With bated breath we have been waiting for Doctor Who to return to our television. There been rumor upon rumor, the stories flying around the internet were more imitative then a episode of the old series, the BBC had only been releasing teasing small details about it (The episode was even leaked onto the internet) and then, finally, it was here. At 7.00 pm, on Saturday 26^th March 2005, the new Doctor Who title sequence exploded onto our screens. The wait was over…

Rose Tyler, a 19 year old London shop girl, has a strange encounter in the basement of the department store were she works. As she stumbles around in the dark she finds herself attacked by a collection of shop mannequins, which have come to life with a violent streak. Then a strange man pulls her to safety. He introduces himself as The Doctor before telling her to "Run for your life," moments later he blows the building up.

The next day, now out of a job, Rose begins to investigate who The Doctor is, hindered more then helped by her mother Jackie and boyfriend Mickey. Her investigation leads to a conspiracy theorist, being attacked in a pizza restaurant, an old style police box that is hundreds of times larger on the inside that the outside, and a confrontation under the London Eye with the Nestene Consciousness as once again The Autons cause terror in London’s shops.

These few days will change Rose Tyler’s life forever…

This episode is very much the curtain raiser for the new series and so has to perform a lot of tasks. It has to introduce us to the characters of The Doctor and Rose, setup Rose’s background, introduce the TARDIS, especially showing that it is bigger on the inside and that it can travel through time and space, and on top of all this give us a fast paced adventure.

The story does do this but unfortunately feels very rushed, seeming to be paced at an almost break-neck speed. It leaps from one set piece onto the next, with very little rest in between. That said, this is the main criticism of this story but it has to fit so much into a single forty-five minute episode. The first episode of the original series, back in 1963, took just under thirty minutes to introduce The Doctor, his companions and The TARDIS, without also having to have an adventure story on top.

The story, very different from any previous Doctor Who story, is seen from the point-of-view of Rose. She is the main focus of this story; we follow her attempts to understand the events around her and to fathom out the mysterious Doctor’s character. She is our guide into this new world and as a guide Rose Tyler is a very good one: cynical, inquisitive, strong willed and resourceful.

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper bring their roles to life with confidence. This is no surprise with Christopher Eccleston; during his career he has again and again proved himself a versatile and skilled actor, bringing depth to all his performances. Contrary to typecasting opinion, he handles the humor here very well. The pleasant surprise was Billie Piper’s performance. She slips easily under the skin of her character, never parodying nor over-playing her role (Even her South London accent is authentic sounding). Previous to this her main television role had been in The Canterbury Tales, were she played a very naïve girl who was manipulated by all the men around her. Her Rose Tyler is certainly not this.

Camille Coduri, as Rose’s rather slutty mother Jackie, and Noel Clarke, as Rose’s no-hoper boyfriend Mickey, also turn in solid support. But it is Mark Benton, as the conspiracy theorist Clive, with his own website tracking the mysterious Doctor, who stands out in the supporting roles. In the hands of a lesser actor Clive could have just been another "nerd", but Mark Benton lifts him above that turning him into a great, lovable British eccentric – making his death all the more poignant.

Russell T Davis’ script certainly moves things along very quickly, though some of the comedy is a bit heavy handed (the businesses with the Auton arm was almost slapstick). The strength here is his characterization of The Doctor and Rose. She is a very modern character, not just because she uses her mobile phone, whereas he is very unworldly. The chemistry between the two is very vivid; they compliment each other (rather then her following behind him with a stream of questions), making her final departure with him believable.

The May issue of the Newsletter will be a Star Wars special to tie in with the release that month of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

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