So after an adventure in the present day and a trip to the far future, we finally get our first episode of the new series to be set in what has always been one of the most fruitful areas for Doctor Whoscriptwriters' imaginations – the past. Perhaps surprisingly, given how well the series always seems to work in the time period, this is only the fourth time that the TARDIS had landed in Victorian times in the TV series proper. While it's certainly no Talons of Weng-Chiang, it is a damn good episode, and easily carries on the high standard set out in the first two episodes.

The setting, I have to say, looks marvellous. It has become something of a clichй to say that the BBC is good at creating historical settings in its drama programmes, but it's true. That fine tradition of costume dramas serves the production team well here as they create a perfectly convincing 1860s Cardiff – well, as convincing as it can be given that none of us have ever been to that time and place to be able to compare it! Euros Lyn's fine direction shows off the mocked-up Victorian streets to their fullest, and even though this was obviously done on a tight series budget rather than that of a film or lavish Sunday night Andrew Davies serial, it never feels small or enclosed or anything less than epic. I think the snow probably helps to add a great deal to the atmosphere, of course, but throughout Lyn's direction is never less than accomplished, and it's a shame this is his final episode of the season. I hope he returns next year.

What is nicely small and contained this week, however, is the guest cast – there are only three roles of any great significance, those being Alan David as Sneed, Eve Myles as Gwyneth and of course Simon Callow in the role he was apparently born to play, Charles Dickens. All three are superb – David bringing just the right balance of comedy and the macabre to his unfortunate undertaker; Myles having a lovely combination of innocence, spirituality and instinctive intelligence; and Callow… Well, what can I possibly say about Callow that hasn't already been said? The transformation of Dickens from world-weary author despairing of the state of his life and career to reinvigorated adventurer with a lust for life is one of the highlights of the episode, and the ending as he strides off with a, of course, "God bless us, every one!" is delightful. It makes it all the more bittersweet and sad that the Doctor, Rose and of course we in the audience know that sadly he'll be dead within the year, but at least he got this life-affirming glimpse at the greater picture of the universe before he went.

Much of the excellent of the guest cast comes from the script they've been served up with from Mark Gatiss, who provides an interesting contrast to the first two episodes as of course he's the first writer apart from Davies whose work we've seen in the new series. The script is a delight – full of lovely one-liners from all of the characters, with Sneed being particularly well-served. His knowledge and love of Dickens and his work also shines through, and even if having him say "What the Shakespeare is going on?" may be historically dodgy – the expression ‘what the dickens?' apparently pre-dates the author by some centuries – I don't think anybody cares, as it's the line of the episode for me.

There's plenty of good material for the Doctor and Rose as well, with Rose's delight and wonder at finding herself in a history she has only read about or seen on television being particularly well-conveyed. Once again, however, one of the highlights for me are the little hints and suggestions about the wider picture of the season we keep getting. Rose's reaction to discovering that they're in Cardiff was intriguing, and I'm sure there's going to be some sort of link between her and Cardiff picked up on later in the season, judging by it. The Gelth's mention of the ‘Time War' is the third episode in a row when what is presumably the same conflict has been mentioned, and the Doctor's look when the war is mentioned does indeed suggest that this was the conflict which destroyed his home planet. I love this sense of mythology building, and I hope we continue to get these teasing suggestions throughout the rest of the season. Gwyneth seeing a ‘big bad wolf!' in Rose's mind also picks up on what seems to be another on-going theme, so there's plenty to keep those who follow all of the episodes interested without ever threatening to alienate more casual viewers, which is surely how good episodic drama series should work.

The Gelth's involvement in the Time War provides a nice explanation for why the Doctor is to quick to trust them and wants to help them. This seems to be a more battle-scarred Doctor than we've seen before, still reeling perhaps from the loss of his planet and his people, and eager to help a race who seem to be in the same situation as himself, lost and alone, and suffering from the effects of the same conflict. Of course it turns out that he is too quick to trust them which leads to the drama of the episode's conclusion, as the Gelth flood through into our world and only Charles Dickens can save the day.

I must admit I did find it a bit disappointing that the Doctor simply seems to give up when faced with the crowd of Gelth-possessed bodies, being more keen on mourning the fact that he's going to die in Cardiff of all places than actually trying to do something about it. It would be nice if the Doctor could be a little more pro-active at saving the day, but as the episode ends so well I think I can forgive it this, as long as it doesn't happen too often.

