Well, slightly better than the scatological absurdity that was, in general, Aliens of London. Sadly RTD still saw fit to stretch out the flatulence idiocy to the second part, but thankfully it was much less prominent than in the first episode. Unlike the Colin Baker x2 45-minuters of Season 22 which tended to deteriorate from good premises in the first episodes to bathetic run-arounds in the second episodes (bar Revelation of the Daleks of course), World War III was a (small) improvement on its opening episode, but still not enough of an improvement to redeem this generally peurile two parter.

Re-watching it I thought to myself: is this what we've waited sixteen years for? This sort of soft-focus, cod-filmic, nauseatingly contemporaneous and flimsily scripted near-pastiche of the old classic series? Unquiet Dead excepted, so far New Who is a very very pale shadow of Old Who, and it makes me almost long for the days of the cheaper but more inventive, video-dominated McCoy era (bar of course S24). To me New Who just doesn't convince and I'm afraid neither does the Ninth Doctor: Eccleston, powerful actor though he is, simply wasn't suited to this part, as I suspected prior to the series airing. If his 'northernness' had been more understated and his image, ironically, more overstated, so he resembled something a little more interesting than an ordinary bloke straight out from a Salford pub, then he might have made a pretty memorable incarnation. I just can't get used to this Doctor despite occasional attempts to bring some vague bit of gravitas to his performance. The eccentricity just isn't really there - at least not convincingly. There are many highly gifted actors who are not suited to this particular role, and Eccleston is one of them. Whilst there were/are legion other far more suitable actors/character actors who were/are begging to be put in the role for the Ninth and Tenth Doctors (Tennant isn't too bad a choice, but I'm not very keen on his latest assertions of wanting to do it with his Scottish accent and in a kilt): David Collings (always my first choice and still going strong, though not on TV), David Warner, Rhys Ifans (to my mind the most obvious choice now, in the ascendant as an actor and the right sort of age range plus eccentric and very versatile), Pete Posthleswaite - even, to some extent, Daniel Craig. Still, as with general style and storylines, it's all been decided for us behind closed doors.

Back to World War III (what a dull and unimaginative title): improvements include generally convincing and well-realised Slitheens - not so much the CGI which makes them look almost totally different due to their Alien-esque movements - bar one shot of a bobbing head; fairly nice change on the old invasion plot, the Slitheens actually being a family business of marauding capitalists, though this all seemed a bit implausible really; touch of polemic with the '45 second' clause, let down a bit by RTD's typically clumsy and overly obvious writing; the Doctor was doing more of the thinking this time than his companions (used to be the other way round in the old series of course, bar early Hartnell stories); the Doctor remembering Harriet Jones will become Prime Minister of a future golden age; far less fart jokes. Right, that's it.

Quandaries: did one of the Slitheen say 'Oh boll....' as it was being blown up at the end? I think so. Could you imagine any of the old aliens exclaiming such a terrestrial expression on being destroyed? Simply inappropriate for Who and more in keeping with comedy sci-fi films or Hitchiker's (on which RTD seems to be basing most of his New Who vision - perhaps someone should mention to him that Who isn't actually meant to be a comedy? And for that matter, Hitchiker's was funny). It seemed very easy to hack into UNIT's computer network and casually set off a missile; it also seemed very convenient that the first missile Mickey clicked on happened to be the one they needed!

Criticisms: the domestic scenes, which are a scandalous waste of potential plot/Doctor development time, not to mention general story time. Jackie is excruciatingly annoying and superfluous as far as I am concerned - it's a pity the one Earth family milked in the series, which is irritating in itself, happens to have as its matriarch a sexually frustrated paroxide-blond air-head who wears tracksuit tops! Another sign of the BBC's patronising opinion of the public. Whilst Mickey's actor admittedly does put a lot into his part, and can be quite amusing sometimes, again, what's the bloody point? THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE YET ANOTHER TEDIOUS SOAP OPERA! Doctor Who is supposed to be one of the very few programmes which can offer an alternative to the usual peurile viewing!

