No-one could accuse Russell T Davies of lacking commercial sense. An old monster in Episode One to reassure the fans. Half the budget thrown at Episode Two to convince the CGI generation this stuff is worth watching. A gloriously historical Episode Three to flex the BBC's period drama muscles. Then relax with a money-saving two parter, coasting on the show's newly established success... And then, just as the rating starts to sag with the traditional mid-season slump - WHAM! Hit 'em with a Dalek.

Now THAT'S Doctor Who.

Previews suggested Dalek would be the pick of the season, and expectations were consequently enormously high for this episode - although perhaps not much higher than they would have been anyway, with the iconic nature of this, the Doctor's oldest foe. The BBC's pan-media publicity outlet ground into action once more after a lull for Aliens of London / World War III: a new-look Dalek graced the cover of the Radio Times; trailers popped up at all hours of the day; Blue Peter worked its usual behind-the-scenes-feature magic; Newsround Showbiz carried a feature on the story, although not until after the show aired... Even BBCi managed to make a story out of it, focusing on the monster's new abilities.

Ultimately, the episode probably ended up commanding almost the same level of public attention as Rose, the new season's opener - and much like that story, it succeeds absolutely in recreating an icon for a new generation, mixing the traditional with the innovative to invent a whole new, even more satisfying creation. The tight cast, high production values, impressive direction and top-notch visual effects are everything people had been demanded of the new Dalek, and indeed everything they should now be coming to expect from the series, but it's the writing that's the real start of this episode. It was always going to take more than a bigger laser to evolve the Dalek from a prop that crops up in Kit-Kat adverts into a really scary alien, and Rob Shearman absolutely cracks it, creating instead something that goes beyond all that and becomes, at times, genuinely moving.

The self-consciously traditional prop/costume design belies a new direction for what is a supposedly a 'monster' story, with a tense, claustrophobic storyline that makes the most of its 45 minutes by filling it with moral greys and difficult decisions rather than great big explosions. Gone are the massed armies of yester-who, the 10,000 Daleks waiting just off camera to annihiliate the universe - here we have a single lone Dalek, against a single, lone Doctor; both of them intelligent, and both of them dangerous. The result is an exquisite pair of performances, each one bouncing off the continuing wonder that is Billie Piper, and each character (and yes, it is a character) bringing out the best and the worst in the other. Between the three of them - amongst all the mayhem, and despite the occasionally overbearing incidental music and now-traditional wobbly editing - they create what are undoubtedly some of the strongest moments ever seen in the series.

Genuinely, it's hard to say much about this episode other than how good it is. It's scary, it's funny, it's tense, it's almost impossibly involving, and it's got lines that will send a thump of energy right through your tragic geeky heart. And it's got the best cliffhanger ever written, right there in the middle of the episode. And not only has it got all this, and profound emotional arcs, and powerful, moving moments of drama, AND great big explosions, it's also got the cute gay bloke off of Corrie.

Never mind aiming at the eyepiece, this one hits you right between the eyes - and stays there.

There were always going to be two big episodes-the first episode and the one where the Daleks come back. Neither disappointed, which is what counts.

The focus of the story is course the Dalek-it would have been suicide to do otherwise! And they really did suceed here. The plunger now has effective use, and the scene where the tortured gets 'suckered' is probably one of the scariest the series is ever going to produce. The rotating sections are really showing how mordern technology has benefited Doctor Who and enhances the feeling of the terror the Daleks create-the 'behind the sofa' factor if you will. The extermination scenes are the key points and they are lovely. I could go on for ages, but the bottom line is the Daleks are back and frankly could not have been done better.

Now on to the rest. The opening scene is very nice and retrospective, yet not interfering in the slightest. Its also special to me-the Cybermen were always more important to me than the Daleks, and if I could write for anything, screw te Doctor its these babies I want to write for. But thats another story. The guest cast is worth consideing. The soldiers are precisely what they should be, Von Straten is a complete hadcase and Diane has great potential. Then of course there's Adam, who we can see more of. He looks promising in adding a new dynamic to the TARDIS crew.

The sets are very nice, with the sprinkler sequence showing off the full scale of what they can do.

If you're going to borrow, borrow the best, and this is what Shearman has done. He has taken Power & Evil of the Daleks and melded some of the best sequences from them into a 45-minute crackpot. The downside to this is the rather predictable bit of the piece which allows for the ending. One feels a final climatic battle would have been worth it. The War bits are especially good though f you consider how strong the Daleks were getting as a result of time travel and the inevitable consequences.

This is truely a good dalek story, and a strong gun for this season, as it should have been. Lets hope the Doctor is wrong, and the Daleks will come back in force.

