are pretty much as they've always been. Rose's mum is far more concerned about where her daughter's been and making sure her guests all have a drink than the world changing events going on a few miles away.

Speaking of Rose, it's nice to see the real impact of her choosing to up and leave her life, instead of this being swept under the carpet and ignored. Are the problems with the TARDIS going to be a continuing theme this series? It stretches credibility somewhat if this has happened two episodes in a row by pure coincidence, but to much better dramatic effect here than in episode three.

It's childish and stupid, but there's something about people running around corridors with guns that never gets boring. More of this, less floating spectres and giant rotor blades please. And I'd never thought I'd say this, but: well done, BBC special effects department. Not only are the Slitheen genuinely alien in appearance, but the shot of the spaceship taking out a big chunk of Big Ben was wonderfully done.

Two minor complaints: firstly, I don't know if I was supposed to be disgusted at what was done to the alien-impersonating pig, but I wasn't ("it must have been terrified" the Doctor says sadly, as if he's talking about an Iraqi child with no limbs). I mean, come on, how can you feel sorry for a pig in a space suit? I suspect this is supposed to be tongue in cheek, so I will let it go.

Secondly, the farting. I know to at least half the population (the male half, predominantly) that farting is the funniest thing imaginable. But there could have been any other number of signals used to denote when a supporting character is actually an alien. Nose bleeds, random vomiting, narcolepsy... all of these obvious solutions are much funnier than farting.

Having said all that, this was the best episode of the series so far, and thanks to the series' first cliff-hanger, promises a lot for the second part.

With the teaser trailer setting expectations high, Aliens of London fails to deliver as much as it promised - with moments of silliness marring an otherwise solid plotline.

The episode starts off wonderfully, with Miss Piper continuing to shine as Rose. It is one of the highlights of the new series to see the companion acting realistically, struggling as someone really would, amidst numerous interactions that arise from her normality clashing with extreme situations. This is particularly joyous given the tendency to excess of Mr Eccleston as the Doctor. The scene with Rose's late return was wonderful, with plenty of amusing comic moments and cultural references thrown in. I thought that Mickey was much better here than before; the viewer was able to sympathise with his anger, relief and resentment of the Doctor.

The overall concept for the alien invasion was intriguing with a suitably surprising and salivating plot twist to keep the viewer interested. Much to my surprise, the augmented pig actually worked... although I am guessing not everyone will agree with me on that! The Slitheen plan is well organised, planned in detail and highly manipulative. Continuing with the positives, the special effects were again superb.

Unfortunately, the story was greatly weakened by the cabinet ministers at the centre of the plot. Rather than enhance the sense of mystery or suspense, they destroy it. The farting was part of a wider problem with their portrayal, with none of them managing to prove convincing at being members of parliament. Disappointing.

The potential for the news footage to add to the realism of the occasion and overall sense of panic was again wasted. Perhaps they feared a War-of-the-World panic should anyone have inadvertently tuned in and it was too believable, but it was sometimes embarrassingly bad and it was often unclear about the passage of time involved.

Aliens of London was yet again good entertainment but failed to match the previous stories, frustratingly because of a basic but important weakness to make the menacing and calculating aliens sufficiently believable as human leaders. The episode ended up being lighter than I had anticipated but, following from the particularly creepy Unquiet Dead and with the (hopefully) scary Dalek to come, perhaps this is not surprising in retrospect. If the new Who is to appeal to a broad audience of children, it can't be too dark. And despite the failings, it is still a fantastic romp and - dare I say it - much better than a great, great deal of the old series!

Given the announcement was this week, I would also like to state my support for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Aside from being a fine actor, he is also enthusiastic about the show which I think is important. Let us hope that the quality and, moreover, the great fun of the show continue and that everyone can get behind Mr Tennant as they did Mr Eccleston.

Aliens of London gave me hopes and concerns before transmission. The series up to this point had been strong and the effects shown in the trailer were good. The concerns I had were that the episode was set in (all but) real time and with a new alien threat. It therefore had elements where Doctor Who had gone wrong in the past.

It also had the risk of being a double parter, if it was good then it had the bonus of a good traditional cliff hanger, if it was poor the risk was two weeks to live with.

All in all the story had a lot to live up to and overall I thought it was a complete and utter disappointment. The ridiculous farting aliens and the immature laughing scenes made me feel ashamed to be interested in Doctor Who, I felt I was watching a drama for the pre-school, never mind a programme for the family.

On the plus side, an area where I expected to feel uncomfortable worked well. Billie Piper acted her socks off in the domestic settings of her home. She turned the good element of the plot of the missing twelve months into a realistic plot twist and all in all Billie came out with full credit.

Christopher Eccleston Doctor was not so good. In a couple of shows he looked an alien, but unfortunately not as a Timelord but as an actor in a show he had never seen. His overall performance to date however gives me faith he will recover before the series climax.

