Well.. I really looked forward to this one, and wasn’t disappointed at all. For a change we saw the TARDIS in flight at the beginning which made a nice change and was interesting to see it materialize whilst the camera was still moving, very good. This seasons stories have been such a mish mash of the very good to average, with we're led to believe the better, more interesting ones at the end of the season, leading up to the revelations we're all dying to see.

This story was so good from the start, the sets, the costumes, all filmed at night... and launched immediately into the story. I’m not entirely sure what the point of the Doctor entering the night club was for, it didn’t really need to be there but then they had to engineer their drifting apart somehow.

Billie’s scene from the balloon was exceedingly well made, the London scenes were imaginative and brought a real sense of what it must have been like for the people of that time, occasionally it was obvious that this was a special effect, especially to old cynical die hards like me, but it was so incredibly well done you could forgive these technicians anything and I could imagine children being totally enthralled as I was all those years ago.

Captain Jack's entry was interesting; he is obviously a rogue who uses not only his mental abilities to survive but his charm and good looks too. The officers face when Jack told him he had a nice bottom too, spoke volumes. This is a fella that bats for both sides and knows exactly the effect he has on people.

I was a tiny bit disappointed in Billie’s reaction to him, she suddenly became a giggly soppy girl for a few moments and it was almost like seeing a different character, but then after what had happened, if a dashing handsome man caught you in his arms, I’m sure more than a few of us would think Christmas had come early that year.

The children were exceedingly well used, the scene in the dining room, around the table worked well, children can be sometimes the best actors and sometimes ,as Coronation Street viewers will know, the absolutely worst. Their surprise at the Doctor’s arrival was a joy, and the lad with half his dinner hanging out of his open mouth looked so normal and amusing.

There is something very chilling about these gas masks, its the old clichй of not being able to see the eyes, therefore losing all the humanity. They used this to the max, and the moment when the Doctor slowly changed took my breath away, that was so well done and very chilling, I don’t doubt there were a few wet beds that night. I'm waiting for the Great and the Good to all complain in the Guardian tomorrow, not that anyone takes any notice.

I kind of hoped that the Captain was going to keep his secrets a little longer than he did, or maybe he has, we know there’s major surprises to come... but most con men don’t own up that quickly, they don’t give a damn about anything or anyone providing there’s a profit and so to see him admit to it, didn’t feel right and was a bit of a let down. Methinks there’s more to come here.

Immediately you can see the Doctor isn’t overly keen on this young handsome man,, as he was with the lad from The Long Game and Dalek, they are a threat. I can't quite fathom out what is going on there...the Doctor has never shown any interest in the old rumpy pumpy side of things and yet here he is, happy to have this pretty bangle dangling from his arm, and acting like a normal jealous human man. I have my own theories on this and I expect I’m miles off the mark, but the last episode will be the clincher on this one hopefully and explain all.,

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable piece of British TV again, it just gets better and better, (maybe apart from Long Game) and long may she reign.

And thank god, the preview has been moved, no doubt Russell’s been reading these reviews...I would if I was him.

I didn’t get to watch this until the wee small hours as we had been out for the evening but my trusty old VCR came up trumps!

I thought it started off a bit frenzied with the Doctor and Rose chasing the Mauve object through space pre Title sequence, but it soon settled down to be my favourite episode so far.

The initial scenario with Rose wandering off is Doctor Who law and on this occasion seemed perfectly natural as the young child looked lost and in a dangerous position on such a high wall!

The Doctor’s turn as a stage comic was well done with the realisation of the time scale only dawning on him as the sirens were going off with Eccleston played this down rather well and not resort to his usual face splitting grin!

It was also good to see the Doctor be very Doctorish in his investigation into what has been going on and again Eccleston was brilliant in this. The scenes with Billy Piper this week however were rather overshadowed by the exceptional CGI and the presence of Captain Jack who was played to the hilt by John Barrowman. His charm and wit having an instant effect on Rose but always played with a great deal of menace too! I loved the whole “Spock” thing too which at long last is something Rose had been looking for from the Doctor, some good old TV Sci-Fi technology.

