To put my reviews in context, I should point out that I am David May and am watching the new series of Doctor Who at the grand old age of 35. I grew up watching the programme in the seventies: I am old enough to remember Jon Pertwee's days as the incumbent Time Lord but my most impressionable years, from the age of 4 until the age of 12, saw me travelling with the fourth incarnation of the Doctor as played by Tom Baker. I would definitely describe myself as a fan of the original series, which I continued to watch until its demise in December 1989. Even during the barren years of the 1990s I continued to enjoy 'new' adventures by finally catching up with all the early stories as they were released on video or repeated on television. I think its fair to say that whilst I am more critical of certain eras of the programme's history than others, there has never been an era or Doctor that I've totally disliked. So how would I find the new series....?

Rose

At last the years of waiting and months of build-up were over - Doctor Who was back where it truly belongs, on television as a regular ongoing series. And it was straight into a new title sequence that was clearly based on the original style with a new arrangement of the Ron Grainer theme tune that was extremely close to Delia Derbyshire's 1963 version. The titles were good but personally I'd have liked to have had the Doctor's face included in there, as if it was moody and lit properly then it added to the mystery of the space-time vortex and was always a part of the series' iconography when I was watching it in my childhood. The big blocky "starring" credits, reminiscent of the Superman films, seemed to make the vortex less mysterious I thought. But I did like the music.

Immediately apparent was the sheer fast pace of the episode, which wasted no time in hitting us viewers with illustrative blows of Rose's everyday life as she gets up, goes to work, meets her boyfriend for lunch... In contrast to that, the scene of Rose looking for the maintenance man, Wilson, was much slower. This served to increase the tension, of course, as the Auton dummies around her slowly come to life, but this good scene seemed a little overweighted and unnatural as Rose calls out for Wilson just a couple of times too much. And perhaps the lighting could have been lowered? However, the Doctor's entrance, literally pulling Rose out of the clutches of death, was marvellous. Typically Doctorish for the old fans, but good enough to leave the newcomers wondering who this guy was. We were then whizzed back to Rose's home and suddenly there was a glimpse of domestic reality of a type rarely seen in the series' original run. Yes, this is a companion with a family (well, a Mum at least) and who watches authentic-looking BBC news reports. I personally love these intermittent doses of 'normal' life as they act as a great counterpoint to the fantastical elements of the programme - if part of the story seems 'real' then its easier to imagine rest as being real also.

The Doctor's next appearance at Rose's catflap was also inspired - surprising, amusing but totally rational under the circumstances. There was a very fast 'post regeneration' moment that followed and it was only correct that this was kept brief as younger viewers were finding out enough as it was without having to come to terms with the heavy concept of regeneration as well. The Doctor then got attacked by an Auton arm and whilst this scene worked quite well I thought Eccleston's expressions were too comedic for someone genuinely being choked, although of course Rose was *meant* to think he was fooling!

A walk to the TARDIS - again against a nice realistic backdrop of blocks of flats on a housing estate - and then one of the episode's key speeches, the dialogue about the 'Earth spinning'. I know many people think it was wonderful, a defining moment for Eccleston's Doctor. Whilst I think its an interesting concept that a character who has set foot on many different planets can feel the rotation of our Earth, I was still left with the impression that the script was deliberately trying to be clever rather than this being a natural exchange of words between the two characters. I didn't think it was quite up there with the "If you could touch the alien sand, and hear the cry of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" line from 1963. But the scene certainly redeemed itself with the unseen (but overheard) disappearance of the TARDIS. What the young kids watching must have wondered about that!