Poor Gwyneth dies, and with another sense of mystery – if she was dead in that archway, how was she speaking and seeming alive those last five minutes? It's left unexplained, apart from a Shakespearean quote from Dickens of course, but her death is very affecting, particularly as she'd been so likeable. The scene where she points out that Rose thinks she's stupid just because she's from a different time highlights what I think many of us subconsciously end up thinking about people who lived in generations prior to ours.

The nice little coda to the episode, of Dickens asking the Doctor about the future and seeing the TARDIS dematerialise, is structurally unnecessary perhaps, but I wouldn't get rid of it for the world. It was a little uneasy when I first heard Dickens was going to appear in this episode as Doctor Who often works better in the shadow of actual history and real people rather than confronting them head on, but his appearance worked perfectly and the ending to the episode is one of the best we've had in the whole series I think. The new series seems to be developing a habit of nice little coda endings if the past two episodes are anything to go by, and that's not something I think I'll complain about as it all adds wonderfully to the characterisations.

In short then, another terrific piece of all-round entertainment, and another example of this new series failing to put a foot wrong so far.

Victorian England. A setting of some of the Doctor's best stories like The Talons of Weng Chiang and Ghost Light. Can this possibly live up to those Who classics?

The story starts off with the body of an old woman being taken over some ghostly creature in the undertakers of Gabriel Sneed, which is effectively realised and quite genuinely spooky. The CGI effects are quite simple, but convey the whispy creatures well. From the outset the tone of the story is given; a Victorian horror story about body possessions.

After the awesome opening titles and best rendition of the opening theme Doctor Who is ever likely to have we go to the Doctor and Rose inside the TARDIS. They're having trouble controlling the machine and it seems to shake around quite violently. This Doctor seems to be having lots of trouble with his time machine; a result of the War perhaps? The TARDIS eventually lands. The Doctor tells her they are in Naples, Christmas 1860, and tells her to dress for the occasion. He points her to a room in the TARDIS where she can find the appropriate attire. From what I've seen of this new TARDIS control room I've seen no other doors that lead to the interiors of the ship, but I suppose I'm nit-picking now. The banter between the Doctor and Rose is exceptional; I'm suddenly realising that I've NEVER enjoyed Doctor Who this much. Of course they are nowhere near Naples in 1860, but that's just another quirk of this near series which made me laugh. The TARDIS landing nowhere near it's destination never seemed funny before.

We meet a lot of interesting characters as the story progresses at a break-neck pace. Charles Dickens, here in Cardiff to read extracts from his books. Gabriel Sneed, undertaker and kidnapper of Rose in the first 10 minutes. There's Gwyneth, Sneed's assistant with psychic powers. This is what Doctor Who does better than any other programme; creates believable and complex guest characters that we come to know. That they are all effectively realised in just 44 minutes is a miracle. 

And from then on the plot follows the route of identifying the mysterious gaseous aliens, the Gelth, and trying to understand their motives. At first they appear to be benign. All they want is to allow the few that have survived the Time War to inhabit the bodies of the dead so they can survive. The Doctor wants to help them and thus comes into conflict with Rose, who finds the whole notion of allowing the dead to be compromised in such a way completely abbhorent. Billie Piper puts in an excellent performance here. Her outrage in genuine. I'm finding myself being more and more engaged by Billie's acting. Never has a companion been this good.

Of course the Gelth are far from benign. Or maybe they just want to survive and will do anything to achieve that aim; things in Doctor Who are less than black and white, and the Gelth are prime examples of this. Are they evil just because they want to kill every human being on Earth so they can inhabit their bodies, being as it's the only way they can survive? You may think so, but things are a lot more complicated. The Gelth once had human bodies but they were destroyed in the Time War, the war in which Gallifrey was destroyed and possible the Nestene homeworld. Did the Doctor have something to do with this, we wonder. Is this new Doctor much darker than we have been lead to believe? 

In the end the Gelth are stopped from entering Earth through the portal they created through the body of the wonderful Gwyneth, who sacrifices herself in the process. Rose's friendship with Gwyneth was very moving and her reaction at her death and the notion that she will never be remembered for saving the world is touching. But do I have to be concerned for Rose's mental state though. If she gets this upset over every death she sees she'll be in the loony bin by the end of the season.

The location work is beyond excellent. You really feel that you're walking the streets of Cardiff, Christmas, 1869. The mood is there; the fashions are there. It's just perfect. The acting is top notch, especially from Simon Callow as Dickins. He was a very engaging character and his initial scepticism at the Gelth was highly amusing, even when confronted by several of the things flying around his head! Special mention must also go to Eve Myles as Gwyneth. She was a wonderful character and I was genuinely upset at her death. Mark Gatiss did a wonderful job giving her such depth in such a short time.

