Previous season openers and The Runaway Bride had individual opening scenes before the famous theme tune starts, but such a prelude was conspicious by its absence as we were immediately plunged into the time vortex and the tune which Captain Jack sung to such great effect during The Weakest Link the night before this episode was broadcast.

I was expecting great things given the publicity and build-up with Jonathan Ross saying how marvellous it was. But like the Borat movie, which again everyone said was brilliant, I felt Smith and Jones lost out a bit and could have been much, much better.

The high points were the two lead actors who were terrific. David Tennant had some great one-liners and was full of exhuberance but that was neatly played against his inner hurt at the departure of Rose.

The new season opener was all about Martha and she fared magnificently. I thought she came across as independently minded and there was real mutual affection between her and the Doctor.

I thought the old granny that turned out to be the blood-sucker was a bit of a disappointment and I didn't think a lot of the Judhoon. While the rhino faces were brilliant effects, they just seemed a bit too comical - a bit like The Slitheen. The black helmeted flankmen who looked like security guards were far better and much more sinister because you didn't see their faces.

Russell T Davies sometimes hits the spot with his scripts, and the dialogue is always top class, but I felt the storyline was a bit lacking. I loved the moon stuff but this obsession with blood... what with the Christmas Invasion and the different blood groups, and the forthcoming "Family of Blood"...

I just think Russell, as he shows in his Doctor Who Confidential broadcasts, picks out some vital ingredients for that particular episode and then hopes everything else just falls into place. I don't think it did. A bit more investigation of the Moon would have been good too!

The reference to the Doctor's brother was interesting, and the dramatic bit where Martha saves the Doctor and then vice versa reminded me a bit of the Doctor and Peri in Caves of Androzani. The kiss all seemed a bit quick and it was almost blink and you miss it. A cleverly publicity trick all the same.

I loved the start and I do like stories which start a little bit differently. Not just simply the Doctor turns up in the Tardis. This and School Reunion were in a similar vein and I would like more of the same.

Martha's complex family life seems very different in tone from Rose's and will be an interesting sub-plot. I will greatly miss Rose's Mum and Mickey who were both very good supporting characters.

For me though, the best part of the show was the final five minutes and the Doctor appearing on the scene and Martha's first look aboard the Tardis. The Doctor's mimicking of 'it's bigger on the inside than the outside' was a fantastic touch, apparently provided by David Tennant, and I loved the scene where you see the Doctor shaking hands with Martha over the console as it rocks through the time vortex.

A promising start, Tennant and Freema were first class, the story was good without being wondrous (RTD set such a high standard for himself after Army of Ghosts/Doomsday which were wondrous), and roll on the new series which looks like it has every chance of being absolutely thrilling.

Well... that was a better season opener then previous series.

But only just, and that's not saying much.

We'll cast 'New Earth' into the 'so dire, it's name can never be uttered in polite (or impolite) company again' cosmic bin, first off, as 'Smith and Jones' is starting from the same point 'Rose' did a couple of years ago... and that's where the problem lies.

Comparing the two episodes reveals that the show doesn't seem to have evolved at all. The same formula has been applied to Martha's debut as was used for Rose's. Thus we get, the new characters life encapsulated in the opening scene, the introduction of her family (a clan who seem to have been rescued from the Eastenders reject bin). A 'no time to breath' adventure in which the new companion saves the Doctors ass, and a slightly creepy, 'Come into my Tardis, nudge, nudge, wink, wink' seduction scene at the end (I got a real 'stalking' thing from this one, what with the Doctor hanging around in an alley watching Martha from afar.)

We've been here before...

Elsewhere we get exactly what we always get from RTD. Misplaced 'comedy', a wildly uneven tone, dysfunctional domesticity (!) lot's of running about (that corridor chase, went on for about six shots too many), a complete and total disregard for scientific fact (I'm surprised Davies acknowledged the lack of atmosphere on the moon, so I suppose he's done a modicum of 'research' this time) and a pantomime villain, uttering the kind of 'arch' comedy crap every Davies villain utters ad infinitum. There's a real problem here, because RTD doesn't seem to be capable of writing outside this box, or perhaps, just doesn't want to. All his scripts exhibit the same flaw's (I'm sure he'd see them as virtues, and if his attitude from what I've gathered is anything to go by, he'd no doubt tell me to to "F*** off"... but he's not here, and this is MY OPINION, so there!) and their now permeating every script he hacks out. He undeniably did a good job of re-establishing the series, but perhaps it's time to move on, for if this is an example of what to expect from series three, the show is starting to stagnate already.