The climax was pretty far-fetched over all and implausibly providential. Why wasn't UNIT featured more substantially? If you're going to have explosions solving everything in a contemporary Earth setting, you may as well throw UNIT into the pugilist proceedings.

Over all then, a pretty vacuous story with a marginally better second episode, but, let us not forget (or rather, let us forget) a lavatorial opening episode which went to prove decisively that Weapons of Who Destruction can definitely be deployed in just 45 minutes!

Roll on 'Dalek', for God's sake...

Ahh, contrived cliffhanger resolution. Don't you just love it?

One of the immutable edicts of Doctor Who lore, ritually spoken by fans through the decades, is that Episode Three Shall Consist Mainly of Padding. However, in the new 45 minute format, episodes three are a thing of the past, with the second episode of this two parter forming the equivalent, in screen-time terms, of both three and four of a traditional four-part story. Thus there is the potential, in theory at least, for two-parters to lose the sagginess of the original format, combining the aimless running around of the penultimate episode with the climactic action of the finale without spending too much time on either.

Does World War III manage this? Does it ever.

Picking up from where Aliens of London left off, the cliffhanger is wrapped up in traditional Deus Ex the Doctor style, leaving room for a packed forty minutes of monster-filled mayhem. It may feel oddly paced to the committed fan, used to cliffhangers like clockwork every 25 minutes, but both the story and character development is well structured, the plot playing out intelligently, with a real sense of creeping menace towards the end. As you might expect from Russell T Davies, there is much playful subversion of expectation - a neat spin on the splitting-up-the-TARDIS-crew idea, some deliberate undermining of our expectations of the Slitheen and a genuinely surprising way to Save the Day - but happily he never loses sight of the essential 'run-away-from-the-horrible-things!' feel of a monster-based story.

The visual effects go a long way to helping this impression, of course, and thankfully the Slitheen turn out to be very impressive in the flesh, both as full-suit prosthetics and as CGI work. Nitpickers might complain of a certain costume-wobble in the head department, as well some repetition in terms of reveals, but reactions from children bear our Russell T's claim that these are great monsters, their baby faces and digestive problems belying their thoroughly bloodthirsty nature. Helpfully for parents, though, he makes a point of providing step-by-step instructions for dealing with them, revealing just what sandwich snacks to leave on the bedside table in case of nightmares.

While the cast is of course largely the same as that established last week, it's worth noting that Christopher Eccleston's awkwardness in last week's episode - a reflection of the fact that it was the first to be filmed - has by now disappeared, with the actor having apparently settled much more into the role. And with such a strong guest cast, even Penelope Wilton was hard pressed to outshine those playing the Slitheen, making her final scenes all the more satisfying to a die-hard fan of Ever Decreasing Circles. Less impressive were Jackie and Micky, noted in the past as the weakest regular performers, unfortunately made all the more obvious here with them being teamed up for large periods. However, while Jackie once again feels a bit out of her depth emotionally, with her talents clearly lying more in the comedy area, Micky manages to excel himself, helped by a strong and satisfying character arc playing on his relationship with the Doctor.

While the plot is still straightforward, there's a lot in this episode, from cosy domesticity (despite the Doctor's continuing insistence that he "doesn't do families") to gruesome comedy, to outright scare-the-kiddies-shitless monster moments. Luckily the Slitheen also get plenty of comedy to relieve the tension, as well as some subtle and not-so-subtle satirical jibes by virtue of the political setting - some of them almost too timely a fortnight before the UK's general election. With some nice directorial touches, including good use of live tv reports as established in Aliens of..., the whole thing fairly flies by, a million miles from Colin Baker's lumbering first season, which was also made as thirteen 45-minute episodes (albeit alll multi-parters), and yet all but universally derided as the worst in the programme's history. It may be too early to say, but it's hard to believe such a fate lies in store for this story - by turns scary, funny, tense, dramatic, emotional, visually stunning and very, very silly, it feels on the contrary like exactly what Dr Who should be.