The atmosphere that followed the Doctor was always dark and brooding and his speech to Nancy about Great Britain standing up to Hitler, alone and almost defenceless made me feel proud and very patriotic.

Little Albert Valentine was superb as the haunting Empty Child and given such a young actor was behind a mask throughout was amazing. The pleading on the doorstep and the hand through the letterbox would have had me hiding behind my parents in the 60’s no doubting that!

However for me the show stealer was Richard Wilson in a rare serious role as Doctor Constantine. He was measured and assured and his characters impending demise made his efforts to help the doctor truly heroic. I loved Ecclestons admiration for Wilson’s acting ability in the following BBC3 Doctor Who Confidential, he didn’t say a lot but his face said everything. If there was such a thing as “The Doctor Who Oscars” Richard Wilson would have my vote for best supporting Character.

The climax was again a frightening scenario setting up a great cliff-hanger for next week.

Having given this review I can tell you why this was my favourite story so far. The scenes with Chris Eccleston were all acted out without CGI (with the exception of the few seconds morphing of Doctor Constantine) and played in an atmosphere of growing tension. All the characters he played against were believable and well acted. This is also the reason Roses scenes paled beside them. Because of the use of (very well done) CGI your attention to the characterisation of Captain Jack was lost on first viewing.

A very interesting and disturbing story, with some very well fleshed out characters and a cliff-hanger. What more could a Doctor Who fan ask for?

At the very end of my review of "Father's Day", I said that Chris Eccleston's Doctor is "probably the best one in 900 years."

"The Empty Child" gave me no reason to change that view. Indeed, in this episode there was a maturity in the Doctor's character, for which I have waited for some time to manifest itself in such depth.

After what seemed to be a rough ride in the Tardis following the piece of space hardware to the centre of London, and materialising in what was a very convincing looking wartime setting, the Doctor's bumbling entry into the bar asking if anything had fallen out of the sky recently, was the only alusion to the grinning loon of earlier episodes. Injecting humour into such settings is a subtle art in itself, and this is a masterpiece.

After that, when the air-raid siren sounded and the Doctor saw the poster announcing "Hitler will send no warning", we then began to see a Doctor who had sympathy with his surroundings, and a real sense of the seriousness of the circumstances in which the inhabitants of the London of 1941 would have been.

From the initial puzzlement of the "telephone that shouldn't ring", and the first appearance of Nancy (superbly played by Florence Hoath), we see none of the attitude of past stories, but a Doctor who tries to find out about the fallen object without freaking out the people he meets. A Doctor who remains patient with the group of homeless children he meets, having followed Nancy who acquires food for them. And when the mysterious "child" appears prompting Nancy to go into maternal mode, the Doctor remains calm, asking questions and being concerned for the "child" who is outside constantly calling out "Muuummy!", but still respecting the circumstances, knowing from 900 years of time travel that something is evidently not right.

But, we must not forget Rose, who unbeknown to the Doctor has also seen this mysterious "child", and ends up hanging around in quite a different way than the Doctor thought she was.

One can almost feel Rose's hands becoming more sore and cramped, as she tries to hold on to the rope (attached to a barrage balloon) for dear life, until she finally falls, letting rip with a scream (for which she had a practice run in "Father's Day") and just when it seems like Rose is going the same way as the bombs from the very convincing Heinkel HE111s, - enter "Captain Jack Harkness", complete with attractor beam, light field, invisible space ship, psychic paper, and a sexy computer (voiced by Dian Perry). But before Captain Jack (nicely played by John Barrowman) completes the rescue, he asks Rose to switch off her cell phone because it interferes with his instruments, - a nice touch.

Then, Captain Jack begins to reveal his purpose, and is surprised by Rose's knowledge of his psychic paper and other technology, and so surmises that she must be a time agent with whom he might negotiate terms regarding the afore mentioned piece of space junk.

So, is Captain Jack going to be the one who wins Rose from the Doctor? As the Doctor never seems to break from Earth's orbit, will Rose end up flying off into space with Captain Jack in Series Two, thus explaining the reports that Billie Piper is leaving? Or am I jumping to conclusions here maybe?