And as for Tennant... well, instead of toning thing's down, he seems to be turning the 'pratt' knob to eleven. All the aspects that irritated me about his performance last season, seem to have become, not so much facet's, as 'constants'. He now wears that 'bug eyed' expression, no matter what the situation, and seems intent on behaving like a prat at every turn. There's just no gravitas, nothing to balance the idiocy, It's like he's perpetually high on his own self importance. I would have been fine if the Judoon had pronounced him guilty of insufferable smugness and vaped him on the spot. In sync with RTD's script's his portrayal of the Doctor, in my opinion, is actually de-evolving, which is a shame. When Tennant does go (and on the strength of this episode, I hope it's soon), I'm with one of the forum poster's who thought Michael Sheen would make an interesting choice, though personally, I don't see him doing it.

Anyway... there were thing's I liked! The Judoon were impressive in they're Sontaran crossed with Judge Dredd type way, though was there really the need for six or whatever platoon's to take down an old lady wielding a straw! Actually I thought the villainess was going to reveal her true form at the climax (a big, horrendous CGI creation straight out of Lovecraft) and wipe out a couple of the aforementioned platoon's before being taken out itself, but alas, she remained an old lady... wielding a straw... right till the end (Good God!) Incidentally, I reckon the Judoon should have scanned the extra's before filming, for traces of acting talent, God knows what the footage of the panicked patients they didn't use in the edit was like!

The direction was assured (some nice cinematic wides), and there was that occasional sense of scale, the show does, that we see so little of on television (including American) these day's. The music was as bombastic and over the top as usual (as it's been from the first episode onwards), but I'm just enamoured with the fact that it's both thematic and orchestral (something far too many movies seem incapable of achieving these day's, let alone a TV show), perhaps the volume could be turned down a notch, however. The FX were more then adequate and the production as a whole look's very good, which unfortunately makes the flaws I've outlined above glare even brighter.

As for the new companion, and bearing in mind how much of a lynchpin she's going to be, if the last two season's are anything to go by, she seems... nice! I can't think of anything else to say, she just seems... nice! Hopefully, she'll develop.

I will continue to watch the show... but I'm seriously considering skipping the RTD penned episodes, they just annoy me too much. I'm certainly going to avoid the return of the cat people from 'New...' ( Phew... almost 'uttered' it there ), if an idea is crap, it's worth using again, huh, RTD? The Dalek one (much as I like them) look's pretty iffy as well, I mean... 'pig men' (cos, if an idea is crap, it's worth...you get the picture). In fact, the adverts for this season ( twenty seven times a day between show's, as is the BBC's 'non advertising' status, these days) have turned me more off then on, still, I'm not everyone... which is just as well!

Judging by the forum I reckon my opinion of 'Smith and Jones' will be in the minority. Dr Who, is primarily a kid's show, and on that level, I'm sure it worked just fine. But it's not on CBBC (though 'Fear her' should have been) and if it's going to appeal to adults, it has to do better then this. Now it's established itself, the show should be branching off in new direction's. This episode merely treaded familiar ground, and it does not bode well for what's to come, though I'll be happy if proven wrong.

By the way...I really hope we've seen the back of Martha's family, but alas, I reckon I don't need a Tardis to know the outcome of that one!!!

Like so...'

Essentially, this is 'Doctor Who' reboot 2.0. Russell T Davies takes all his experience from the first two series and distills them into a second pilot episode. But it's a pilot episode informed by the rules of engagement established since 'Rose'.

And what fun it is. Confident and witty, the introduction of Martha Jones feels more assured than that of Rose Tyler. Granted, back in 2005 an awful lot was being gambled on with the new series but here, two years in, we've been given something that takes the familiar tropes and gives them a jazz treatment, free associating playfully with our expectations and associations. Cue the Doctor in pyjamas and dressing gown again and Martha's cousin as well as a recap of various alien incursions on Earth in the last two years.