(Although, having said that, it was the one thing WWIII didn't have that really made the highpoint of the episode - the final two minutes, when all the Slitheen nonsense was done with, the story was over, and we could get a preview of next week's episode... Dalek. Now that's worth turning on for.)

This is my first review, so I'd like to make a few general points first. It's great that the series is back, and I love the arrangement of the theme - it gives it a certain power and drive, that works well, though I am disappointed that the end theme is so truncated; I would love to hear the full version to this arrangement. The opening sequence itself is simply brilliant; the graphics are top notch!. When Billie was announced as Rose, I was sceptical, but she is already turning out to be one of the best and most three dimensional companions that I can recall. Christopher as the doctor is starting to grow on me; he is still a bit uneven, but he is a very adept actor, who is managing to add great depth to the doctor. I do find his "fantastic!"'s a bit wearing though. There is a certain hardness to his doctor that I like, we don't yet know the story behind the extinction (!?) of the time lords, but we see glimpses of how this has affected him. The Tardis set is, in itself, very impressive, but I'm afraid I hate it; it's not the Tardis I know and love.

World War Three was actually not a bad episode. I have the advantage of watching this series with my 7 year old son ( the age group aimed at, it would appear), and while he was scared of the Slitheen the previous week, he appeared not too bothered this week, though I think it was the unzipping scenes that got him. The plot itself petered out about half way through the episode, but the character development was good. There were some nice gags peppered about, the best being the doctor being held at gunpoint before backing into the lift, and "you kiss this man!". The Slitheen themselves were a disappointment; I groaned last week at the return of the 'extras running about in silly rubber suits'; the CGI scenes worked much better. I expect money limited the use of CGI. This is perhaps why the suits were thankfully not seen as much, and when they were, they tended not to move about.

The farting was overused and tedious, and is an example of why I'm not convinced that RTD is the great writer everyone seems to think he is. I will concede though that he is much better at character development than he is plot development. The interchanges between Mickey and the doctor were the highlight of the episode, closely followed by Rose and her mum. The doctor not being able to promise that Rose will be safe was very well done, adding realism and depth; life does not always have a happy ending.

I was surprised at a glaring oversight; the scene where the Tardis is being cleaned. The doctor looks out and you can clearly see the side of the police box, even though the doors are directly linked to the interior. Sloppy. The sonic screwdriver was overused, and the doctor seems to rely on it too much. Is it me, or does that particular prop seem to change from week to week?

The series is still finding its feet, and it shows, but there is a lot to commend it; its a shame that we won't get to see Christopher develop over a second season, as I think that would have been very interesting. Hopefully David will last longer, mainly because the doctor is reaching his limit on regenerations!

Christopher Eccleston really is turning into not only one of the most complex of all the Time Lords, but one whose personality could be sliced into each of the elements of his former incarnations; he is, in this much stronger half of a two-part story, much like William Hartnell's great-grandchild. Troubled, brooding, as hard-edged as flint. What makes "Aliens of London/World War Three" so strong is the fact that, in this "Volume II" of Doctor Who, the whole event is a faster, bolder, braver take on the main narrative, with enough depth and intellegence to tackle the domestic side of the characters' lives in great detail. Jackie and Mickey are not just cardboard cut-outs, and the decision to give Rose time back home opens more opportunities than it closes. "World War Three" is obviously one of the strongest episodes in the 9 year history of this "Volume II" of Doctor Who, and certainly one of the best ever all round multi-episode stories.