Then there's the brief mention of the Time War. It looks like a lot of planets have been affected by this. I know this is going somewhere and I'm eager to find out exactly what. I'm also a little saddened. If the Doctor is the last of his race then that means that Susan and Romana are dead, maybe even Leela too, if she was still on Gallifrey at the time. I doubt these characters will be mentioned in the future as it would be too much continuity to explain, but I'm still worried about this; what are the fates of these characters? 

So there we have it. Was it better than The Talons of Weng Chiang and Ghost Light? Definately. This is what Doctor Who would've been with a better budget; the best Doctor Who has ever been.

This has to be, quite simply, one of my favourite Doctor Who stories yet.

Oh, yes, reasons.

Well, for one, Simon Callow as Dickens. Who'd have thought an actor, as talented and well thought of as he, would take a guest appearance in our little show? Just goes to show how seriously it's being taken. And what a performance from him! Played with such conviction, Dickens what utterly convincing, far from the caricature that Doctor Who often made of historical personalities.

Billie's performance was, again, totally convincing. Now her character seems more settled in as a time-traveller, but she still displays perfect wonder and excitement, and, when needed, believable anger when confronting the Doctor. For all that the hype surrounding her suggests, Rose isn't cutting edge because she stands up for herself, saves the Doctor and fights her own battles – Leela was doing that back in the 70s – but because she is written and played as a normal person. She reacts in a perfectly understandable way when confronted with body-snatching aliens.

This counterpoints her with the Doctor, who behaves in a bizarre, but entirely logical, way when dealing with the Gelth. His sharp yet justified snap at Rose to get used to a different morality underlines this incarnation's view on the world. ‘It could save their lives,' he says of the corpse-stealers, and he's entirely right. It's a point that is in no way diminished when the aliens turn out to be villainous after all. Even then, the Doctor is regretful that they have to be destroyed to save humanity. As with the Nestene, he first tries to negotiate and agree terms, showing empathy for a people desperate to survive; and also, it seems, guilt for his part in the mysterious war. With Cassandra, in the previous tale, he showed no mercy, killing her in retaliation for her greed-inspired murdering.

In this and other aspects of his performance, Eccleston continues to impress, and it is a great shame he'll only have one season in which to build on his character. His evident delight in meeting Dickens is a joy to behold, and I must confess, I've always had a soft spot for dreadful puns. Also enjoyable to watch is his growing fondness for/attraction to Rose, which thankfully is subtle enough not to alter the focus of the stories, merely to add a frisson of something new.

The effects were possibly the best so far, perhaps because they didn't try to achieve the impossible. The Gelth were genuinely creepy, and the scream truly horrible, something that the ‘other' 9th Doctor's story, Scream of the Shalka, was missing. The Victorian setting was one of the best aspects, evoking a wonderful Christmassy atmosphere. Although I had hoped the Doctor would don appropriate period clothing, he actually didn't look as out of place as I had feared. Rather than being weirdly futuristic, he instead came across as more of a scruffy traveller, muscling in on proper society, which is exactly what he is.

All in all, the perfect Christmas episode. It's simply a pity the production team didn't know they'd be having a Christmas special when they produced it – how can they top that?

There was some bad feedback a few weeks ago from someone who had seen the pirated copy of the pilot episode "Rose", about which I was immediately skeptical. The review, that is. It seems my feelings at that time were wholly justified, because I've recently watched said copy myself, and couldn't disagree more. I intended to avoid peeking at it until it showed up on my own TV, but I hadn't figured at this point we Yanks would still be waiting for any word of a network picking it up. Out of courtesy to the current BBC regime, who rule all in time and space for bringing Doctor Who back, I wanted to wait a few days until it launched in England before I wrote my review. Though I don't think anyone should worry since my thoughts are encouraging after all. And I know I'm still going to watch it in its PROPER setting of my television via my cable connection. Let me just start from the top and work forward...

If that pilot episode's a caterpillar, there's probably one effin' sexy butterfly on the way...

The title music isn't the final version in what I saw. I've heard the new arrangement played in several different settings, from the trailers to a snippet aired on one of the BBCs morning shows, and it is a testament to the original's awe and mystique, which literally serves as the backbone for the meat that Murray Gold has grafted onto it. Frankly, I'm dying to hear it in clear digital stereo as soon as some network, ANY network in this land of opportunity decides to pony up for the rights to air the thing! I'm not 100% sure that the title sequence is the final version, either, but I like what I see, and can't wait to see it married to the proper melody.