Rose's research of the Doctor on the internet was a logical step that also planted this new series very firmly in our modern age (also underpinned by frequent use of mobile telephones). The scene with Clive (played by the glorious Mark Benton) was good, not only in establishing that the Doctor is a mysterious figure that is known from many different centuries, but also by having a cheeky tongue-in-cheek reference about certain hobbies/interests that are almost exclusively in the domain of the male sex, as surprise is expressed that a girl would want to discuss anything with him. What was happening outside the house was also a significant scene, as Mickey is eaten by a wheelie bin. This perhaps summed up the good and bad points of the whole episode for me: An imaginative use of an alien menace in a very modern setting (like the aforementioned internet and mobile phones, wheelie bins are very today), that great Dr Who trick of turning the familiar into that which to be wary of - and then it was played for laughs as the bin burped! I know some people liked the burp and it probably amused the majority of the kids, but it made me cringe because - and this is the important point - there was no reason whatsoever within the context of the situation for the burp to occur. I like Dr Who to be played straight, but even so it should not be totally without humour. However the humour should always have a valid reason behind it and the fact that this burp didn't rather ruined the credibility of this important scene, for me. After that the 'duplicate' boyfriend, Mickey, was behaving very strangely and looked very plastic, and it was difficult to imagine Rose taking so long to become suspicious about him which undermined her character which had been billed in the media as a tough, resourceful, intelligent 21st-century girl. Again Mickey's behaviour seemed to have been played up for laughs. We could alternatively have had a shot of a plastic shape moulding itself into Mickey's form immediately prior to Rose's return to the car, and then acting normally (but with that evil glint in the eye), which would have increased the viewer's concern for her predicament. The strange behaviour, such as erratic driving, made the Auton Mickey seem stupid and made him seem a far less potent threat. Besides, Autons can drive perfectly well, we learnt that way back in 1971!

The Doctor had another good entrance in the restaurant scene and then it was finally time for Rose to enter the TARDIS. I loved her reaction to it, but I didn't like the initial shots of the interior. It should have encompassed the whole room, suddenly, to reflect the sudden shocking scale of the ship's interior, but instead it was a close-up of Rose. Likewise, we should have heard a vibrant hum of energy to highlight its alien power.

The last third of the episode was a whirlwind of activity as the Doctor and Rose take the battle to the Nestene invader. There were some nice London scenes, one or two of which had a real cinematic quality about them (especially that shot of Rose and the Doctor running across the bridge, hand-in-hand). The use of anti-plastic was a little convenient but acceptable for an introductory episode and it was logical for the Doctor to have taken some precautions given the reasons he was even there. Rose performing the heroic act that saves the day was probably right for the opening episode as it cemented the bond between the two lead characters and established a good reason behind the Doctor's final invitation to her to join him as a travelling companion.

And that closing shot of Rose running into the TARDIS in slow motion was simply beautiful, the highlight of the episode for me.

Overall verdict: A lively, vibrant start for the new series which had a lot to introduce in just 45 minutes and achieved it. Got nearly everything right, just a little too jokey or unnatural in places and the Autons got a bit of a bum deal, being very much a background menace. 7 out of 10.

The End Of The World

After a good start it was ironic that fans should be eagerly awaiting the end of the world, but that was the title of the next episode. And quite rightly this episode took us into an unfamiliar environment to drum home to viewers that Doctor Who is not a programme confined to present-day Earth. From the very start the special effects impressed, with a CGI space station that was considerably superior even to, say, Babylon 5, and a whole cacophony of alien life forms. Considering how much some of them (eg The Moxx of Balhoon) had been 'previewed' in the media, I was surprised at how little some of them featured, but its to the series' credit that even minor characters had had so much work done on them. The episode was quite low-key in terms of story - for once there were no plans of planetary or universal conquest, just a simple case of murder for the sake of vanity. What made the story work so well was its sheer emotion - a hint of romance between the Doctor and a tree (!), the Doctor's sadness when reminded of the death of his people and the loss of his planet, and then of course the loss of Rose's planet as the Earth finally comes to its natural end. But then Rose is reminded that her planet is still really very much alive in a wonderfully-scripted and touching wrap-up scene about fish and chips. Yasmin Bannerman excelled as Jabe, Cassandra was a truly inspired creation and a villain that will be remembered by casual viewers for years to come and the two main characters completed their bonding in fine style.

Overall verdict: Excellent and highly original, quite unlike any previous Dr Who adventure. Plenty of interesting elements for all ages and a very moving character piece. Let down by a lack of tension and some illogical plotting in regard to the safety control being placed behind huge revolving fans and the Doctor evading the blades as if by magic. 8 out of 10.