The general theme here is one of crime and punishment. The Judoon, beautifully designed space police rhino thugs by way of 'Hitch Hiker', are tracking down a Plasmavore, hiding in plain sight as a dotty old lady played by the marvellously arch Anne Reid. The kids won't sleep knowing their granny could be a blood sucking creature from outer space. Back to our theme then, prisons...prisons....prisons. Martha trapped in the escalating domestic disputes of her own family, caught in the mundane reality of death and taxes and the Doctor doomed to wander the universe alone whilst the Judoon catalogue anyone and anything in a merciless tyranny of numbers. A bizarre satire on the management hell of NHS trusts then? Even in space, you're a statistic. The hilarious squeeky marker pen crosses betray a deeper symbolism - you will conform or die. The cross represents the individual idealised, the crucifix an enforcement of conformity. Just don't go breaking vases over the heads of rhino space police any day soon. It upsets their cataloguing and the due process of the law.

And the Plasmavore has murdered a child. Yes, from the description it sounds like Shirley Temple meets Bonnie Langford but to kill another being because they had a fresh complexion and a curly barnet is a sign that you've been swallowed by the 'darkness' to come. The criminal is oh so familar with the underworld, has a deep relationship with the darker side of life, knows how to duck and dive. Strangely, the Plasmavore and the Doctor are functioning opposites - both pretend to be patients in the hospital to gain their own advantage. The Plasmavore is a hacker, swiping identities to hide in plain sight, the Doctor is a freakish Time Lord gigolo luring Martha into his TARDIS. Granted, he sacrifices his own identity to flush out the interloper.

So what of Martha? Personally, I think Freema hits the ground running. She's quite splendid in this opening episode and establishes the character not just in a broad sense but in the smaller details. Her humanism is right to the fore when she pauses to close the eyes of the now deceased consultant, Mr. Stoker (yes, a little nod to Bram there). She respects the dead and the dying and understands completely that the Doctor has sacrificed himself to save the day. She doesn't muck about and takes quite a lot in her stride. Her sentimental side will, I think, be the force that drives the forthcoming series as she tries to keep her feelings about our favourite Time Lord in check. That she bookends the entire episode is entirely fitting and like 'Rose' the story is told from her point of view. It's important that she remains the audience identification figure. The way Freema handles much of this in the episode is an indication that we're in safe hands.

Tennant's Doctor seems a little more world weary here. You get the sense he's been travelling alone for a while but I do think there was too heavy an emphasis on the 'seduction' of Martha to his lifestyle. There was a feeling of him shopping around for his next companion in this and the scene in the alley did have an odd predatory, sexual undertone that didn't belong to the series. However, overlooking this aspect, Tennant's performance throughout was confident and boisterous without recourse to some of the over-acting in the earlier parts of Series 2. The tone has shifted and he's picking up and recycling little physical ticks and speech patterns that are uniquely his own with a good deal of sensitivity. I really got a sense of his Doctor this time round.

And Anne Reid was both funny and frightening as Florence. Her lip-smacking performance was pitched just right and she clearly homed in on the requirements of the script with Russell's typical volte face of wit and horror.

On the production front we've moved up a notch again. Fantastic work from the boys at The Mill especially the fetishistic, phallic Judoon spaceships landing on the Moon which then carried through to the rhinos in leather look of the costumes. Great prosthetics from Millennium and Neil Gorton but it was obvious that the budget only allowed them to have one helmet-less Judoon in the story. And Murray Gold...will this man ever stop coming up with the goods? Lovely music, gorgeous theme for Martha which I'm sure will have many iterations over the coming weeks and some finely judged solo strings amongst the bombast of the Judoon's marching themes.

Overall, then...bureaucratic rhinos from outer space taking the free market to extraordinary lengths to try and keep their statistics up to date, identity theft from a little old lady called Florence and the Doctor's symbolic death and re-birth as witnessed by one Martha Jones. The fact that Russell T Davies juggled that lot and threw laughs aplenty in there too is quite astonishing. Plus some prefiguring of the coming darkness, an indication that the Doctor did have a 'brother' and Martha's take on the TARDIS as a spaceship made of wood.

Lovely.

After the hit and mostly miss of season two, I surprisingly found myself excited about the approach of season three. Perhaps with Torchwood and Primeval in the background, suddenly there seemed to be more fantasy TV on the box than for a long time.

Fortunately Smith and Jones, the season opener, was solid enjoyable fare that did a good job of fleshing out what a 21st century vision of Doctor Who could be like for a family audience. With an ambitious premise the views of a hospital block on the moon, yes on the bloody moon, were well done and overall this clever production looked great. The landing of the Judoon spacecraft was wonderful, although I couldn't help thinking the lunar landscape looked more 2001 Space Odyssey rather than the real vistas of the Apollo missions. One nice touch was the reaction of the hospital inhabitants to their new locale ? a slow realisation followed by sheer terror. So many other productions depict people bravely soldiering on in these situations when of course if this sort of thing actually happened, most people would go rather mad. It did a good job of notching up the tension.