Now here is where people are going to have the most problem with this episode. It suffers from the exposition syndrome. Folks, you need to get over it. If you want Doctor Who back you're going to have to suffer through the obligatory period of introductions, explanations and plot development. The great news is that, whereas the 1996 TV movie shoe-horned more established history into ninety minutes than anyone could digest without the aid of pharmaceuticals, this one succeeds brilliantly at the same effort in half that time with a sensibly leaner plot.

Some will say that the choice of villain is lame. Some will say the means by which the Doctor handles and resolves things is too easily achieved. Some will say they should have shot from the left in stead of the right. But you know... we're not running the show here. What they've done is the only thing they could do in a case like this. INTRODUCE THE DOCTOR! That's what it's all about, nothing more. The fact that he's got the solution to the whole situation literally up his sleeve is beside the point. By way of character Rose's point-of-view, we get swept up in the Doctor's world, and as you will perceive, events are already under way. Through her eyes, we've just stumbled into the midst of it all, and the fact that these events whizz by at an unsettling pace, brilliantly brings the viewer into Rose's humdrum life and how she herself is struggling to cope with what she's found herself suddenly involved in. But of course, that has always been the place and purpose of the Doctor Who companion: to be the on-screen manifestation of the viewer's interest. Since we can't ask the Doctor "what's going on?" they serve that purpose for us. Some may find the first chunk of the show (I'm not saying how many minutes go by, because that'd give away when things turn interesting!) rather dull, but that's the point. Rose's life is very uninteresting. When she runs into a life-threatening situation there's only one way out, and I'll give you an obvious hint: she doesn't escape on her own.

One thing I noticed was the parallels between this story and the 1996 FOX movie. Certainly, both were out to achieve the same ends, the re-introduction of the Doctor's character. But while the movie went to the length of showing the Doctor regenerate from the last actor from the original series into the new actor, this outing neatly steps past that event and, frankly, I don't miss it. I was delighted to see, as I'm sure many will be, that they even made a brief nod to his most recent regeneration (which apparently took place not too long before the story began!). And the nature of the reference is an even subtler nod to a moment in Tom Baker's post-regenerative recuperation.

This goes a long way to explaining what I'll just call Christopher Eccleston's somewhat over-the-top delivery. The Doctor is apparently still coming to grips with his new body and apparently, in regards to the above-mentioned moment, has dressed himself without a mirror. His demeanor is almost defiantly cheery and his body language has more spring in it's step than a staircase built from Serta mattresses. Once again, some will groan, "Ohhh, no, too much!" But these mannerisms are all the more effective when the flow of chaos is broken by a sudden moment of dramatic lucidity, like when the Doctor explains to Rose who he is is such a way that one is left feeling both transported and at the same time a little saddened at the hint of his inner loneliness.

I mentioned "parallels" between this story and the TV movie. The aforementioned moment of lucidity is similar in mood to a scene in the movie where the Doctor reminisces to his companion Grace about stargazing in his youth, leading unexpectedly to a charming moment involving the fit of his new shoes. The scene in Rose's home reminded me of when Grace brought the Doctor to her house to examine his health. Different events transpire but the way in which each Doctor picks things out from his surroundings and "makes a moment" for the viewer to appreciate. And in the end, the Doctor finds himself restrained and on the verge of destruction, leaving the companion to heroically show their mettle by saving the day by saving him. Hell, I even made connections between things like shots of Doctor and companion running at - and past - the camera hand-in-hand, and the fact that in both cases, the Doctor was seeking an essential something that they only eventually found with the companion's assistance. In the movie it was an atomic clock (or a piece of it), and in this case it;s a transmitter.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying plagiarism or re-hashing of old plot devices at all. I'm saying that what this production crew did was take the bare bones elements that the TV movie used and employed them to a much greater effect! And once again I ask, nay, BEG all the viewers, fans and non-fans alike, to consider these things when they have their chance to see it. Once the whirlwind exposition is past, we can settle in and enjoy the ride. Remember the first episode of Buffy? Compare that to subsequent episodes if not the future history of that series, and you can forgive the occasionally frenetic pace.

Christopher Eccleston's Doctor is weird! But in the way that leaves a grin lingering on your face. This is due in part to the post-regenerative recovery I believe he's getting through, but also stems from the aforementioned loneliness that seems to be lurking beneath the surface. His is a Doctor that has lived nearly 1000 years, has been to one side of the universe and back as well as from one end of time to the other. He probably hasn't yet seen it all, but he's certainly seen enough to give anyone a melancholy perspective on the nature of everything. They say it's the worst to be alone in a crowd, so what does one feel when that "crowd" encompasses the collective mass of life throughout the history of the universe? (And to any writer working on the series who may be reading this, you're welcome to quote that question in a future script : ) ). When someone with so little life like Rose brushes against someone who's lived more life than anyone probably ought to, there's bound to be an equalizing effect on them. Many have been the murmurings of the new Doctor's "love" for Rose, and when you take this dynamic into account, it's apparent that they need each other. With the Doctor's irritable exclamation to Rose that he can't afford to focus all his emotional energy on the death of one human while he's trying to save ALL of the "stupid apes on this planet", we get an idea of the scale of his sense of responsibility, possibly mixed with a dose of self-imposed guilt.