The Unquiet Dead

The excerpts and photos I had seen of this episode prior to its transmission had really whetted my appetite and I was not proved wrong as Victorian Cardiff on a snowy night made for the most visually-pleasing backdrop to a Doctor Who episode that I could ever recall. It really was shot to perfection and of course the setting is ideal for a ghost story, especially as it involved one of the masters of the genre, Charles Dickens, brought to our living rooms magnificently by Simon Callow. This was, of course, the first step the series had taken without its guiding hand of Russell T Davies behind the scriptwriting duties which fell on this occasion to Mark Gatiss. Gatiss brought us some clever ideas involving gaseous creatures which inhabit corpses to achieve corporeal existence. The Gelth, as they were called, would have sent many a child scurrying behind the sofa, I'm sure, as they were well realised on screen by effects team The Mill and through good make-up also. Following on from Jabe in the previous episode we had another major female character who was sensitively handled by both the script and the actress, that being Gwyneth (Eve Myles). Rose convinced as a modern girl in a historical setting, and the Doctor was back to his authoritative best. However, the otherwise-good pace dropped too much during the chat between Rose and Gwyneth, and under close examination the plot didn't hold up quite as much as it should have done, with the gaseous Gelth apparently destroyed by a means they had survived perfectly well beforehand. There was again a lack of tension in some key scenes - the opening teaser could have run into the theme music with a chilling scream, but instead we got a blackly humorous comment of "Not again" as a corpse came to life, and in the scene where Rose and the Doctor get trapped in the crypt (from which the older and dying Dickens escapes), they just stand behind a locked gate and discuss their impending death when there is no visible sign that the zombies are breaking through it - a couple of cutaway shots showing the gate slowly giving way would have made all the difference here. Still, it was nice to have Dickens save the day and the wrap-up scene at the end was again touching. The closing "God bless us everyone" shot must have been one of the finest in television history.

Overall verdict: Clever ideas wrapped up in a rich atmosphere and with top-notch acting. Slight problems with pacing, a lack of tension in some scenes and a plot that didn't quite resolve itself to satisfaction prevented this from being the perfect Doctor Who episode it could and should have been. 8 out of 10.

Aliens Of London / World War III

It was back to reality for the begining of this 2-part adventure, commencing with a nice glimpse of precisely what happens back on Earth after a person goes swanning off through time and space, with Rose on the missing persons list and her Mother and boyfriend having gone through an ordeal as a result. As I said with "Rose", this sort of realism helps to underpin the more fantastical elements, which quickly arrived in the form of an alien spaceship bouncing off Big Ben and into the Thames in a fantastic piece of effects work. It only took a few seconds to show on screen but is the sort of television that compels the viewer to keep watching, to find out what this is all about. It was a little disappointing, therefore, that the story never quite lived up to expectation. Whilst on the one hand there was a sense of epic realism in the portrayal of mass hysteria at the events, shock news reports, major police activity and familiar settings such as 10 Downing Street, there was, by contrast, quite a sense of unrealism. The villains did have a certain creepiness about them but they were also rather jokey . The much-debated 'farting' did at least have a context but it was still used for comedy effect and far too often. Likewise the 'unzipping' routine used by the alien Slitheen was shown far too often, and why a normal zip? Seemed a bit silly, I must say. Things did build up to a rather nice cliffhanger but this was resolved in a highly unsatisfying way as the electrical device apparently works on humans and aliens but not, conveniently, Time Lords. And why did it affect a Slitheen who wasn't even in the same location? The direction seemed sloppy at times, particularly in the second part in moments when the Doctor cheats death thanks to a closing door - the door movement was far too slow for this to be convincing, as was the soldiers' hesistation in shooting at their enemy when instructed. The resolution to the story also seemed rather simplistic, with missiles launched from a simple internet website and a Slitheen made to explode from a mere splash of vinegar. I much prefer it when ingenuity is used to win the day, and in this case everything was solved thanks to foreknowledge on the Doctor's part or sheer luck. Nice closing moment of Mickey waiting forlornly for Rose's return after the TARDIS dematerialises.