Alarmingly the supporting cast acted well, especially Penolpe Wilton. This I say is alarming as it means the poor characters appeared to be due to the quality of the script, and the therefore RTD.

My other areas of concern were the aliens. The zips in their heads and rubber suits belonged in another movie set, but where? The minute their over computer generated bodies appeared it became clear ... Men In Black.

From the above it would be easy to say the episode had nothing to offer, but this isn't quite true. The Doctor fixing his problematic TARDIS, the acknowledgement of UNIT and the Doctors excitement by history offered something for the traditionalists. The great graphics, the Rose family story line and fast moving plot offers something for the casual / new viewer. The appalling farting for the children.

All in all however it didn't pull together, and unfortunately from my discussions to date upset everyone from the casual viewer to the die hard fans. Roll on the Daleks and get ready to grit your teeth next week!

Ah. Well, may be a cynical, embittered, rapidly degenerating old man. But against all my doubts and concerns, the new Doctor Who has had a disturbingly powerful effect on me. Mark Gatiss (a fellow North Easterner!) delivered the first knock out blow with the wonderful third episode and I've been punch drunk ever since. His story was scary, dramatic, funny and genuinely moving.

With this new episode I expected to take a step back. I was barely convinced by the first episode, I loved the sexy desperate mum, but was far from convinced by Mickey and the 'real world'. So I entered episode episode 4 with a real lack of great expectations. How wrong could I be? Mickey was great. The actor is very likeable and engaging, and in this episode he became more than the annoying boyfriend he was in 'Rose'. I really felt for the poor bloke. Again, the joy of the series characters' is that they rises beyond the 2-dimensional expectations.

The 12 months missing storyline was excellent, as was the doctor stuck in the uncomfortably 'human' environment. Haven't we all felt like an alien in other peoples homes?

Like a fantastic pudding, it was only enhanced by countless chocolate chip features like a mention of Unit, the doctor flashing up on the computers as 'recognised', the doctor telling his sonic screwdriver to 'shush' and his endless enthusiasm, which finally for me seemed entirely joyful to watch. I'm not a big fan of farting, or of farting jokes, but you know, this really didn't bother me!

It all built to a lovely climax, ruined only be the trailer for next week. Doesn't Russel T Davies know I'm a broken man and I no longer have the will to turn over even when I know I should.

I'm now at the stage where if I heard RTD had cast a whoopee cushion as the next assistant, I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled off some magic and revealed a depth to a piece of wind-breaking latex I hadn't previously considered.. You know, I've been having way too much fun to indulge in criticisms, which makes this an awful review I know. But if I could have just said 'Hurrah!' and had it printed I would have.

Thanks for cheering this miserable old git up! We still have nine episodes, a christmas special, another doctor and thirteen episodes more to go.

Aliens of London' seems to signal a return to 'Doctor Who's origins. The double episode felt a lot closer to the old format, allowing a slightly more complicated plot, more character development and a cliff-hanger ending. The A-plot also returned to prime 'Doctor Who' territory, refreshed with 21st century cgi, whilst the novel treatment of the companion -- torn between old & new attachments -- made a great soapy counterpoint. The extensive use of news reports contributed to the contemporary feel that has characterised this series, and I adored Andrew Marr's cameo & the snatch of 'Blue Peter'.

The action plot, however, was rather pedestrian, with too many of the twists being oversignalled & overlaboured. Much of the action required a degree of idiocy that stretched plausibility ... even for civil servants/MPs/military, sacrificing any tension & menace. The pacing sagged in the middle, & even towards the heavy-handed, repetitive climax. (And someone should inform the BBC that running spoilers for the upcoming episode over the credits works spectacularly poorly with a cliffhanger.) In the heavy focus on the two leads, secondary characters have all been relegated to cardboard.

Billie Piper is continuing to do a fine job, and I love the ambiguity she's projecting in her feelings for the Doctor. I pray, however, this strand remains ambiguous (I don't think I can bear another Buffy/Angel scenario). On the other hand, I felt at times Eccleston was walking through his lines in this episode. I'm not yet enjoying Davies/Eccleston's version of the Doctor, with the ubiquitous grin -- I think it's high time for those dark secrets to come out.

After the dark-toned 'Unquiet Dead', 'Aliens of London' was definitely heavy on the humour. One or two one-liners stood out (in particular the one where the boyfriend says he isn't seeing anyone else because everyone thinks he's a murderer); however, there was way too much schoolboy humour for my taste. I'm probably not the primary audience for the series, but a little of that kind of thing goes a long long way.

Overall, a mixed bag. By no means my favourite of the series so far, but I'm beginning to feel the connection with the old 'Doctor Who' at last.