Satire can be subtle, but when a rogue prime minister warns the nation that alien invaders could strike at 45 seconds notice, and calls on the UN to do something about it, you know that the BBC decided not to bother with cutting back on the Hutton Report bashing so close to a General Election. Overall, the episode was a tense and well-written story - The Doctor challenged to risk his moral nerve, Rose having to trust her new best friend, Jackie having to test her mother's love. It was all about the nerve of bravery, a tense decision Christopher Eccleston can delivery because grit and determination are emotions he can carry off better than most other contemporary actors. His Doctor cares, but has tough love, not the slushy Grandfather figure of John Pertwee; more Colin Baker than Tom.

To defeat the Slitheen - great idea, shame about the obvious difference between the puppets and the CGI - the Doctor could use brains or brawn. He uses brains, but backed up with a nuke straight into Downing Street. Yes, this idea is somewhat silly - a little too silly one might think - but these really were desparate times, and Russell T Davies' writing made the viewer believe in those desparate times. This is why the domestic element of the story line is so important. "I could stop you, you know..." is an important line - Jackie could have stopped it all because she is a caring mother first, an element of Time Travel she is not.

This episode was important because it was able to place Rose into her familiar context one more time, to ensure the casual viewer is taught on the stark differences between herself and the Doctor, and the Doctor and their ideas about what a Doctor Who "should be". His decision not to have tea with the Tyler's was another important sign post - this is not a domestic Doctor, he does not do soft love. Killing the Slitheen was the only possible solution, he does not do un-necessary saving of life. For the Doctor and Rose to survive as a team, it had to be determined that they had to work as an un-easy union, not a "couple", and this episode painted that well.

All episodes thus far have had a few niggling doubts. The "after the cliff-hanger" solution was in keeping with the "Peter Davision closing and then not closing his eyes whilst crashing into Androzani" style moments where all is well at the start of Part 2. Heritage or not, it was a cheap way out of the cliff hanger and it did not make logical sense when it did happen. Whilst she did improve - "You pass port on the left hand side" - Penelope Wilton was still not as brilliant as she so often is. Her character was a little to silly to be given such an integeral role. It can also be accepted that UNIT would by now have a website, but one with such power?

The new era cannot be escaped, deleted or forgotten. Is this a gift, or a betrayal? Have all fans, from whatever end of the spectrum, been sold a golden gift or a pile of Emperor's clothes? From the 5 episodes thus far, it is certainly more positive than negative - this is a modern day classic Doctor Who and "Aliens Of London/World War Three" maintains the high standard. Next week... the benchmark may well be lifted higher still......

Just as I was beginning to think maybe I'm being a little bit harsh on RTD's writing for the new series, and almost starting to persuade myself that little lapses like burping dustbins and Britney Spears outbursts might ultimately be forgivable, or, more easily, edited out from my own recordings of Rose and End of the World, I find that I have been justified in my instinctive dislike of RTD's gimmicky, soundbite-style approach to this important programme.

Aliens of London is puerile and has indellibly blemished the history of the programme with the hammiest, most inappropriate and completely unfunny trio of 'aliens' in a series of unforgiveably crass and infantile scenes ever witnessed in the series. No, I do not speak of an implausibly 'down-to-earth', 'Navvy-on-the-town/live-in plumber of the Tyler household' Doctor groaning to his hosts to 'shoot oop' as he watches the TV in a manner straight out of the equally tiresome Royle Family; I of course speak of the flatulent Slitheens in diguise as Cabinet ministers whose tendency to fart and, just as gratingly, burst into infantile classroom giggles as they do so (why should aliens necessarily find farting amusing as we do?) is tragically - for the credibility of Doctor Who - not confined to just one scene - but MANY which crop up nauseatingly throughout this absurd episode.