Overall verdict: The first true disappointment of the series. Though not without some merits, this 2-parter sold itself way too short with overemphasised comedy and weak resolutions to the problems it set up. 5 out of 10.

Dalek

Immediately a much darker and serious tone than the previous story which really brought the best out of Christopher Eccleston. The whole museum was a great setting for a studio-bound piece, a far cry from the days when the use of a studio was glaringly obvious, even in the late eighties in stories such as "Paradise Towers". The first half hour was lively, tense and dramatic and first the Doctor is under threat from Van Statten and then, of course, the Dalek. By having a single Dalek in the adventure, writer Rob Shearman was much better able to demonstrate its danger, its power and, unsually, its character and psyche. All the old 'embarassments' about Daleks were washed away as it climbed stairs and used its sink plunger to deadly effect. There wasn't even a wobble in sight as it moved, its movement coming across as truly mechanical, as indeed it should be. The creature showed real ingenuity, none more so than when it cruelly turned on the sprinkler system so that it could electrify everyone present with a single devasting shot. I'm not at all convinced by the Dalek's need to absorb DNA to repair itself, however, and though this then formed the base for the story's resolution of the Dalek finding itself becoming humanised and preferring death to being impure, I thought it was a grave error to show the Dalek sympathetic to this degree, particularly in a story that was, when all is said and done, supposedly reintroducing them as the most evil and deadly creatures in the universe. Young viewers will have been left with the impression that they're not all that bad after all, and that's surely very wrong. As veteran Who writer Terrance Dicks once said, one of the reasons for their enduring popularity is that the Daleks have no redeeming features whatsoever. I also think it was a big mistake to show so clearly the mutant within the casing. I think hints of it should have been shown (because even now too many people seem to think Daleks are merely robots), but to show the whole mutant in a long scene was to destroy forever the sense of mystery about the horror that lurks within them, especially when that 'horror' looks rather cute and pitiful. Nevertheless, it was an intriguing insight into what really makes a Dalek mind tick. A Cyberman cameo was a nice unexpected bonus too!

Overall verdict: A script that totally gelled, other than an unlikely DNA absorption, which was realised on screen perfectly by Joe Ahearne's direction (other than a silly Dalek self-destruction). Daring but I think ultimately it covered ground that should have been left well alone. There's no longer any mystery about the Daleks' innards and now that we've sympathised with one they can never again be quite so nasty. 9 out of 10.

The Long Game

After the excitement of the preceding episode it was time to draw breath. Right away this episode had the stench of inferiority about it. The TARDIS crew, now complete with Bruno Langley's Adam, a character that had not seemed at all exceptional in "Dalek" arrive apparently in some 200,000 years in our future, an epoch I would have expected to be almost unrecogniseable and yet was filled with a great number of familiar elements, even down to the same style of plastic water bottles that we know today! Essentially the plot can be summed up by the Doctor stumbling upon a case of manipulation via media broadcasts, something he picks up on straight away although the population have apparently been living in blissful ignorance of this for some 90 years. All except one girl who is spying and comes a cropper as a result. The Doctor investigates and gets himself and Rose captured and finds that behind it all are the Jagrafess, a big blobby alien with gnashing teeth, and the Editor (a cypher character to act as the voice of the alien). Even though this is far in the future when the human race will have expanded across the cosmos, the Jagrafess is apparently controlling them all through its news broadcasts (to what end and exactly how it is controlling so many with so little suspicion or direct intervention is not revealed). As the Doctor and the Editor reveal these important plot points by way of a cosy chat, Cathica, a woman who the Doctor earlier convinced of his theories, sneaks in and turns up the heating system, thus defeating the alien. While all this is going on Adam thinks its a wise move to have his brain tampered with so that he can profit when he gets back home, and is dumped by the Doctor as a result.

Overall verdict: Some nice dark and creepy visuals with a real sense of coldness about them, but ultimately this is a totally hamfisted effort to say something about media manipulation that only mentions its effects in passing rather than showing them in detail which would make it more relevant. The situation and resolution are both unconvincing as is Adam's decision to let his brain be meddled with. An alarmingly weak episode from a script point of view, especially when taking into account the episode immediately prior to it. 4 out of 10.