Dalek' was the episode of this first Season of the new Doctor Who series I was most looking forward to; more than 'Rose' for me personally this was the story that excited me, the one I was most looking forward to. So did 'Dalek' meet my fevered expectations?

The answer has to be a resounding YES! This is perhaps the best Dalek story ever made and one of the best Doctor Who stories in any medium ever. So impressed was I by the way every aspect of this story, from the script, to the acting, to the special effects, to the music gelled together to create a story truly deserving of that much over used descrition 'classic', that it is difficult to know where to begin.

The script, by the very talented Rob Shearman, was simply superb and has significantly raised the standard for the other writers, including RTD himself. The concept of the alien museum owned by the self-centered Van-Straten was an interesting one and the idea of the Dalek machine having passed through several hands before it reached him an interesting one. The emphasising of just how dangerous even one lone Dalek can be was long overdue and surpassed even the audio adventure 'Jubilee' by the same writer in that regard. The rising up the stairs had, of course, been done before, but suddenly that sink plunger is no longer funny. The intelligence of the Daleks has never been more ably portrayed and this was only a lowly warrior; imagine how the intelligence of the Supreme Dalek compares. Other elements of the script worthy of praise include the Doctor's extreme reaction to the Dalek, the connection between the Dalek and Rose and the inventive ways in which the Dalek killed and manipulated. The ending was just perfection, the revealing of the truly vulnerable Dalek creature (looking almost exactly as I had always thought they would), Rose's anger at the Doctor and the Doctor's hatred, giving way to a kind of understanding. this wasn't just good Doctor Who, it was good drama period. So far as I could tell from one viewing there were no plot holes, no padding and no unnecessary characters or incident. This was a tight superbly wriiten script that I cannot praise Rob Shearman highly enough for.

'Dalek' was the episode that finally proved for me that Christopher Eccleston was the right choice to play the Doctor, and that made me regret that we will only see his excellent Ninth Doctor for one season. There was no unnecessary grinning here, no hint of sending the character up (something I have occassionally felt he was doing) but a tight focussed performance that made me forget completely this was a television series and that there was an actor playing the part of the Doctor, it was the Doctor there on screen, a real Time Lord fighting a real Dalek. Whether he was portraying pain, anger, concern or fear Eccleston was utterly convincing! If Christopher Eccleston is as good in the rest of the season his moving on from the role will be all the sadder.

Rose Tyler was, of course, just as central and important in this episode as the Doctor and once again we had a superb performance from Billie Piper. Like her co-star, she made me forget there was an actress playing the part and created the illusion of reality. I wasnt watching Billie, I was watching Rose Tyler.

The real star of 'Dalek' was, of course, the eponymous villain itself. The Dalek casing looked superb, the slightly retro design actually looking far more effective and menacing than the previous update in 'Remembrance of The Daleks. This was a Dalek that convinced you it was dangerous. The Doctor's comments about how dangerous it was were, to a large extent, merely the icing on the cake since it was obvious from the Dalek's appearance and new abilities that it was very, very dangerous. I have already mentioned the elevation and deadly sucvker arm, but the force shield was an idea long overdue and very welcome and the swivelling mid-section inspired. All these abilities were, however, overshadowed by two things, the superb Dalek voice by Nick Briggs that conveyed every nuance of the Dalek's intelligence and emotions and the aforemention intelligence itself, combined with a cunning that truly convinced that this was, possibly, the most dangerous creature in the universe.

The supporting characters were uniformly excellent with no hammy performances, even from those who were exterminated by the Dalek.

Murray Gold's music was also excellent, the operatic feel perfectly suiting the tone of the episode.

Thinking about it again, this is not only the best Dalek story ever, but possibly the best Doctor Who story ever!

We know our place in Britain. We make quirky films and television shows, we make intense dramas and, occasionally, we make the odd caper movie. What we do not do, cannot do and should never attempt is flat out, balls to the wall action shows. We are not capable of making shows that fly along at a breathtaking pace while retaining storyline and character. Most importantly of all we cannot allow shades of grey to colour our heroes and villains.

Someone needs to tell this to the Doctor Who crew because at seven o’clock this evening they ripped upped these rules, set fire to them and merrily danced on the ashes.

Dalek was the best episode of Doctor Who ever. Underline, write it up in bold uppercase. The action was intense, the pace was relentless and the effects faultless. Did Joe Ahearne know this was for television? Christopher Eccleston’s scene with the Dalek was intense and his reaction to Rose’s “death” poignant but he is an ensemble actor, generous in his ability to allow his co-star the chance to shine and she took her chance. Billie Piper is officially forgiven for recording “Because we want”. Goddamned this girl has got some acting chops! Here’s hoping that we get another series out of her because she is going to be a star.