The "scary" factor is fairly middle-of-the-road this time out with alien forces moving zombie-like towards their human victims amongst other moments. But I will say there was one part in particular that gave me a bit of a chilled feeling. A character is killed and duplicated, and at a later moment the doppelganger is sitting, speaking with the deceased's friend. I found it mildly unsettling each time the double's face snapped back to a smile when they finished talking. Maybe others won't see it like that, but I found myself thinking, "Hey, that's actually kind of creepy."

Now, I said at the beginning that I had some criticism, but really, it is nothing that can't be laughed off. By process of elimination it's awfully petty. The first thing is the choice of music at the story's climax. For a scene involving a potential mass-slaughter, it sounded awfully "doot, de-doot, de-doo" perky to me. I forgive this by saying that once again, it's ONLY the first episode for cryin' out loud, and they're trying to establish a sense of wondrous adventure. In the end the Doctor saves the day and you want more! He even advises Rose that it's always that dangerous in his world.

The other thing takes place when a character is absorbed by the enemy and afterwards they actually cap the experience off with a "belch" sound. Okay, I can forgive a lot, including this, but really, now! BELCH?

Oh, and another thing about the music... the negative review totally panned all of it, and I honestly can't see why. Other than what I've said, I felt it was perfectly acceptable.

One other thing original series fans might suffer from is whiplash from the speed of the plot. It's been said many times before in different settings that people have learned all of the old TV and movie story-telling devices from the past sixty years, so when a story is told today it moves at a faster pace, getting to the heart of the matter, whereas many years ago, the viewer would have to have things established in detail in order for the story to progress. Since sixteen years have passed between the end of the old series and the dawn of the new, one is bound to have a sense that it's not Doctor Who-like because it's moving "too fast". I'm sure we'll all get over soon enough, though. I can't wait to see the first two-parter and judge how it feels compared to a traditional 90-minute story. There'll probably be so much going on in that story as a whole it'll be very exciting, if this 45-minute sample is anything to go by.

And then there's the TARDIS. What can I say? It's the most beautiful, not to mention HUGE set that a BBC production of the show has used since the original pilot. The concept of the Doctor being akin to a space-traveling hippie with the TARDIS being his van, is so apt, one wonders why they never thought of it before. The control console is supposedly a lash-up of whatever pieces and parts he could find from whatever time periods he visited grafted onto the futuristic equipment already there. This isn't actually addressed in the first episode, and I don't know if they'll actually explain this, but that's how the production team came up with the new look. For the moment we get a few good tantalizing glimpses within, but not much beyond that. It will be interesting to see what lies beyond the inner door, leading deeper into the ship.

Bottom line is: forgive the hyperactive pace, be patient and let the future episodes unfold and keep an open mind. For those who really enjoy this, especially those who've either sneaked a peek at the bootleg or taken a trip north of the border to catch it on April 5 when those lucky, stinkin' Canadians get it, you may find yourself really feeling pissed at the Sci-Fi Channel for being so shortsighted. Wasn't that network originally established to be a haven for the sci-fi geeks out here? A place that's supposedly capable of recognizing that there's a thing called "Doctor Who" which has a solid base of fans in this country who are hungry for a new chapter in their favorite story? A friend of mine and I were having fits over it not long ago, exclaiming sarcastically, "God! If only someone would come up with a TV network that actually showed, you know, science-fiction. Where shows like this or Wonderfalls or Dead Like Me could find a home and thrive there. Oh, yeah... I think there is one and it's called THE SCI-FI CHANNEL!!!"

The wait is worth it. You will enjoy!

For the past sixteen years, the concept of “a new series of Doctor Who” has existed purely in the abstract – a dream in the minds of the fans, something to debate and conjecture over, write articles about on internet message boards, talk to other fans about down the pub. As the years went by without any new television series, so each and every one of us began to imagine what such a thing, were it ever to happen, might be like. This long period meant that we all had time to build up our individual fantasies of what we wanted, until we all had a ‘perfect’ Doctor Who constructed in our heads, whether consciously or not. 