Back in those formerly perceived 'dark days' of seasons 24 and (bits of) 25 - now in my revisionist mind comparatively full of hope and wonder for the future of the series - we used to cringe in virtual pits of despair at sights such as Ken Dodd's Tollmaster (Delta and the Bannermen), Richard Brier's Caretaker, Pex and the Ressies (both Paradise Towers), the atrociously ill-realised Whizzkid on his BMX (Greatest Show), the 'Doctor...' tv bit in Remembrance, and just about everything in Silver Nemesis. But at least JNT had the courtesy to confine his occasional whims to isolated scenes, and did not, unlike RTD, string out the 'embarrassments' which tokenised practically every episode in season 24 (obviously RTD's favourite season) throughout their respective episodes! It seemingly wasn't enough for RTD to only vent his highly questionable whims in just one scene (as he did, thankfully in Rose and End of the World) in Aliens of London: no, he had to string out the lavatorial 'fart joke' (which would have had the Carry On team cringing with distaste - except for those numbering the appalling final film, Carry On England, with Kenneth Conner's flatulent officer no doubt inspiring RTD in this gritty new comical edge to the series) all the way through this episode as an actual plot component! As another reviewer has pointed out already, why couldn't RTD have found a less lavatorial and more intriguing biological flaw to the Slitheens which betrayed their Ministerial disguises - indeed, one could have had them occasionally breathing very badly or emitting random gibberish like the Auton disguised as Mickey in Rose (a comparatively tame offering compared to the travesty of Aliens...).

The answer then must surely be that RTD just wanted to capitalise on yet another opportunity to play for laughs and send up a series he claims to be faithfully reinventing. Seemingly his New Who is trying to appeal to the under 5s, but I dare say they themselves would find such frankly crap attempt at humour woefully unsophisticated and silly. I can only conclude that RTD does not take Doctor Who seriously. Is he then, as some are assuming Eccleston is, simply using the show as a stepping stone in his overblown and ludicrously over-rated (courtesy of hyperbolic reviewers and standards-lapsing critics) TV writing career? This element to this episode betrays a tendency towards talentlessness which, if RTD is not careful, will slowly corrupt and obliterate any questionable talent he so far possesses (yes I do admit that Casanova is well-written and genuinely innovative in places, however, even that other series overdoses in humour and trendiness, and endearing though the new Doctor, David Tennant, is in the main role, as one recent reviewer pointed out, his portrayal lacks gravitas and believability, thus ultimately completely undermining the entire point of doing that series).

And yes, I have many other quibbles about this wasted opportunity for a more fleshed-out two parter: the domestic scenes are becoming very very grating and dull, helping to reduce the already excessively mundane ninth incarnation of the Doctor to practically an unconsummated boyfriend to Rose, who's just a tiny bit quirky now and then and who can't quite fully commit himself yet to their 'relationship'.

I really really hate the style of digital video used for the series: it detracts from the dramatic essence of it - with exception to The Unquiet Dead. It seems to me to be the same used for commercials, which I suppose is fairly apt for this highly commercial reinvention of the show. But this style of digi video with its blurry, slightly rose-tinted finish just makes the programme look like one long commercial trailer rather than a drama series. Why couldn't the same film camera used for Casanova been used for Who also? A sharper definition would add a lot to the look of the programme and also make it less impersonal - back in the video-only McCoy days I never thought in the future I would have looked back at that style of filming Who with nostalgia, but I do, and wish at least the TARDIS scenes were done on video.

The blood and thunder approach to much of the action of Aliens, especially the Doctor taking on a sort of undercover SAS style role by leading the charge of the Paratroopers (remind you of any crap recent ITV serial?) down top security corridors, is not refreshingly action-oriented, but simply dull and disrespectful to the series' underlying ethos of brain over brawn (bring back the pugilist Sixth Doctor and Pertwee and UNIT, all is forgiven! Indeed, at least the Third and Sixth Doctors had dandyish smoking jackets and patchwork coat-tails flailing flamboyantly behind them when they took on the terrestrial heroics, which at least still emphasized sartorially that they were more than just your average occasional action hero - sadly Eccleston's crew cut and black leather jacket make him fit worryingly well with his uniformed companions).

