So after the sublime horror of 'The Empty Child' and 'The Doctor Dances', the series takes a bit of a nose dive.

First of all...and with apologies to any Welsh readers...why Cardiff again? Okay, so there was a link to the rift of 'the Unquiet Dead' and RTD is from Swansea. But basically it looked like an opportunity to highlight some of the tourist attractions of the redeveloped dockland area. And just who thinks that a story based on the idea of a nuclear power station being built in the centre of any city has any credibility? Yes, yes, yes...Doctor Who is all about suspension of belief but that is a suspension too far.

All hail the return of Slitheen - not. Still annoying in appearance with the unnecessary combination of big doe-eyed innocence and unpleasantly large claws. What's with the face of ET meets Bambi approach? Just not scary, just not cute. Thankfully, however, there was less of the toilet humour burping etc of 'World War III'.

And Annette Badman did her character real credit when in human guise plus a wonderful bit of repartee between her and the Doctor when he takes her our for a meal....'hmm dinner and bondage..'.

Captain Jack...yes, well what was the point of him this week? Indeed, what is the point of him at all? Why has the Doctor taken him on board as a redeemed baddie when he dumped Adam at his mother's with a socket in his head. There would have been at least as much potential for Adam's character to develop, and there was sense in that he was a much more realistic chancer than comic-book square-jawed Jack. Jack's double entendre dialogue should not save him

Rose and Mickey...some nice development there and a real sense of Rose being caught between the desire to explore the wonders of the Universe on one hand hand and be back in South London with her boyfriend (and a decent hairdresser - drop the pigtails please) on the other. Aahh, love will eventually win the day, but presumably not till the second series. Or perhaps Mickey - who was looking decidely mean and moody when he walked off into the night - will develop into an evil, yet clumsy, mastermind set on destroying the Doctor and all his works

The Doctor...yet more dark shading of his character during the conversation with Margaret as they talked about the pathology of killers. Christopher Eccleston is at his very best when the focus is on the harder, unpleasant aspects of his character. And only one annoying outbreak of unsolicited grinning early on in this episode - so perhaps that gurning will be gone by the end of the series.

TARDIS...thanks for the explanation of the chameleon circuit for any new viewers wondering why it is as it is. But what was this business about the living heart? And how did it make Margaret regress? If TARDIS is a living being - shades of Moya from Farscape surely - perhaps more could be made of the relationship between her and the Doctor in the future?

So, what was the point of this episode?

Not scary. Not funny. It did move Rose and Mickey's relationship along. And it highlighted yet more darkness in the character of the Doctor.

Lame story though, and weakest of the series so far.

Fantastic character piece. The team of Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack with Mickey along for the ride was brilliantly inspired. This makes you realise they made the right decision in keeping jack on instead of Adam. Lets just hope he survives through till season 2.

The story itself was great, the sci fi threat took a back seat to characterization and it worked so so well. I truly felt sorry for Mickey, but at the same time can perfectly understand Rose for wanting to go on her adventures. Was a nice touch to hear of different planets she had been too, as on TV we have only seen her on Earth and space stations above Earth.

It was also nice to see some great banter between Captain Jack and the Doctor, last weeks the banter was with Rose and this time he had some great banter with the Doctor.

It was also inspired to bring back the female Slitheen. She was a great actress and her sparring with the Doctor was brilliant. I loved and laughed out loud at the scenes of her running away teleporting and the Doctor keep teleporting her back. Hilarious when it happened 3 times before she said "what have I ever done to you".

The effects when the Rift broke up was brilliant, and the tourist board at Cardiff must have been very happy. This episode made Cardiff look amazing.

I actually thought it was a shame she became an egg, as I would have liked to have seen the Slitheen again. But we did hear that there was other family on other planets, so maybe we will see them again.

The character of Mickey who seemed to be the weakest in the episode Rose, was brilliant here. I thought during the original Slitheen 2 parter he was good, better than the episode Rose, but in this episode he has become a character in his own right. Shame Jackie never put in an appearance though. I also liked how the Doctor likes Mickey now. Which was great fun.

Overall Russell T Davies and his team delivered a brilliant character piece, well written, funny and acted perfectly. And the trailer for next weeks looks pretty damn good too.

There has been some criticism that this series has favoured character over plot especially in RTD written pieces. Boom Town is another such character study. But, that is exactly what this episode should be. If you were to look at the first season as one interlocking story, better linking than the E-space trilogy, Black Guardian trilogy or even the Key to Time season, you would want to step back and take a breath after the adventures so far. In this guise Dr Who can afford to do this. I couldnВ’t be sure that this episode would have worked earlier in the season but as the calm before the storm of the last two episodes it works perfectly.