This is part of the problem of Rose, but only for fans – suddenly, rather than each having our own visions of the future, there is only one, and it’s here and now and right in front of us and it’s real. It’s such a culture shock to find that it’s actually here, that we perhaps risk forgetting that it can’t satisfy everyone’s desires – that would be impossible. Nor should it strive to – this is, after all, a new series for the general public, and however many nodding winks it may tip to fandom, it can never be exclusively designed for a few thousand of us amongst the millions, let alone for an individual fan amongst those thousands.

Rose was not my image of perfect Doctor Who, of course it wasn’t. I’ll tell you what it was though – pretty damn good.

First things first then, Christopher Eccleston. It sounds a crass and obvious thing to say, but he really was one of my favourite actors long before he ever got the part of the Doctor. I remember well sneakily staying up late in my room as a twelve year-old, because I was desperate to find out what happened to all of Our Friends in the North, but more than any of them I wanted to see what became of Eccleston’s Nicky. The intensity and sheer watchability he brought to that and other previous roles is present here, but with so much more – a wonderful sense of a lust for life, a line in bad jokes, charisma and great comedy timing. On first watch I wasn’t convinced about his wrestling with the Auton arm, but second time around I really enjoyed it. His whole comic routine in Rose’s living room was wonderful – for a moment he has the ‘Fonz touch’ of previous Doctors as he goes to shuffle the cards in a fancy manner, and it’s all suddenly lost as cards fly all over the place. The intelligent and the farcical going hand-in-hand – very Doctorish.

This is not an out-and-out comedy Doctor though – he’s also excellent when called upon to do the more serious stuff, such as the ‘world spinning’ speech to Rose, or the confrontation with the Nestene Consciousness where he pleads almost guiltily that he couldn’t save its world. Is this the sound of a plot arc being dropped into place, perhaps? References to ‘The War’ are interesting – it’s probably a coincidence, of course, but way back in 1963 CE Webber and Donald Wilson, two of the show’s triumvirate of creators, were of the opinion that the mysterious ‘Doctor’ character in the series they were dreaming up was a refugee from a massive ‘Galactic War’ tens of thousands of years in the future, suffering from some form of amnesia brought on by the horror of what he’d seen there… Never a concept developed upon in the series itself of course, but worth mentioning.

A Doctor needs his companion of course, and in this case we have the episode’s eponymous heroine, Rose – Rose Tyler, this project’s bearer of the Russell T Davies trademark surname. I have to admit I was one of those who was a little surprised when Billie Piper’s casting was announced back in May 2004 – yes I was prejudiced, of course I was. “Why you gotta play that song so loud?” I was always more than willing to give her a chance though – I trust this production team, and it’s clear to see why. Piper is fantastic – her ‘mockney’ accent may take a little getting used to, but I think that’s more to do with being used to hearing her natural speaking voice in interviews so much over the past couple of weeks.

Rose is an interesting character – at first she seems to be nothing more than an ordinary, everyday girl from London working in a shop, but there are glimpses of something else beneath the surface. There’s the sense of unfulfilled ambition – she left school under what are hinted at as being slightly unusual circumstances, something to do with a boy… This extra spark of life, a verve for existence, that she shows is perhaps what attracts the Doctor to her as a new travelling companion. There is a very slight touch of the Buffys to her, too – the line where she talks about being an “Under sevens gymnastics” bronze medallist was just the sort of self-effacing quip Joss Whedon might have penned for his famous leading lady, although you get the sense that Rose is going to be using her brains rather more than any sort of kick-boxing moves as she confronts the bad guys.

That brief slice of Buffy-type dialogue was part of the mix of influences at work in the episode – the Doctor holding the still-talking head of the Mickey-Auton was straight out of Total Recall, which the slightly comic council estate life Rose and her mother lead echoes Shameless, the Channel 4 drama by Davies’ great friend Paul Abbott. The mention of cats and council estates, with the TARDIS parked on the corner of a sunny suburban street in summer, also brings to mind Survival, the final story of the original 1963-1989 run of Doctor Who – an unintentional sense of picking up where we left off, perhaps.

Because despite all of those influences, all of the modern pacing and production, this is still very much Doctor Who. The sense of fun mixed in with the adventure, the righteous crusading of the Doctor tempered with his unhumanity, and the fact that he wants to give the Nestene Consciousness a chance before he has to destroy it… All of this comes right out of the heart of the series we all know and love. This is certainly Doctor Who, and very good Doctor Who at that.