Oh yes, and the mention of UNIT, accompanied by a shot of some dull-looking, faceless military officials in bland everyday uniforms which in no way indicate that they are in fact from Lethbridge-Stewart's old organisation - and this Doctor, who has famously collaborated with UNIT in FIVE different incarnations, now inexplicably cites his recent change of appearance as an obstacle to him collaborating with them again: 'They won't recognise me'! Has RTD ever actually watched any of the old stories at all? Maybe when he did he was far too busy imagining his own reinterpretation of the series to actually register its original interpretation.

And the Doctor himself: Eccleston said that he didn't feel the need to wear a silly hat and coat to put across the alienness of the character and that he would do this purely through his performance. Right. So what's gone wrong then? Token occasional erraticism, moodiness, gurning and exclaiming 'Fantastic' at the now practically commonplace vicissitudes of extraterrestrial Earth interventions aside, just how else is this incarnation notably alien? Not only does he wear very ordinary clothes thus blending into the modern day almost completely in appearance, he uses contemporary vernacular and expressions, has a very casual manner and takes to catching up on extrarrestrial invasions via the BBC news on a TV set in a council flat rather than using his TARDIS scanner. (Surely the point of the character of the Doctor is to to some extent stand out as a unique and obviously very different sort of person to the norm; yes, in the past the 'costume' approach might have been used sometimes to do the job of this when the characterisation lacked, but it's not so much the costume which is the problem here, it is frankly the scripting and interpretation of the role). This Doctor appears to love the mundanity of contemporary Earth just as much as he does popping off now and then through time. He is quite obviously torn between the two, and obviously it's a hard choice for him, as it is for deciding between saving the world or hanging out with a London shop girl. These return visits to Rose's domestic background are completely pointless and unjustified:when this was done once in the past, it was with UNIT, and that was partly justified by the fact that those characters were at least engaging (particularly the Brigadier); Jackie and Mickey are not engaging, they are in fact irritating to say the least, and add absolutely nothing to the drama or narrative of the series which couldn't have been channelled elsewhere to better effect. Maybe RTD secretly wishes to produce a soap opera? He could change the name of the series to Time Enders perhaps?

And just what is going on with the constant sexual innuendos regarding his and Rose's 'relationship'? How would we have reacted if the Seventh Doctor and Ace intermittently flirted with each other throughout their time together? What they had as a combination - and I in no way cite it as a flawlessly scripted one by any means - was a genuinely deep bond with each other which really was something 'more' than a boyfriend and girlfriend which Rose hints at in this episode to Mickey. The constant innuendo with this present combination completely undermines any attempts to emphasize a sexually transcending bond. I also find Rose's occasional but consistent referring to the Doctor as 'so gay' whenever he shows sensitivity or vulnerability as quite offensive to be honest, not because I am myself, but because I just think it's in bad taste and is completely inappropriate for this worryingly sexually literate version of a series famed and loved for its androgynous appeal - but of course RTD seems to have a licence to drop these un-PC put-downs through Rose by nature of his own sexuality in the same way that Mel Brooks always famously seemed to have an exclusive licence to make gags about Jews. I don't like this sort of scriptorial treatment one bit and it is completely out of place in any escapist, sci fi series.

I will end on a couple of positive comments about Aliens of London: the TV news coverage, bar the first reporter's very portentous coverage of events, is actually quite well handled and convincing in places - reminiscent of Day of the Daleks; I actually think that the twist of the Pig creature was genuinely quite innovative and surreal, though reminded me somewhat of Time Bandits; the Slitheens, over all, are quite well done when finally and thankfully revealed; the lights coming out of the heads is well done. There, that's it. That's all I can think of that's good in an otherwise highly embarrassing episode. I only hope that eventually things will get back on track to the standard of the excellent Unquiet Dead so we might begin to forget this Rent-A-Ghost-style pantomime of an episode which, I predict, will prove to be deeply damaging to the credibility of Doctor Who's forty year history unless some later episodes manage to completely eclipse its significance.