The Judoon, intergalactic coppers, were well done although fairly simplistic. Along with setting it in an actual hospital, with a lot of already built corridors to run down, the showing of only one trooper's actual face was clear cost cutting. Just one more rhino face would have helped dispell this rather obvious budgeting. But they looked great, although this fanboy longed for Sontarans instead, who would have been far more frightening and evil.

The snappy little plot with a not quite sinister enough villian worked well enough. The one major problem I had was that there were worries to begin with that once the Judoon found the alien they wanted, they would destroy the hospital and everyone in it for harbouring their quarry. But this never resurfaces and the Judoon handily transport the hospital back to Earth and everything is well again.

The performances are consistent and the new companion is rather good as well as rather gorgeous. David Tennant's performance is restrained compared to some of his previous, perhaps rather irritating, outings as the Doctor with only the scene with the radiation escaping from his foot giving cause for concern. This scene just doesn't work. In another scene he mentions that he once had a brother and whilst with Christopher Eccleston's Doctor (think of that tear in Episode 2 of Season 1) these moments were always a breathtaking revelation, with David it never quite has the same power.

And at the end we have the Doctor seduce his new companion into travelling with him after she undergoes an unsatisfying episode in her own domestic situation. An exact parallel with the same scene in Rose, it suggests a Doctor who travels the cosmos in his high powered time machine to pick up chicks. "Did I mention, it also travels in time", the Doctor almost says in what was presumably an exercise in cutting and pasting for the writer.

But overall, great fun and easily the most satisfying start to a new season for the new Who.

There's an old saying that what is past is prologue. That goes not only for the twenty-six years Doctor Who was a television staple, but also for the past two years, when spirits were high and Rose Tyler kicked Dalek butt across the cosmos and back. Indeed, Rose is now such a distant memory, it seems, that the one time her name comes up in "Smith and Jones" it feels like one of those fanwanky nods to the past that people complain about ten years on and everyone's moved away from the table toward other, more current pastures.

"Smith and Jones" feels like the start of a new era, and rightfully so. It's not merely because there's a new occupant in the TARDIS -- we've done that already, and almost did the same this past Christmas. Rather, it's as if there was a great big balloon that was blown up over the past two years, "Doomsday" popped it and "The Runaway Bride" was stretching out the new one, ready to start it all over again. We have a different sensibility, a more mature Doctor in control (and I realize how that sounds; it's merely because Tennant was so new to the role last year, it almost felt like he was getting his boots wet over the course of the year.) There are many of the same trappings -- the TARDIS is still familiar, we still have the Doctor saving the world and even a ratty old family thrown in for good measure. But there's something different about the start of the third series; maybe it's a different method of storytelling, or simply a different ambience to the series now that Freema Agyeman's joined the show.

Freema is the heartbeat of the episode; it's from her character, Martha Jones, that we gain our point of view. We don't know why the Doctor's here at the hospital, or why in the world she saw him out on the street (a clever plot device that, granted, might have been more interesting if they hadn't explained it so thoroughly at the end of the episode.) We're left to the Doctor's explanation of the Judoon, without so much as a reason for why these intergalactic rhinos are so amazingly stubborn that they'll kill on sight without any thought for mercy, but will gladly hold a hospital full of people captive and then plunk it back down on Earth without so much as an apology for the inconvenience. (I'm sure I wasn't the only person for whom the word Vogon passed through one's mind.) She's the anti-Rose; she's not as wide-eyed and innocent as her predecessor, a bit more worldly, and seems to know the face of adversity. (Try living with that family for a week; you'd be battle-hardened in no time.) Whereas one of Billie Piper's strengths was knowing when to demonstrate independence and when to show deference to the Doctor, Freema Agyeman portrays a woman willing to stand on her own two feet, willing to draw the line in the sand -- whether a good idea or not. She has no idea why the Judoon have come, or why Anne Reid's creepy Mrs. Finnegan is sucking blood through a straw, but one has to wonder if she really cares exactly why it's happening or just wants it to stop altogether. In this way, Freema seems like more of a match for Tennant, whereas in my mind Piper's suitability was always with Christopher Eccleston. She might just be exactly what this incarnation of the Doctor needs.