The production was uniformly excellent – well-paced, well-shot and with only the incidental score from the usually-reliable Murray Gold occasionally jarring – Gold’s done an excellent job on the new mix of the theme, however, admirably accompanied by pleasingly familiar-seeming visuals from The Mill. In fact the only technical aspect to let the BBC One broadcast of the episode down were the two very brief sound bleeding errors from BBC Three’s concurrent broadcast of the Strictly Come Dancing tie-in show: unfortunate, perhaps, but I’d challenge anybody to say that these two three-second or so interruptions in any way spoiled their enjoyment of the episode.

Given how much there was to fit in and how brisk the pace was, it’s surprising there was much room for any supporting characters, but Davies has always been good at quickly establishing character, and the main supports were all very good. A few have suggested that Mickey is ‘token ethnic comic relief’, but I think this is nonsense – yes, he’s a bit useless, but that’s just his character. There’s nothing derogatory about it – Jackie and Clive are equally comically drawn and I don’t see anybody complaining about them being stereotypes.

Clive of course is one of Davies’ knowing nods to us, the fans – he is one of us basically, from a world where we don’t have a show but an actual real Doctor to obsess and make websites over. The collection in his shed was nice, and the photo from 22nd November 1963 was a lovely touch – the new beginning going right back to the first time around. Oh, and his wife’s line of “She’s read a website about the Doctor, and she’s a she?” was one of my great favourites. I would have liked to have seen more of Clive – a shame he ended up being a rather resigned victim of an Auton attack.

The Autons themselves were fantastic, blank-faced, unstoppable and suitably menacing, only really letting the side down a little when the three brides just stood there pointing their guns at Jackie and not shooting her in the several moments they had before they were deactivated. But hey-ho, it’s nice to still have Jackie around – she looks as if she’s set to provide more comic relief in the contemporarily-set episodes, and her ludicrous attempt to seduce the Doctor was a nice way of signposting just how uninterested he is in that sort of thing, thank you very much.

Overall then? Superb. The first time around I was a little worried there was too much humour for my tastes, but I think after a second viewing I was simply worrying because I was watching it with my parents and I was anxious that they’d find it too silly. Needless to say, they loved it – the burping wheelie bin went down well, and I can’t see what all the fuss has been about concerning it. Yes, it’s a comic moment, but it works. The humour never undermined the drama, it nicely counter-pointed it, which has always been how the very best Doctor Who has worked down the years.

So of course it wasn’t perfect. It never could have been it had too many expectations and dreams weighing down on it for that. But it was a fine start to what looks set to be a very fine series indeed.

After what seemed like forever, the familiar yet re-vamped music began accompanied by an interesting new title sequence – a sequence much more faithful to the ‘classic series’ than I anticipated, something of a combination between the Pertwee and Tom Baker titles, but with much, much better effects obviously.

Rose, the episode title; a fast montage of contemporary London. Rose Tyler, the eponymous heroine, entering a spooky storeroom full of what we fans know to be Autons…

“Run for your life!”

I watched the episode with my fiancйe, her stepfather and her 8-year old cousin. For forty-five minutes none of the adults in the room spoke bar myself, and that was only to answer the 8-year olds’ plot-related questions. As soon as Eccleston appeared on the screen he had us in the palm of his Gallifreyan/Mancunian hands (half human, or so the story goes), and the pace of the story carried us to it’s conclusion before we even had chance to decide what we thought of this new Doctor, of this new show. Although the forty-five minute format has had (and will continue to have) its detractors I consider the pace of the show to be one of its strongest weapons.

When the Doctor arrived Rose’s flat I really began to like this new Doctor. I always admired Colin Baker’s Doctor for being arrogant in that almost unlikeable sort of way, but Eccleston’s Doctor is arrogant in a ‘cool’ way, he’s not conceited he’s convinced. It is interesting to watch his respect for Rose develop over the episode as he realises she is more than “just another ape” that he’s here to save; after all, she saved him!

There is a huge comic potential for the new Doctor - take him dismissing Jackie Tyler’s seductive advances. “Anything could happen,” she says. “Nah!” says the Doctor, turning and walking away. It was downright funny – at first I was worried the new show would be too funny, but that isn’t the case. It’s funny in the way it always was, the way Troughton was, the way Tom Baker was, and so on, just slightly more risquй and contemporary. “He’s a gay and she’s an alien!”

I also liked the Doctor checking his appearance in Rose’s mirror, implying a very recent regeneration, very recent indeed if he hasn’t seen his own face clearly yet! It was nice to have the continuity link to the old series, especially as it isn’t set it stone and opens the door for a ‘flashback’ episode featuring Paul McGann later down the line if the series continues. After all, there would have been little point in doing a Time and the Rani style regeneration, it would serve no purpose at all other than to confuse the new audience, and on the same note it would be equally wasteful to bring back Paul McGann for ten or twenty minutes when he deserves a much better send-off after his years on the Big Finish audio adventures. 