ALIENS OF LONDON maintains the high standard of the new series and races along with real dramatic weight behind the speed, surpassing the slightly frantic feeling of the first two episodes, and suggesting that two-part episodes will enable the production to achieve an optimum balance between modern TV drama and the more leisurely pace of those old four and six parters.

Some have been complaining about the so-called 'soap' elements of the story. What struck me though was the way in which the 'domestics', to use the Doctor's term, are seamlessly integrated into the sci-fi set-up. The brilliant device of having Rose return home not twelve hours but twelve *months* after she left cued up all subsequent interactions between the mundane and the fantastical. RTD has found a way to mesh the real world (or the real world as seen in other TV dramas, at least) with the bizarre and exciting world of Doctor Who, in a way that is clearly designed to soothe the reservations of those who deride sci-fi for its lack of credibility – but beware soap-loving couch-potatoes, it's a rapprochement with a sting in the tail! I'm sure I'm not spoiling anything to say that this story will end with Rose choosing life with the Doctor over life with her well-meaning but small-minded mum and her sweet but thoroughly average chump of a boyfriend - this is a battle where 'soap' reality loses! (just like that Awards ceremony a few years ago where DW beat Eastenders!) In soaps, characters hardly stray more than 500 metres from a handful of key locations, and for one of them to go five miles away to the London West End would require a bloody feature-length Easter Special. Rose is like a truly great soap character who is about to escape the confines of the Square/Street/wherever, and fly the coop, and I'm rooting for her all the way.

The scenes where the Doctor is trying to watch news of the alien invasion on TV whilst surrounded by the clutter and chatter of Rose's home were hilarious, but again the humour had a sting in the tail. Aliens have landed and Rose's mum is gossiping about some fella she's been out with – a perfect illustration of the small-minded parochialism that Rose obviously wants to escape by travelling with the Doctor. When Rose runs into the TARDIS followed by her mum, her mum bolts back outside, filled not with questions but with fear. She scurries back to the safety of her flat, without a shred of curiosity about the suddenly much larger world she's glimpsed. Rose yells after her that she'll be up in a moment to explain, but then dashes back into the TARDIS to consult with the Doctor about his theory that the invasion is a fake. Rose's suitability as a companion is thus assured – she *can* cope with a larger world, and for once a companion of the Doctor has not only been furnished with a real world background, she's confronted that background, found it wanting, and chosen a life of danger and wonder with the Doctor. She is a brilliant creation, and remember, she's *RTD's* creation, all you Davies-bashers...

The other feature that has 'alienated' quite a few Doctor Who fans is the farting. (Must be down to bad memories of being crammed overnight into shared hotel rooms at Conventions...) No-one seems to have spotted that this is actually 'ripped off,' in the time-honoured Doctor Who tradition, in this case from Stephen King's novel DREAMCATCHER. Personally, I found it surprisingly effective, and I wasn't expecting to think so (I'd heard the rumours beforewhand...). It's both funny, in a vulgar way, and actually rather disturbing. When one of them says "We've got to sort out this gas situation" (I'm paraphrasing), the other sarcastically says, "Oh, I thought it made us very human." And that's the key to understanding these aliens. They're mocking us. They laugh at us. When their plan to infiltrate parliament succeeds, they stand in the Cabinet Office laughing like hyenas. I found this far more sinister and scary than the usual sort of 'fiendish' laughter we get from that jackanapes The Master. They laugh with utter contempt. Being invaded by the Slitheen feels truly frightening because they clearly regard humanity as some idiotic species ripe for destruction, and look forward to killing us with a kind of gleeful cruelty. (although the last laugh under the end credits music was just a bit too 'ho-ho-ho' for my liking - was it meant to stifle the fear factor, I wonder?). The narrative reason they fart is obviously to do with the pressure of fitting their huge bodies into the human skins (which suddenly has me giggling at the idea of Count Scarlioni doing it too!). Perhaps fart jokes are a notch down from the dry, sophisticated comedies every fan *of course* watches between episodes of Who, but for heaven's sake try to be a bit more (ffffffrrrrrrr! - oh I say, do excuse me...) flexible. I know it's written into the contract that we fans must be humourless po-faced drudges, but come on, cut loose a bit (Honk!!!!!! ...dear me, I'm so sorry! Must be something I ate)...

