In watching the new series of Doctor Who it immediately becomes apparent that, if nothing else, Russell T. Davis and company have a huge amount of respect and affection for the show and its history, but that they haven’t let that stop them from making changes where needed to bring it up to date.

This is Doctor Who for the Buffy generation.

With its shorter length episodes, clearly timed for the export market, the story telling has been distilled into a fast paced, slick and hugely entertaining romp that doesn’t let up from the moment the opening credits roll.

The first episode, Rose, is told from the point of view of the titular character Rose Tyler, a teenager with a dead end job, a self absorbed mother and a completely hopeless boyfriend. A chance meeting with The Doctor sets in motion a sequence of events that sees the pair pitted against the menace of the Autons - and their controlling influence the Nestine Consciousness - and leads Rose to question the direction her life is taking.

From the start Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper make an engaging double act that definitely has a lot of chemistry. Given his previous roles Eccleston’s Doctor is a lot less serious than you might expect, but he is also perfectly capable of balancing that with the more serious and sincere dialogue when called upon. Piper, for her part, tackles her role with enthusiasm and aplomb and is genuinely convincing.

Much of the episode was filmed on location and this makes it feel a lot grander in scale, and far more realistic, than its studio bound predecessor. Coupled with the change in filming styles it is clear that a lot more money is being thrown at this incarnation and this shows in the costumes, sets and effects which look consistently good throughout (especially the new TARDIS interior).

The episode itself isn’t perfect as, with most pilot episodes, there’s a lot of introduction and explanation to pack into a short space of time and in this instance the plotting suffers somewhat with several questions left un-answered - since when do shop mannequins come fitted with guns? for example.

It’s also let down in places by some poor supporting performances, especially that of Rose’s boyfriend which was pretty stiff even before his character was made of plastic.

For the most part however these are minor distractions and are more than made up for by the high quality of the script and the humour contained within it (was that card trick a dig at Sylvester McCoy’s character per chance?!).

The expectation on the new series - from the fans, the media and the BBC itself - is enormous and if it failed to deliver it would almost certainly be the final nail in the show’s coffin.

As it is however this was a good start and it looks as though the show will only improve once it settles down and gets on with the story telling.


The new series of Doctor Who can be seen on Saturday evenings at 7.00pm on BBC1 and is repeated on Sundays at the same time on BBC3.


Raven is currently giving shop windows a wide berth . . .

Doctor Who's okay, I'm not a massive fan (still looking forward to seeing Simon it it!). But Billie Piper irritates the hell out of me, she can't act, and her voice really grates on me.

Yeah, she's a rough cockernee. BOO.