I was surprised to hear that some fans were complaining about the scenes in Clive’s shed where he shows Rose the ‘evidence’ he has gathered about the Doctor. This was one of the highlights of the show for me, made even more enjoyable thanks to the in-jokes poked at the fans of the old series, in particular the online contingent. True, it would have been nice to see some pictures of Doctors 1 through 8, but again, I think it would only alienate new fans and perhaps taint the mystique of this new Doctor in the eyes of brand new fans who know almost nothing about him.

As for the gripe that “if they Doctor has only just regenerated, then how does Clive have pictures of him at famous events in history, e.g. Kennedy’s assassination (nice reference to An Unearthly Child, by the way) and with the family due to sail on the Titanic?” I think the answer is appalling obvious; the Doctor is a Timelord. He travels through time. These photographs, although taken in the past, may actually be in the Ninth Doctor’s future. His life is far from linear after all! How did the Seventh Doctor put it, “…perhaps in the future. My personal future, that is. Which may be the past…”

Personally I thought the wheelie-bin scene was awful and wasn’t all that impressed with the CGI either! It’s inclusion though is justified in that the 8-year old I watched the show with was covering his eyes and would not go near wheelie bins the next day!

Now, when Rose entered the TARDIS was where I think Russell T. Davies and company got it exactly right for all the fans, old and new alike. Rose’s wonder and exasperation; the Doctor’s short, blunt answers. The best TARDIS interior of the lot; very alien, very epic, very weathered. The production team also managed to do what I’ve never seen done on the show itself in that they create a beautiful effect where the interior of the TARDIS is visible from the outside when the doors are open. When I was a child watching the classic series I could never quite work out the relationship between the Police Box exterior and the interior – I always know the latter was inside the former, but in my mind’s eye I envisaged some sort of ‘hallway’ or ‘interim room’ between the Police Box doors and those huge, white cylinder-covered doors (which when fully open, appeared white and covered-covered on the outside too, oddly!) In this new TARDIS, on the inside you can tell the doors are the Police Box doors – it all fits together wonderfully. An absolute triumph for the production!

When the TARDIS materialises by the London Eye the interaction between the Doctor and Rose is brilliantly done, emphasising the Doctor’s alieness, his alien values, and his apparent lack of compassion which again reminded me very much of Colin Baker, or even William Hartnell’s Doctor, more concerned with the greater good than one life. Colin Baker often said he wanted his Doctor to be able to step over a dead human body, and then cry over a dead butterfly. I think Eccleston has the potential for that kind of powerful contradiction in his performance, to have that alien quality that suggests he knows and understands far more than we are ever capable of.

As many people have pointed out, the plot itself is simple and throwaway, for this one story the plot being used as a device to carry the characters rather than vice-versa; it’s Rose, not Doctor Who and the Autons III. That said, the Autons are as formidable and memorable foe as any seen in the classic series, and their inclusion was an excellent choice for the seasons’ opener. Moreover, it wasn’t just the same story rehashed for a third time. Davies took the general formula for an Auton story, broke it right down, kept what would have been the last two episodes of a classic serial, and crammed it all into forty-five minutes. On top of this, he added another layer, a layer (I think) will set up Aliens of London/World War III, and perhaps reveal another facet to the Doctor’s character. The mention of this “war,” and the Doctor’s apparent guilt at not being able to save the Nestene’s world. Was the Doctor a soldier in this galactic war? More likely, was he an interfering pacifist, trying to stop the bloodshed? This first episode, simply though the plot may be, succeeds in the sewing the seeds of mystery for what will probably be this new show’s first story arc… 

As for the conclusion, in this day and age Rose saving the Doctor was almost a political necessity, and it also explains the Doctor’s growing respect for her, why he asked her to join him in the TARDIS. Her reluctance to leave Mickey and her Mother was also a nice touch, but her hanging up the phone on her rabbitting Mother and the classic “Exactly” line to the brilliantly cowardly and selfish Mickey stole the last scene.

They’ve modernised it, and although I was one of the few advocates of the 1996 TV Movie, I was glad to see that it was British through and though, right from the Doctor’s northern accent to the London Eye. The TARDIS was spot on, the Doctor was compelling, and for once the effects weren’t crap. It’s not exactly as us hardcore fans would have made it, it’s not in the style of Big Finish or the New Adventures, it’s not my perfect idea of what Doctor Who should be but it’s the closest that they’ve ever got and that’s the highest praise I can give this quite magical new series. First-class!

I await the end of the world with bated breath.