Tennant is more calm, more assured, and has quite clearly taken the role of the Doctor as his own. There are far fewer moments of unconvincing histrionics, and Tennant demonstrates more confidence, especially on the lighter, sillier side; last year, it might have merely seemed goofy that the Doctor was sitting in his pajamas in a hospital bed, but this time around it feels right. Combined with the more sophisticated companion Agyeman plays, it feels like there are really two leads running with the series. (That shouldn't be taken as a knock against Piper, who I always felt was one of the strongest parts of the first series; it was just that last year, being relegated so often to the 'damsel in distress' role or the far-too-cheeky irreverence that really ruined parts of "Tooth and Claw" for me, Rose had become a fundamentally different character, and I'm not sure that was the smartest idea.)

"Smith and Jones" also has a very different feel to its production. Charles Palmer's direction is far more confident than the touch-and-go moments of the series' first two years; making use of an actual hospital is fine, but when it actually FEELS like it's been transported to the moon instead of simply making us understand that it is, and forget all the logic faults, one can appreciate the subtleties (darkened lighting, clever edits and so forth) a director, editor and cinematographer must use. The CGI this time is limited solely to events that aid the production instead of overtake it, and in fact the only time I felt slightly letdown was the unnecessary pan from overhead on the lines of Judoon leaving their ships, which wasn't as flawless as one would hope. Speaking of the Judoon: very nicely done in design and development, and fantastic work on the prosthetics, although a bit derivative of the Vogons as I mentioned before. (I do have to wonder, though, if the Sontarans were the original series aliens rumored to be part of the start of this season, but they couldn't be used for rights reasons. No matter.)

Whilst Anne Reid's deliciously daffy portrayal of Mrs. Finnegan works beautifully in this episode, and the only problem with Roy Marsden's hospital administrator is that he's not given nearly as much screen time as one would hope, the over-the-top portrayal of Martha's family feels a bit forced. We've done the whole 'Piper clan' thing the past two years; I understand the reasons why the production team might wish to 'ground' the Doctor with the anchor his companion's life provides, but coming so quickly on the heels of the last family-who-became-familiar, it's unnecessary. The Doctor, after all, managed to ground himself to Earth for twenty-six seasons of the original series; he's tied to planet Earth, he doesn't need a reason to come back. (Especially to London or Cardiff!) Apart from this, some nice little references here and there both answer to the past as well as set up things for the future: the one-liner about Agyeman's past as a guest player, the "Vote Saxon" stuff that's being set up for later this year, and so forth. And what's this about the Doctor's brother…?

Trivialities aside, "Smith and Jones" breathes new life and a new sense of direction into Doctor Who. Martha Jones is a welcome addition to the TARDIS crew, and one hopes Agyeman will be able to handle herself as a foil to Tennant's Doctor with as much ease as she's demonstrated here. Never a fan of last year's season opener (which I still feel is easily the weakest episode of the new series), "Smith and Jones" was far more to my liking. It's a new dawn for the Doctor and his rackety old TARDIS, and I can't wait to see how this new season plays out over the next few months.


(For my reviews of the first two series, see my books "Back To The Vortex" and "Second Flight: Back to the Vortex II" available from Telos Publishing.)

There was one moment where Smith and Jones had me worried. It came when the Doctor was discharging the radiation from his body after having killed the Slab with the x-ray machine. I had a horrible, horrible feeling from the way he was standing and talking that he was going to discharge the radiation by way of passing wind. I was cringing ready for it, but mercifully my fears proved groundless, and we ended up with the rather jolly bit about looking silly in one shoe.

That was the only worry. The rest of the episode was excellent ? probably the best series opener the show has had since its return. Probably since Remembrance of the Daleks, in fact. Rose was excellent and vital in making the comeback a success, but Smith and Jones takes on board all of the lessons the production team had learned over the previous two series and uses them to hit us with a sharp, exciting, witty and energetic curtain-raiser that really gets series three going on a high.

It is interesting to note, though, that the episode had much in common with Rose, also being a kind of relaunch now that Billie Piper has left. This was underlined by it being the only episode since that March 2005 opener not to have a pre-titles sequence, plunging us straight into the theme music and then into the world of Miss Martha Jones. Davies quickly sketched out her character's family background for us via the phone conversations, and then dropped a nice dollop of mystery into things with the Doctor's brief time-bending appearance ? surely the first time in Doctor Who's history where the companion and the Doctor have first met each other at different times.