Father's Day

Again an episode completely different in tone and setting to the others in this series, a worthy demonstration of Doctor Who's versatility. This gave us a lot of background about Rose but never felt forced, and also used a rather cliched theme of changing the past yet managed to maintain an air of freshness throughout. For one episode only Rose's Dad, Pete Tyler took centre stage with the Doctor and Rose and what an absolutely fantastic job actor Shaun Dingwall made of his portrayal of this hapless, flawed but likeable individual, given the springboard of a very sensitive teleplay by Paul Cornell. As the episode progresses he almost casually shrugs off his brush with death as Rose saves him from an oncoming car then begins a journey that sees him gradually realise the momentous events that are taking place around him - the realisation that Rose is his baby daughter grown up could not have been handled any better and then, with the Doctor's best efforts to find a way for Pete to survive into a time-secure future having been thwarted, he realises he has to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to put things right. A mention too for Billie Piper's exceptional performance in this episode which really tugged at the heart strings in several key scenes. It was emotional without being too mushy or seeming too contrived. Did it all make scientific sense? I'm not entirely sure, but its far more rewarding to accept that it did and feast in the wonderful characterplay that resulted. I only have two gripes with the episode - firstly the people don't seem too overawed by the fact that they're trapped in a church with alien monsters placing them all under seige whilst a bloke is explaining to them things about time travel; secondly the need for monsters at all - the episode required a 'threat' of some sort to put the characters under pressure but I'd have much preferred it to have been nature's threat, time trying to right itself. Rather than monsters eating people, those same people could have been sucked through time fissures as the church became surrounded by howling winds and the like, a real sense of the world coming to an end. This was a piece about time distortion and about human relationships and for once the presence of monsters seemed intrusive. I suppose they were deemed a necessary inclusion for the kiddies.

Overall verdict: Brilliant acting doing commendable service to a very emotive script, let down only (and not very badly) by powerful alien monsters that couldn't break through glass. 9 out of 10.

The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

Darkness, mystery, tension and genuinely spine-tingling creepiness - this story had all the elements that makes for the very best type of Doctor Who adventure. The combination of the innocent (a young child) as a threat and the use of a familiar but sinister image (a gasmask) as the visible face of the threat paid off brilliantly and this quickly became the most unnerving and unsettling British television drama I'd seen in years. Wartime London made for an interesting (but also essential) setting and the story unfolded nicely in the first episode with real questions asked about what was going on. To my sheer delight these questions were satisfactorily resolved, not only explaining what had caused the events but also in explaining why they never became historical legend (as, say, the dinosaur invasion of London should have been). It was even nice that a clue was planted in the first episode when nanogenes awere shown and explained so the viewer did have the opportunity to guess what was going on. And how refreshing that there was no villain and, ultimately, no deaths - hence the Doctor's triumphant "Everybody lives!" cry (although as some have noted, perhaps not the most accurate thing to shout out during the blitz!). Florence Hoath and Richard Wilson were great guest stars as Nancy and Doctor Constantine respectively - the latter was so good he made you wish he'd had more screen time but who will ever forget that transformation scene? One of the most memorable Doctor Who moments that will be recalled many years from now I'm sure. On the downside after a carefully constructed first episode the second episode seemed to hit a lull with the chase scenes lacking any menace due to jokey exchanges about sonic devices and then at the end some important plot points (such as why the child made telephones ring, which I didn't catch on the first viewing) were discussed far too quickly and seemed to be wrapped up five minutes early so that an overlong dancing scene in the TARDIS could take place. I'm not overly convinced about the nanogenes' acceptance of the 'superior DNA' of Nancy - surely they could work things out from other humans just as well? And just how did the Doctor manage to 'email the upgrade'? These things were a little unclear. But the biggest fault with the episode had to be Captain Jack. As a major character he's far too smarmy and comes across as a token bisexual wrapped up in the dressings of a stereotypical yank. I appreciate not all characters can be to my liking but an a story generally as wonderful as this, the long scenes with him each had me wishing that the programme would hurry up and get back to the main plot.