But after the action and carnage, the script, direction and acting that we mere mortals do not deserve the thing that will stay in my mind for weeks to come is the Dalek opening up to experience sunshine.

I pity next week’s show because this ain’t gonna be topped!

Glorious.

Absolutely glorious.

"Dalek" sweeps away all other contenders, from old and new. It is an absolute triumph of television, conveying drama and emotion in equal measure, and propitious amounts of that. I'm notorious for being cruelly pedantic in my reviews of any sort of media, never permitting the slightest fault to be omitted as I indulge in a malevolent delight in tearing down every edifice. Yet it's genuinely requiring massive effort on my part to find anything that could conceivably construed as a fault in this edition of Doctor Who. My only quarrels with this episode was that Van Statten was something of a one-dimensional entity being your stereotype fresh-out-of-the-box Greedy Business Magnate Mk. I, the "elevating" Dalek looking a little too obviously computer generated, and the armaments of the soldiers still sounding like weedy pop-guns, lacking the throaty, tympanum-rupturing roar and growl of deadly armaments.

Beyond those niggles, however, "Dalek" is a majestic episode. Christopher Eccleston excels himself, spitting venom, rancour and loathing at his great foe as he circles it, each word of reprobation another twist of the knife, another vindictive, steel-capped kick to the stomach as he gives voice to an entire species' worth of resentment, and sheer, unadulterated hatred. The frisson in the atmosphere as Dalek and Doctor circle about each other in a deadly dance of death, every revolution disgorging another convulsing, vomiting spray of disgust, damnation and despair, burns through the air just as much as does the Dalek's own raygun.

Who could imagine that we could ever feel anything for the arch-nemesis of forty-one years of Doctor Who? I never envisaged it - but witnessing the Dalek engage in its final throes brought me, a proud man of eighteen who should have grown out of this, to literal tears. The hollow core of the Dalek's being - the soldier without an army, the warrior without a quest, the killer without a target - is communicated beautifully. Who would have thought that this prop would have been capable of conveying emotion? Yet the drooping eyestalk and the phlegmy, stuttering, electronic grate of its voice are harrowing things to see and hear. I'm not a limp-wristed libertarian who applauds the tired (and frankly embarrasing) plot device of "the evil beast has a nice side really", but the execution of it was superb - and sensibly treated, as well. The Dalek is ultimately a weapon - he can't tolerate emotion.

Although Van Statten himself was rather bland, as I communicated earlier, how his subordinates reacted to his tyrannous employment was well-realised. Adam putting an optimistic gloss on his chances of escaping with his cherished mind intact, and Van Statten's secretary sacrastic and prim way of giving the proprietor a taste of his own medicine, were both marvellously human.

Again, there are pleasing fillips of continuity to keep us "Classic Series" fanboys sated - the Cyberman's decapitated head and the old jokes about stairs and "pepperpots" brought a self-deprecatory smile to my face.

"Dalek" was a marvellously emotive piece of television, superbly acted, and impeccably written, infusing the viewer with as much emotion as the cast. It's a pity really, because I fear no further episode could ever scale above this apogee. Let's hope I'm wrong!

Robert Shearman deserves a peerage for delivering us this script - I await His Grace Duke Shearman of Utah's entrance into the House of Lords eagerly!

LetВ’s face it... Put a Dalek in a Doctor Who story and you are going to get peoples interest. We have waited for over a decade to get these things back on our screens, and by God, did they do it with style!

What we have been treated to is something so much greater than just the return of the Daleks. This story had real body and soul. This is an episode from which all the Doctor Who fans the world over can say, В‘We told you soВ’ with a grin firmly planted from ear to ear.

From the offset itВ’s quite clear that this isnВ’t the script of RTD. No slapstick humour, no grafting on of pointless jokes, no cringe worthy lines of dialogue, just pure and simple sci-fi drama. This was a great flight of fantasy. After all, Doctor Who was not meant to be too intelligent at the end of the day, thatВ’s what В“Sapphire and SteelВ” was about (please can someone bring that back too?). But while it was nail biting edge of your seat stuff (and I assure you I was on the edge of my seat) it had real heart.

In В“DalekВ” we had elements of AsimovВ’s В“RobotВ” and Philip K DickВ’s В“Do Androids Dream of electric SheepВ”. Yes, it really was that good! A Dalek all-alone dealing with emotions for the first time. Long time fans will be amazed how beautiful and emotional tonightВ’s episode has been. New fans will just see why we have all wanted to see the return of this show for so long!

I really must say this. Thanks RTD for bringing back В“Doctor WhoВ”, but there is a big difference between writing for В“Doctor WhoВ” as a fan and writing for В“Doctor WhoВ” for the fans.