Regardless of all this supposition, Captain Jack is an effective character, almost like a male - and less feisty - version of Jackie Tyler, but with a dash of Arthur Daley or Del Boy thrown in. If he is going to be a companion to the Doctor and Rose for the remaining episodes, then I only hope that Russell T. Davies has allowed for the character to really develop in his scripts, because up to now that has been my only criticism of the series as a whole.

Some of the secondary characters in RTDs writing have been seen and heard alright, but we haven't been able to get to know them beyond being incidental to the story. Although, I do acknowledge - as have many other reviewers - that without Russell T. Davies we would probably not be having the enormous privilege of seeing Doctor Who at all, considering the whole thing started in 1963, when television, special effects, and the equally wobbly budget allowed at the time were a far cry from what we have today, and made it a miracle that it ever took off anyway.

The stories not written by RTD (Steven Moffat deserves every credit for this one) have been absolute crackers in my opinion, attaining 110 per cent consistently in terms of strength of story, character development, (including primary and secondary characters) direction, and also because we have been able to not only know the characters, but also be deeply drawn into their circumstances, our heart strings pulled in twangs of raw emotion.

Examples; Gwyneth, about to strike the match in "The Unquiet Dead"; The Dalek asking Rose if she is frightened, and answering her "yeah" with "So am I".

And so it was with Doctor Constantine.

The Doctor's (Eccleston) all too brief meeting with the Doctor, played by the brilliant Richard Wilson was perfection. Doctor Constantine was so evidently a character who we were not to know for long. Yet, in only a few moments we saw his knowledge, his confusion and his fear, that what had befallen the people in the beds around him, would happen to him. I wonder how many people really did hide behind the sofa as Doctor Constantine began to change into a dead but not dead thing, calling out "Are - you my - Mummy?"

I know there has been some controversy about some scenes in Doctor Who being too scary for children, with some areas of the press fuelling the negativism, including one of the TV/radio magazines who very helpfully wrote in their choices page, "contains nightmarish imagery (including a grotesque morphing sequence) that's probably too much for little ones." Well. excuse me, but weren't the Zarbi's too much for the little ones back in the sixties? I remember having bad dreams of being chased by them, but I still watched. This is the stuff of dreams. This is the very essence of science fiction of the Doctor Who genre. This is not only science fiction, it is cutting edge drama, the like of which we did not dream that science fiction was capable of attaining. But it has, and I believe it will continue to do so, now that the mould has been broken forever.

Finally, I was impressed by the "cliffhanger" ending, this being a two part story, and this time (unlike with AOL/WW3) the BBC saw fit to listen to Doctor Who fans by getting the presenter to helpfully tell us to "look away now" if you don't want to see the preview of the next part.

But I didn't look away, because I just couldn't resist looking anyway.

The concept of the Doctor and his friends being cornered by a herd of undead/notdead zombies, made more eerie in those gasmasks was brilliant Doctor Who at its best. 10/10.

I generally love negative and/or vitriolic reviews; Even if I have no knowledge or interest in a film or group, if I see '0 out of 10' or 'no stars' I'll read on! So, after being pretty positive about 'The Long Game' and extremely positive about 'Father's Day', I'm rather pleased to say that 'The Empty Child' was an absolute load of....

Nah. Only joking. This was brilliant stuff. Again.

First things first. I thought this was Chris Ecclestone's finest forty(ish) minutes to date. Perhaps because the Doctor and Rose were seperated for most of the episode and allowed to develope their own plot strands? Whatever, I found the Doctors scenes with the children/Nancy/ Dr Constantine *hugely* rewarding. (well, every Doctor scene, really) From the 'teaser' when he declares that following the mysterious object is "totally" safe (Cue explosion) "Should've said 'reasonably'!" to his musings with a passing cat to his unintentional stand-up routine in the club...I could go on. (and will!)