Probably the best realisation of 'traditional' Doctor Who in the modern format that we've seen thus far, a wonderfully creepy story with an unsually upbeat ending. The second part was not structured quite as well as the first, however, and Captain Jack Harkness, despite having a lot of airtime, did nothing to convince me he's a character I'm going to enjoy seeing as a regular TARDIS crewmember. 9 for the first half and 8 for the second so overall 8.5 out of 10.

Boom Town

Interesting to see a sequel story within the same season, this was a prompt return for the Slitheen now in the setting of modern day Cardiff. Things got off to a fair start with Annette Badland revelling a creepy and evil performance of Margaret Blaine/Blon and the Slitheen both looking better effects-wise and being given more depth by sparing a human it was about to kill. But as a storyline about the last-remaining Slitheen plotting to wipe out Earth via a dodgy-nuclear power station was set up, it was soon replaced after a scene where the TARDIS crew pound Blon up in the style reminiscent of Scooby Doo into a long-drawn out discussion of morals. The issues of whether the Doctor could take a creature to face the death penalty or not and about his habit of just quitting the scene and leaving others to tidy up his mess were relevant but nowhere near engaging enough to carry a whole episode. The latter issue was never going to go anywhere and the first one was ultimately side-stepped altogether as Blon ultimately fell victim to her own shenanigans, saving the Doctor of having to make a decision at all. To spend so much time labouring a point and then avoiding it seemed rather a waste of time to me. The restaurant scene was laced with comedy that was high camp ie Blon's attempts to murder the Doctor being easily outwitted one after the other. Far from making her seem more of a threat this only served to ridicule her and it also ridiculed the Doctor by way of his unbelievable, flippant methods of thwarting her attempts. If he's this perfect now why is he so flawed on other occasions?

From early on Blon was protesting that she was a reformed character which always seemed a hollow cry when taking into account her attempts to kill the Doctor in the restaurant, the events of her earlier appearance and her plans regarding the nuclear power plant. Even Jack made a point of saying that she was going to turn nasty so it was an eye-rolling 'here we go again' moment when at the very end, sure enough, she'd been bluffing and was as nasty as ever. And whilst the Doctor might have felt some angst at taking her to her death, would Mickey have done so? He was seconds way from being murdered by one of these creatures and killed one himself. And Jack doesn't strike me as a person with such high morals either. Then there's Rose, whose Mum was also so nearly murdered by the Slitheen. Forgotten about now, it seems.

Ah yes, Rose. The character this series has been centred around. The trip of a lifetime has been Rose's trip. She's encountered alien Autons in her workplace, met a mysterious man called the Doctor, been taken into his incredible time-space vessel, journeyed with him into the far future, into the past, into her own family history, and every step of the way we, the audience, have been there with her. And now she suddenly tells Mickey that she's been to an alien planet. Huh??? Why weren't WE taken along? Why, when enjoying Rose's complete experience of life with the Doctor, have we not been privvy to one of the most wondrous moments of all, Rose's first footsteps on alien soil? We only get to hear about it in a brief passage of dialogue. Bit of a cop-out that.

The whole Rose-Mickey subplot had mostly been gone through before and I remember the days when the Doctor was not just a mysterious figure whenever he stepped out of the TARDIS, he was also a bit of an enigma when inside it too. This episode's opening TARDIS scene showed them all in the console room literally like a happy family. A surefire way to de-mystify the main character!

The resolution was too vague and contrived, with a hitherto unmentioned "heart of the TARDIS" suddenly regressing a Slitheen (but nothing else, not even its human skin) to an egg. Almost as daft an idea as the concept of riding a time rift on a surf board! As well as the moral issues, the whole power station storyline was just abandoned also and, truth be told, it had been an incredibly unlikely scenario in the first place if we are really to believe that a recogniseable person involved in the biggest calamity Britain has ever seen can, in just six months, assume a powerful position in another city and get such a major project off the ground at a time when funds would surely be frozen due to Downing Street having been destroyed. The whole piece was an unconvincing mish-mash that tried its hand at moral debate, emotional drama, witty exchanges and an epic sci-fi disaster tale and it was a resounding failure in every respect. Thankfully there were some redeeming features, such as the acting, direction and photography which showed Cardiff off as the beautiful city it is, but without sufficient clout from the script an episode can only fall flat. And this one did.