Like last week's episode, this felt like classic Who with a burst of new energy cascading through it. I loved the pig creature, and when it was shot down I felt a lump in my throat - which, given that all I had to contextualize it were a few rapid lines from the Doctor and a brief glimpse of it running down a corridor, means I'm either a complete sap when it comes to poor little piggies, or it was simply the good writing communicating a complex idea with dramatic economy. The 'fake invasion' plot was ingenious – I was completely hooked by the various twists and turns (and no, I don't care if some sci-fi novel I've never read has done it already: and no, AMBASSADORS OF DEATH isn't an example).

The special effects are better than they've ever been in a British show, and miles better than any previous Doctor Who. No, they're not perfect, I was *not* convinced that the production team had found some real aliens and persuaded them to take part. But what do I read on this newsgroup–complaints about lighting irregularities on the rooftop? Jesus wept. To quote a Slitheen: "By all the Saints: get some PERSPECTIVE, you lot!" The alien craft looked great crash-landing, the Big Ben smash was fabulous, and although the Slitheen transformations were technically a bit dodgy here and there, I thought they were gross and genuinely alarming in overall appearance. Reminded me of the weird baby-faced monsters in the dream-sequences of Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL. Those who are suggesting they're the equivalent of the Mhyrrka (spelling?) are either taking the mick or senile. When that creature loomed towards Rose's mum in her pokey little kitchen I felt the stirrings of something long dormant – no not that, I don't fancy either of them – I think it might have been fright...

This is a better Doctor Who series than we ever had the right to expect. What's more, ALL of the people I know who are casual but not rabid DW fans have loved every single episode. ALL of them who have children have said their kids are totally rivetted to the screen. No-one seems to have a problem with the so-called 'soap' elements, and no-one seems outraged by the occasionally vulgar humour.

There are elements of the new series that are not completely to my taste, but my overwhelming feeling is that we have a bold, triumphant return of the best TV show ever, and I for one feel like I'm part of a great big thirteen week adventure. I'm finding it impossible to sit down and watch old episodes because all I can think about are the new ones. I'm now on tenterhooks as each Saturday night approaches and as a fan who grew up with DW in its golden years of Holmes and Hinchcliffe, I think I know a thing or two about 'behind the sofa' apprehension. For the first time since the seventies, I'm feeling tormented by the week-long wait for a TV show.

I'll add a few minus points down here at the bottom, just to show I'm not a production office mole..

the TV reporter (not Andrew Marr, the other one) was phony, which is a shame given how convincing programmes like THE DAY TODAY and BRASS EYE could be. This guy was no better than the one in THE DAEMONS all those years ago.

Why did the female doctor in the morgue go and open the fridge door when she could hear the alien was inside trying to get out? Leave it be!

When the (excellently acted) female MP tries to butt in to talk to the Doctor, she has already seen the aliens. I thought she would have been more insistent and spoken directly to the Doctor, interrupting his conversation with the usher by hissing in his ear, 'I've seen them and they're here!" As that would have prevented the big reveal, better that she should have arrived too late to speak to the Doctor as he disappeared into the other room.

The three-part cliffhanger was great, although it relied twice on people standing still as the transformations took place. A horror film convention, but one that could have been avoided.

And one more thing:

The 'next week' trailer after a cliffhanger really jars. I hope they have time to rethink this way of doing things. The last image should be enough to bring people back next week - isn't that what cliffhangers are all about?