Best of all were the scenes with the Doctor and the children. There was a real affinity here which worked superbly, particularly the Doctor/Nancy two handers. (what a terrific actress, by the way...) Thought one of the finest scenes was where the Doctor has followed Nancy using his 'special' nose. She's too polite to say "you've got a big nose and big ears", but it's a lovely and funny scene...topped by the Doctor's musings on our damp little island , saying "No...Not Here" in reference to the Nazi war machine. Brilliant stuff, and Chris carries it off superbly. I have high hopes for David Tennant, but Chris' work (particularly, for me, in this episode) can't help but make me think "b*gger, one more season would've been nice." Still, there we go....

Rose. Wonderful as ever.Just how *good* is she?! (very)...funny, smart, brave, warm...(and seeing Billie hanging from that rope in '..confidential' ; what a cool woman.)

Captain Jack...interesting character! I look forward to seeing more of the 'intergalatic rogue'.

Direction...superb. Dark shadows, surreal moments, loads of atmosphere. Previous reviewers have mention 'Sapphire and Steel' and I think the 'vibe' from that terrific series is definately present here.

Great appearance by Richard Wilson as the weary, rather noble Dr Constantine. When he suddenly 'goes' and asks the Doctor if he's his mummy...followed by 'that' special effect. Blimey, never mind the kids watching, that gave *me* a shiver! Great cliffhanger too. Brrrr...

Well played, Mr Moffat et al, then. Easily another 9 out of ten...but then taking into account great lines like "Flag woman and U-boat Captain...!" and "Mr Spock?!"....Oh, 9 and a half, then!

One word: Brilliant. 'The Empty Child' is the best story of the series so far, and it is easy to see why. The story follows the Doctor and Rose, who arrive in London during the Blitz, trying to trace a time vessel they found in the vortex.

The plot is down to Earth with a sensible vibe that allows for much more padding, which gives the episode the unchallengeable title of scariest episode yet. The spine chilling empty child looking for his mummy is something you can imagine in a horror film, and drives one to ponder the effect this had on the younger members of the audience.

The scenes in the hospital are spooky gold, with a perfectly brilliant cameo appearance by Richard Wilson. Although it is a shame he's not on screen longer, his short-lived role allows the shock of his unearthly transformation to have a far more dramatic impact.

The plot of Jack and Rose is the part of the episode that lets it down. The character of Jack himself is bland, cheesy and generally a disappointment, but does seem to improve within the last few minutes. Perhaps it is just me being a sentimentalist in saying an American just doesn't seem to work in Doctor Who, because of it's British nature and that is they way many believe it should stay. Although the performance was a little OTT, Jack Barrowman tries his best and one is hopeful he will improve as the episode go on, although it would be a little much if he were to stay on for season two.

The acting overall is brilliant, with more strong performances from Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, but also from Florence Hoath who plays Nancy, a promising newcomer to the world of drama.

The special effects of the episode are strong point, especially the German air raid, but it seems a shame that the opening 'time-tunnel' effect was used again in the episode, the scene was a perfect opportunity from some new space settings.

It was also nice to see the return of the 'classic' cliffhanger, and not having it interrupted by the Next Episode trailer. It was still nice to see a trailer, and proves to work better when place after the title, if only for cliffhanger stories.

Overall, this episode is defiantly the best so far, and there are high hopes for ‘The Doctor Dances'

I have come to several conclusions about the new series. Firstly the two part stories are just going to disappoint. The Empty Child closely follows Aliens of London in being disappointingly bad despite the amount of potential it has. Both episodes had so much dramatic potential within the original idea for them but somewhere along the way it all becomes lost. The drama and possible tension, and scare factor, is replaced by needless humour, poorly scripted sequences, one dimensional characters and even worse characters who show some signs of being interesting are killed off or just written off.