Overall verdict: A hugely disappointing effort from a writer who really ought to know better. Promising ideas were not followed through and the whole thing came across as an attempt to show off the writer's home city whilst having a bit of fun in the process. TARDIS newcomer Captain Jack had nothing to do, nor did Rose apart from tell her boyfriend she'd been off to another planet. Mickey lost patience with her and I felt much the same way about the script. 3 out of 10.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways

And so it all came down to this two-part adventure, as much a conclusion of a season-long story arc as a story in its own right. It immediately picked up the threads of the disappointing "The Long Game", advancing the plot exactly one-hundred years and gave us the surreal images of the Doctor in the Big Brother house and Rose in an authentic-looking edition of The Weakest Link. By picking real gameshows from the current tv scedules the programme might have been stretching credibility to the point of ridicule in suggesting that these programmes will still be in production 200,000 years from now but at least it added some impact to the done-to-death sci-fi idea of game shows where contestants forfeit their lives if they lose. "Bad Wolf" then proceeded to build up the mystery - who had brought the Doctor here and why? It gradually became clear that there was a hidden menace at work and the episode might have had a lot more impact had its 'surprise' return of the Daleks not been forewarned in listings magazines and, indeed, the previous week's trailer! It was nice to see that in this futuristic action-based episode the character of Captain Jack fitted in so much better. Overall "Bad Wolf" started cranking up the tension well, leaving humour in the background and building up to a crescendo that suggested big things in the second, concluding instalment, not least with the Doctor's vow to save Rose and destroy every last stinking Dalek!

Such was the state of affairs and resulting expectation, the last episode was always going to have its work cut out if it was going to deliver the goods in a wholly satisfying manner. Whilst it was certainly dramatic, full of incident and climactic, "The Parting Of The Ways" quickly collapses when put under even the most cursory scrutiny. Apart from the number of contemporary things (even shirts and ties) still prevalent in the year 200,000 we're expected to believe that the Daleks have subjugated mankind through rigged television broadcasts, that they initially put a Jagrafess in place to achieve this (WHY?), that the Dalek Emperor survived the apocalyptic Time War (how?) and built a new race of Daleks. The Doctor rescues Rose by materialising the TARDIS around her and killing the Dalek guarding her, but no other Dalek on the station is killed. Nor does the Doctor bother to then materialise the TARDIS around the Emperor which would have left him isolated and vulnerable and left the Dalek army leaderless. The TARDIS has a forcefield which the Doctor uses to have a conversation with the Dalek emperor, whilst its minions try desperately in vain to shoot the Time Lord. But at all other opportunities they refrain from killing the Doctor, either by simply blowing the entire station to smithereens (surely within the capability of so many Dalek ships?) or when they have him completely surrounded. Indeed, they refrain from shooting him even when he is one button-press away from wiping them all out. By this time the Daleks have wiped out entire continents on Earth and are minutes away from destroying the remaining ones, so the Doctor's decision not to destroy the Daleks as it would mean also destroying life on Earth seems somewhat illogical, and rather unsatisfactory given that he vowed to do it at the end of "Bad Wolf", he's spent most of "The Parting Of The Ways" working frantically to give himself the opportunity and was more than prepared to blast a Dalek to bits in episode 6 until Rose stopped him. The Doctor also allows the remaining humans on the station to all be massacred when he not only has the TARDIS available as an escape route but also transmat technology that surely a man of his skills would be able to adapt to their advantage.