I wasn't too sure what to expect from Freema Agyeman. Her brief role in Army of Ghosts was the only thing I'd seen her acting in before, and while she played that part perfectly well, there wasn't really enough for her to do to show how she might fare as a companion. Certainly all of her press interviews and appearances have displayed an infectious charm and enthusiasm for the show and her role, but as the opening titles faded away it was still a bit of a mystery just how well she might do in what's now one of the highest-profile roles on British television.

Well, she was fantastic, to coin a phrase. I took to the character of Martha Jones pretty much instantly; I liked Rose Tyler, but even after only one episode I have the suspicion I will like Martha Jones a lot more. That's not to denigrate Piper at all ? she did a wonderful job and was a major part of the success of the show's resurrection ? but Agyeman's Martha seems to be very much a Sarah Jane Smith to the Jo Grant of Piper's Rose. More independent, a little more grown-up and generally a bit sassier and more dynamic, she was great throughout and promises to be an excellent foil for the Tenth Doctor. I'm sure her "We're on the bloody moon!" exclamation will become one of the most oft-quoted lines from this series.

Speaking of which, the whole business of going to the moon and so forth was equally terrific. The lifting of the hospital, the CGI images of the building sitting there alone on the lunar landscape, the Judoon ships? Great, big, exciting, iconic sci-fi images that really gave this series-opener a sense of the different and the slightly epic. Space Rhinos! On the Moon! As the Doctor himself excitedly points out when trying to pass off as human to the Plasmavore, this is weird, crazy stuff. Exactly the sort of thing Doctor Who does best.

Another feather in the cap of Doctor Who ? particularly modern Doctor Who ? has been prosthetic creature creation, and the Judoon leader was a magnificent achievement, so well done that I don't think you ever really noticed too much that the others (all five of them!) never took their helmets off so as to avoid the cost of building another mask. I liked the general concept of the Judoon too ? mercenary galactic policemen with a quick and harsh system of justice, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them crop up again in the future. Indeed, I very much hope that they do.

There'd been a bit of sleight of hand in the trailers and publicity which gave the impression that the Judoon were perhaps the main adversaries in this episode, so it was a nice twist that the evil-of-the-week was actually Anne Reid's batty old Plasmavore in human form. Reid is always good value in any of her roles ? indeed, the whole guest cast this week was very strong, I would say ? and I liked the comic touch of her bendy straw. It has to be admitted, however, that the weak part of the episode's plot was the super-strength MRI machine. However, real science has never been a strong point of Doctor Who, and I'm prepared to let that one pass, especially given the fact that ? like Rose ? this episode's plot didn't matter anywhere near as much as its introduction of the new companion to the Doctor did, and in that task it succeeded admirably.

There are a few other niggles here and there, mind you. What was the point in destroying the sonic screwdriver only for the Doctor to have got himself a brand new one by the end of the episode? I don't dislike the screwdriver as much as some do, but it would have been interesting to see how he managed to cope without it as his get-out-of-jail-free card for a few episodes. I also didn't like the Doctor's stumbling remembrance of Rose at the end, as he's talking to Martha in the TARDIS ? it felt a bit artificial somehow, the same was as it did back in The Runaway Bride when he had similar moments with Donna. I suppose it's really because I was never a fan of the way the character of Rose was shown to have made such an apparently big impact on him, but that's a very personal sort of reaction and not something Davies and the production team can really be criticised for.

There were extra little positives lying around as well as the niggles, however. I was intrigued by the Doctor's throwaway mention of having previously had a brother. I have no idea whether this is going to prove to be in some way relevant in the long run or not ? I suspect not ? but I always enjoy these little off-handedly mentioned bits of continuity, scraps of dialogue that offer glimpses of the history of the Doctor without really giving any answers. Anything that increases the mystery and enigma of the character and his origins is all right by me.

Something that seemingly is going to prove more relevant is the character of ?Mr Saxon', first seen mentioned on a newspaper back in Love & Monsters, referred to again in The Runaway Bride and now talked about on the radio here, as well as ?Vote Saxon' posters being prominently on display. I know that Saxon is to be played by John Simm towards the season's end, but who or what exactly he might be is an interesting little mystery. We all have our ideas, of course, but once again it seems there's to be a nice little element of mystery simmering away across the background of this series' episodes.

Which is as it should be. Doctor Who, for me, has always been about strange mysteries, engaging characters and exciting adventure stories. Smith and Jones had all of these things, and for my money was a fine opener to what promises to be, if this standard is maintained and perhaps even built upon, a fine set of episodes.