My second conclusion is that Christopher Eccleston will constantly revert to the smiling idiot of earlier episodes, as scripted by Russell T.Davies, at every opportunity possible. Instead of showing some diversity in his performance and displaying emotions relevant to the situation he decides, instead (and probably at the request of Davies) to approach every scene with a great big grin smacked across his face. Why? It totally ruins the scene. When he could be curious, interested, worried, concerned and create a really good scene he instead decides to ruin it all by grinning. It’s totally annoying, childish and makes me feel that everyone involved with the production of this series clearly feels that this is a children’s show instead of a family show. It all strikes of dumbing down and approaching it all smiling, like those constantly smiling children’s television presenters, so the little kiddies don’t get frightened! I’m sorry but its what you tune in for, isn’t it?

And that leads me onto another point. Apparently cuts have been made to this episode as producers felt it was just too horrible and scary for young viewers. Well there wasn’t anything scary. Nothing. It was all ruined by a lame script, duff performances and awful special effects. Anything that may have been remotely scary now comes across as cringe television. We were promised a scary episode and I feel utterly let down, again. But will the second part, as with Aliens of London/World War Three, manage to turn things around?

Yet more criticisms I’m afraid. Dreadful, awful, terrible, cringe-worthy special effects. There was nothing remotely good about them. They looked totally fake and computer generated, they just didn’t feel real at all. In every review I’ve done so far I’ve moaned about the lack of believable special effects and so my rant continues. If you are going to do an episode that heavily relies on special effects, and this one did in the air-raid sequences, then the effects have to look real. You’re audience has to believe them otherwise they won’t engage, or believe, in what’s happening. Now at this point people will moan about budget restraints. Well Battlestar Galactica manages to have excellent, and believable (!), special effects on a very limited budget, so why can’t Doctor Who? And as I’ve said before if you can’t have good special effects, as the new series quiet clearly can’t, then have episodes which are driven by storylines/plots and will carry much better on screen than those heavily reliant on showing the special effects which producers seem to think are brilliant. I really do think that the new series needs to return to Doctor Who’s grass routes of episodes focused on the plot, but that’s just my opinion.

The script in this episode was bad throughout, there were one or two good bits, but for the main part it was dreadful. The flirting sequences between Jack & Rose were extremely cringe-worthy. What was the write thinking off? Surely he could have come up with better scenes than that? However, Jack briefly flirting with the RAF person was quite good. The Doctor moaning to the cat about companions who wonder off was good and Nancy was good, though that actually maybe because the actresses manages to turn a awful script into a good performance. Jack is a good character but suffers from poor scripting. The episode it self once again has too much humour, or maybe just bad jokes. “What am I going to arrest you for, starving?”. A terrible, childish joke which one expects to see in a CBBC drama not a Saturday night family show.

How long did that air raid last for? Surely air raids didn’t last that long? If they did then the bombers must have come in waves of attack instead of the continuous attack that seemed to be happening on screen. The attack seemed to last for a long time and one’s left wondering what had happened to the RAF. Why weren’t they defending London? It just seemed ludicrous that the Germans would launch a raid lasting that long because A) Fuel would be limited B) It’s night time so poor vision would be a problem C) British Fighters would have more time to attack and destroy the enemy.

Richard Willson is good as Doctor Constaine but he’s killed off too early. Why couldn’t he have survived into the second part? What’s the point of killing off a character played by a talented actor after only minutes of screen time. He seemed a very promising character but instead the writer just kills him off.

However, the war time setting is a good one but I think that it would have benefited from a better storyline, or just a better script. The idea of Time Agents protecting and guarding time after the destruction of the Time Lords is an interesting concept. Hardly original though, is it? Didn’t the books set up a similar scenario after they wiped out Gallifrey. It slightly feels that the series are taking events that happened in the books and then using them in the television series, claiming their original ideas, because so few have read the books. Seeing as the books have continued Doctor Who during the many years it spend in the wilderness I think a little more respect should be given to the book range.

Captain Jack looks set to be an interesting and dynamic edition to the Tardis crew, if he gets better scripts, and hopefully his bisexuality won’t be ignored. It’s the first time Doctor Who has tackled sexuality and I hope they don’t back out from fear of critics and the Mary Whitehouse’s (RIP) cronies who watch the airwaves and complain about anything that doesn’t conform to their rather narrow-minded view of life.

Marks out of 10? On first viewing it has to be 4/10.