I would have to say as a proposal it doesnВ’t look interesting. Even as a trailer it didnВ’t overly appeal. IВ’m sure if you have problems with the Slitheen too the episode doesnВ’t look like it will win you over.

Coming in as a new critic to anything (IВ’ve never commented to anything in writing prior to this new series В– some of you may have noticed horrendous grammar and spelling mistakes and possibly even contradictions), I have been conscious of not overly praising the series (possibly just to show I am paying attention). But, it turns out to be one of the best pieces of the season so far and it must put those RTD critics to shame.

Everyone shines in this episode with special mention to (again a guest star) Annette Badland as the remaining Slitheen who delivers her sinister side against comedy and pathos. The viewer really does want her to survive by the end of the episode. Her actions are justified as is her need to escape. She doesnВ’t hang around like a Sontaran experimenting on mankind. She just wants to leave. BadlandВ’s vocal talents also give further meaning to the excellent scene with the revealed Slitheen discussing families and, like the Dalek mutant beforehand, this effect delivers emotion. Eccleston is a perfect foil and is quite engaging throughout from his quip about buying dinner with captain Jack, his suspicions surrounding В“Bad WolfВ” ( I wish I could work out all the references В– IВ’ve got some but not all) and, well, actually the list goes on. Noel Clarke continues to improve as Mickey but I thought he still looked a bit like the Auton version. I promise I will do an overview of Billie Piper before the end of the season but her performances remain faultless.

John Barrowman as Captain Jack though, (or maybe itВ’s just Jack) didnВ’t follow up his impressive debut with much to do. I have criticized the gay undertones before but am getting used to them now and after reading other reviews can appreciate they are generally harmless. Besides I am more than happy to watch Barrowman in a tight T-shirt any time. Unfortunately his character didnВ’t really have much to do which again becomes a trait of the male co-stars (Mickey now having redeemed himself).

The story had a bit of science-fiction at its resolution; I suppose to satisfy the kids and those who need a bit of action. I mean even BuffyВ’s В“The BodyВ” had a Vampire fight. In the right place these character pieces will be a welcome addition and I expect that I am actually going to feel a lot of sadness when this Doctor departs, more so than I have probably felt for any other incarnation.

This has become RTDВ’s best piece of writing in this series and IВ’m tempted to place it third (or fourth) after The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Unquiet Dead.

I know many will see Boom Town as following the trend of Russell T Davies episodes not living up to those of other writers. Myself, yes I found this episode didn't quite achieve what it set out to do, but am also quick to defend Mr Davies from criticisms of this so-called 'trend'.

You see, I like his writing. A lot. This whole series style is his baby after all. TYhe emoptional undercurrent, the plot and character development are all his, reghardless of who actually wrote the episode in question. And, I also have to keep reminding myself that he wrote my second favourite episode this season, 'The End of the World".

Where Boom Town fails is in seeming to havew no real plot struucture. Just when you think you know which direction the plot is moving, it shoots off in a different direction. The power station plan gets dismissed very early on, without ever actually being resolved. (So the mayor has disappeared. Does that mean the town won't go ahead and open the power plant anyway?) Tyhe dinner scene was obviously meant to present us with an interesting exploration of the ethics and morals of our hero and villain, but as it was interspersed with witty one-liners and a bit of slapstickk, any dramatic effect was lost.

And that, I think, has been a majopr failing of the Slitheen all along., Because they have always been presented to us as a race we can't take seriously, a family of farting alien conmen, the attempt to give pathos to the last survivor was always fighting an uphill battle.

The Mickey / Rose subplot caught me by surprisse with the talk of hotel rooms etc. Characters in Dr Who actually planning to have sex? Extra-marital and dirty weekend style? Somehow it just didn't sit right. Although it was good to finally address the long overdue fallout of Rose's eagerness to leave Mickey for the Doctor in the first place.

Captain Jack I haven't made my mind up about yet. So far he seems to be only on board the TARDIS to provide bisexual innuendos and give tech talk when the Doctor's otherwise engaged. He really seemed surplus to requirements here and I hope that isn't something that we can expect in the future.

A disjointed and an ultimately unsatisfying episode that ended before it ever really started. Forty five minutes in search of a plot.

Then of course was the trailer for next week. I wonder at the concept of robotised game show parodies as I can see a fine line between clever and just plain silly about to be walked. And then the whole thing was saved with those final few seconds of the true enemy coming into play. I punched the air! I screamed! I can't bloody wait!

When there's a general air of expectation that a story probably won't live up to the standard of others in a Dr Who season it can very often be the case that the finished article is better than anticipated. This is certainly the case with Boom Town,which isn't going to win any story of the season poll but which beats Long Game as the best RTD scripted story thus far in my opinion.