Then we have the real corker. Rose opens the TARDIS up with a truck (lucky that Dalek laser blast earlier didn't do it!) thus exposing its heart (or soul, or whatever, its all rather vague) which not only returns the ship to the Station at precisely the right time and place but also invests her with god-like powers (not regressing her into an egg like it might have done with, say, a recent villain), enabling her to restore the dead Captain Jack to life and also, conveniently, obliterate all the Daleks from existence. Yes, I did say that, Rose obliterates them. Even though in episode 6 she sympathised with one and very reluctantly ordered it to die, here she has no qualms about destroying every last one of them when one assumes with her infinite power she could have converted them into a cause for good. Furthermore, it appears that she left "Bad Wolf" references scattered through time and space as a clue so that she would be able to find a way to return to the future after the Doctor dumped her back home. Okay, so why something obscure like Bad Wolf rather than a more direct message, and why plant it in situations where she wasn't directly present (as happened in some of the earlier episodes)? Sure, it was a nice twist that it wasn't the Daleks or the Doctor behind all the Bad Wolf business, but in the end it made little sense at all.

Rose loses her god-like powers when the Doctor kisses her (run that by me again), and the energy is transferred into him where, apparently, it becomes deadly and he promptly regenerates after his cells become devastated.

This has to be classed as a huge let-down. The Dalek army is ultimately not defeated by ingenuity or even as a result of their own evil but through - well - a combination of sheer luck and magic! This lazy solution not only makes one wonder why the Time Lords were wiped out when they had the power of the space-time vortex at their disposal (all it needed was one of their number to sacrifice one of his regenertations!!!) it also presents colossal difficulties for future writers as that now this get-out-clause has been established it will be wholly illogical for it ever to be ignored in the future should the universe or Earth come under threat again.

Whilst dwelling on the inadequacies of the plot it would be cruel not to note some of the wonderful set pieces within the episode. The best had to be the death of Lynda, carefully set up as a likeable and sympathetic character so that her passing would be felt all the more. We viewers were neatly duped into believing that the Daleks cutting through the door would get her first - when suddenly others leer up ominously at the window and are silently seen to utter the word "Exterminate!". Other great moments were some of Eccleston's reactions (to Lynda's death, to seeing the TARDIS disappear for what he thinks will be the last time) and of his recorded farewell message to Rose, even predicting the exact spot she will be standing in.

As for the all-important regeneration scene, I still can't quite make up my mind about it. Eccleston does come across as man who knows he quickly has to say a final goodbye to a loved one, and yet he doesn't quite come across as someone who is dying, which makes it all seem a bit twee (okay, technically he's not dying at all, but you know what I mean). I won't comment on Tennant - that would be quite unfair when he only gets a couple of lines - but I wish him luck in the role and look forward to seeing him in action.

Overall verdict: Tense and gripping, though the pace is strangely broken up by scenes set on contemporary Earth. But oh dear, try not to look for consistencies in the plot because there are none! The only heroic thing this Doctor does in his final episode is kiss his companion - hardly going out in a blaze of glory. The Daleks also deserved a more fitting end than being "magicked" out of existence. 6 out of 10.

And what of the season overall? Well, it had a simple remit and that was to be a popular programme that would draw in appreciative viewers in its 7pm Saturday timeslot, so in that sense its been massively successful, exceeding all expectations. Its taken a dead programme which had a dodgy reputation and made it the biggest brand name currently on British television, and thats no mean feat.

For me, it nearly always felt quite different to the original run of Doctor Who - whether thats just because I'm older I'm not sure, though I think there's more to it than that. However, like the original version I've found this one a rather frustrating mix of the great, the average and the awful though I would say that most of the major faults lie firmly at the door of its principle writer! Comparisons were already being made with the last revival of Doctor Who, the 1996 TV Movie starring Paul McGann, even before "Rose" aired. Ironically this new series started off by fixing a lot of the perceived faults of that 90s production, such as a more newcomer-friendly way of introducing key concepts such as the Doctor and the TARDIS, and yet at its end it actually repeated some of movie's worst faults such as characters being brought back from the dead, the Doctor kissing his companion, a magical deus-ex-machina solution to the problem at hand and the half-human idea rearing its head again (this time its the Daleks!). At least now the production team know that they have a success and, as a result, a guarantee of at least a third series, so this may see the programme adopt a less cautious approach from now on. Whether that will be beneficial or to its detriment remains to be seen...