The story itself,rather like Planet of Fire for example,has that almost end of term,calm before the storm feel about it as we initially see the Tardis crew happy and relaxed,the Tardis having stopped off to refuel in Cardiff. The fun never lasts that long when the Doctor's around however and pretty soon he sees a familiar face on the front page of a local paper. As the story begins to unfold there's a brilliant Bad Wolf interlude creating a sense of foreboding reminiscent to the scene where the Master took over Tremus's body at the end of the Keeper of Traken thereby ushering in the beginning of the end for the Fourth Doctor.

The Cardiff setting gave RTD the chance to take a swipe at the authorities in England who couldn't possibly concern themselves with something like a planet-threatening return of a Slitheen outside of the M25. In this character driven episode,the exchanges between Rose and Mickey/Ricky were standard fayre whereas the key restaurant scene between the Doctor and Margaret Slitheen was just fantastic,to coin a phrase; infact the idea of happily strolling to a restaurant for a jolly little meal with a rather nasty alien who'd destroy the Earth given half a chance is brilliant enough even before any dialogue commences. Davies is a modern writer expressing the long-held liberal view that punishment isn't an acceptable response even to the most heinous of criminals committing the most heinous of crimes on the basis that by punishing them you become no better yourself. The Tardis solves the moral dilemma by regressing Margaret to an egg thereby allowing the Doctor to drop her off so she can begin again after appearing to show limited remorse for her appalling actions although how neatly this plot device fits in with the notion of facing up to the consequences of your actions. . . . well,I'll have to view the episode again and try and work that out. What I do know is that we had some riveting scriptwriting there and overall less of the obvious levity that almost blighted the earlier RTD stories;even the gas exchange wasn't as much of a problem in this story.

What is apparent from this and the preceding story is how well CE has settled in to the role of the Doctor. If he had only stayed even for one more season his could have been one of the great portrayals but now we shall never know. Of the supporting cast,Captain Jack didn't have much to do as the odd man out in the character driven exchanges but does seem to have settled in to his part well.

Although I initially cringed at the Weakest Link/Big Brother connections with the next story,having seen the preview I can honestly say I don't think I've ever looked forward to a Dr Who story this much. Indeed I could cheerfully strangle the minority who have bashed this excellent series. . . but wait!That isn't an appropriate response. Perhaps they too can be regressed,come to the series afresh and congratulate RTD and his team on a very successful season indeed.

What initially looked like it could be the worst episode of the season (the Slitheen again? GOD, NO!) turned out to be one of the best. 'Boom Town!' is easily the sharpest of Russell T Davis' episodes to date, as he finally throws off the reluctance to write non-traditional Who stories which has stymied him all year and lets rip with a smart, funny piece of TV drama that just happens to feature a gang of folks who travel through time and space.

The opening five minutes or so were depressingly similar to the slightly cringeworthy Slitheen tale from earlier this season, but the moment Margaret decides not to kill her pregnant victim we find ourselves in a far more complex, thoughtful tale.

The opening section with the beautifully-balanced TARDIS crew of three is an absolute joy. Three friends (you get the impression that Jack has been around a little longer than simply joining the crew last week) who are having a ball gallavanting around the universe share stories and jokes with Mickey, who has travelled to Cardiff to bring Rose her passport. The real strength of having a Doctor Who with full, proper season-long story arcs is really starting to show now, with all of the Doctor's previous visits to present day earth this season as well as his encounter with the Gelth all referenced.

The group's capture of the last Slitheen was both comic and enjoyable, and a small reference back to the The End of the World in the Doctor's skill with teleporters flags up yet another indication that we are getting near The End of the Season.

What followed was the real meat of the episode, however, as the Slitheen tells the TARDIS crew that returning her to her homeworld will lead to her death, challenging them to face the gravity of their actions. Rose and Mickey disappear off together for a reunion which reveals all the tensions underlying their closure-free relationship while the Doctor and Slitheen share a last meal, during which the Timelord is forced to defend his decision to allow her to die.

The final few minutes are devoted to a near-apocalypse and face-off which seems is a bit contrived (particularly the rather odd resolution), but it's the dialogue and character development which rule 'Boom Town!' The episode is all about responsibility for decisions which change (or end) lives forever. Rose is starting to appreciate the hurt she has caused and the Doctor's transient life is hinted at as nothing more than running away from the pain caused by the Time War.

All this, and a spine-tingling Bad Wolf moment which is both anticipation-building fabulous and laugh-out-loud funny.

Next week's trailer looked a bit dodgy at first (reality TV British style with robots?!) but then our favourite killing machines rolled into view, complete with an armada of warships, and I was fit to burst. We are getting very close to a Parting that, after 11 great weeks of adventure, drama and humour, I'm not sure I'm ready to face.