Rose

It was almost like a dream come true . Prestigious actor known for playing angry introspective characters gets cast as the most famous icon on British television in a show I'm on record as saying probably works best as a memory . Not only that but the BBC bombarded the public with trailers in the run up to this episode . There was even an news item on the BBC main news pointing out that the episode had been leaked over the net at the start of March 2005 with Eccleston stating that the fans who had seen it had hated the episode

As a fan I didn't hate this episode but I was hoping for more . It's there to set up the characters of Rose , her mother Jackie and her boyfriend Mickey so the plot featuring an Auton invasion is pushed aside and seems very rushed but that's not really important since it's an intro episode . Thankfully my parents did say they were giving it a chance to see if it the series would improve as it went along and I did go on record as saying it was entertaining but there was room for improvement . Not as good as classic stories from the 60s and 70s but certainly an improvement on many of the appalling Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy episodes

One interesting aspect is the in jokes which would be noticed by fans such as The Doctor appearing in the crowd photo on the day Kennedy was shot . If you didn't know President Kennedy was killed on the 22nd November 1963 the day before DOCTOR WHO premiered on BBC television , or that Rose thinks the Autons are a student prank which is exactly what a policeman thinks in the novelization of the 1970 adventure Spearhead From Space . Subtle humour from Russell T Davies though his plotting leaves a lot to be desired

Rewatching from 18 years in this episode's future was a far better experience than I thought it would be (except the CGI, of course). What surprised me was that I couldn't remember Mickey being so pathetic. He eventually became a hero in the series and all trace of his original personality had disappeared from my memory. It a fun story with lots of action and at the end Rose doesn't hesitate to head off with the mysterious stranger because Mickey is an A-grade idiotic a-hole. I was also surprised by the amount of flirting between Rose and the Doctor. I thought that developed later but it was there from the very beginning. The Autons were very menacing, but I couldn't work out if the man-eating dustbins were just crap or a clever homage to the 8th Doctor's reign.

These days television executive hold up Rose as an example of how to successfully revive a series even though the central plot is from Jon Pertwee's third doctor debut story, Spearhead from Space. Both stories start with the shot of Planet Earth.

Russell T Davies brings Doctor Who back for the 21st century. RTD knew that he needed to reach a new younger audience who knew little about Doctor Who and keep things in the real world. Jacki Tyler talks about compensation claims, Mickey does not want Rose to go through her emails, the Doctor flicks through the latest edition of a celebrity gossip magazine. There is a lot told in an economy of words.

Christopher Eccleston shows goofiness and has enough mystery that this is man who maybe could not be trusted, someone who is trouble as the character of Clive warns Rose.

Billie Piper is the one who astonishes the audience as the shopgirl Rose Tyler who his bored of her life and in the Doctor she can escape to a life of adventure in the Tardis.

Director Keith Boak did not quiet get the balance right between comedy, scares and drama. Maybe the burping wheelie bin was just too silly but he does keep it fast moving.

As essential a part of British pop culture as the Monty Python and James Bond, Doctor Who was a massive hit for 26 years (1963-1989), making it one of the longest running TV shows in the world (most serials are lucky to have ten seasons). Plans to reboot the series were always on the BBC's agenda, and after a miscalculated (not to mention Americanized) TV movie produced by Fox failed to capture the magic of the original version, another nine years (Comic Relief spoof and animated mini-series notwithstanding) were required before the ultimate Time Lord could return properly, courtesy of acclaimed writer Russell T. Davies.

Davies' brilliance in reintroducing the character lies in his decision to do so through the eyes of an outsider: Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), a London-based girl who leads a very normal life until one night she is attacked by creatures made out of living plastic. She is rescued by an elusive stranger who introduces himself simply as the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and then disappears after quipping: "Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!". As she gets more and more curious about this "man", she soon finds herself in a whole new world: aliens, invasions, travel through time and space, and of course, the omnipresent Police Box-shaped TARDIS.

The first 45 minutes of the new Doctor Who are almost perfect (the special effects could have used a bit more polishing) because Davies nails two things: the show's unique humor and the two protagonists. The original series' most endearing trait was its blend of spectacular sci-fi and pure British comedy, a hybrid that's hard, if not impossible, to export. Here the laughs are all linked to the conversations between Rose and the Doctor, who come off as fully rounded characters after just one episode. Okay, so technically Eccleston's Doctor is the Ninth to use that name, but he distances himself from the previous eight incarnations by speaking with a Northern accent (the one he uses on a daily basis) and justifying it with a terrific line: "Lots of planets have a North!".

The real triumph of this episode, though, is Piper's performance: in theory, Rose is in her late teens, therefore nearly the same age as thousands of young viewers who had never heard of the Doctor before. Her portrayal of an ordinary girl lost in a new, exciting universe, represents the new generation's reaction to the return of a TV icon, and the chemistry that instantly forms between her and Eccleston is a sign indicating the new Doctor Who is just as good as the old one.

First, fifth, ninth, it makes no difference: there may have been others before Eccleston (and Piper, for that matter) but together he, William Hartnell, Peter Davison and the rest of the bunch are one single character, one so cool he doesn't even need a name: he's THE Doctor.

Because, frankly, I am a lunatic I'm also, along with everything else, going to go back to the start of "Doctor Who" or "Nu-Who" anyway, and rewatch and review every episode. I have seen every episode before, but very few of them more than once. Let's go back to 2006 for the first one.

Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) works in a London department store. One night, just before lock up she's attacked by the shop dummies. Her life is saved by a man enigmatically known only as "The Doctor" (Christopher Ecclestone). The Doctor, an alien, is tracking signals that are controlling plastic things, particularly but not exclusively shop dummies but both he, and now Rose, are being targeted in turn.

This was my real introduction to "Doctor Who". I was 9 when the show ended, and though I do remember the feature length episode with Paul McGann, this was the start of the show, for me. The most striking thing about it, looking at it with 2020 eyes is how badly the computer generated effects have aged. It's not the fault of the BBC, it's just that 14 years ago visual effects were so costly there was a compromise required. It cannot be ignored though that the interaction between Mickey and the Dustbin looks terrible. My next thought was that I should be cherishing this time with Christopher Eccleston as I know it's not going to last very long. Everyone is clearly settling into everything at the moment . . . which I think is the excuse for the overblown "I can feel the movement of the earth" speech in the middle of the episode. But a couple of other moments really land, such as enthusiastic "Yeah" in response to Rose's question about whether travelling with him will always be this dangerous.

This episode has a lot to do, it introduces us to all the principles that will take us forward for the next few years, including Mickey (whose characterisation is perhaps the most "off" in this one) and Jackie. It can perhaps been forgiven then that the plot is a little basic and we hang around in the climactic scenes far longer than we ought too, before Rose decides that she can save the day. But it's an engaging start to the series that would now (and did at the time) entice me to start watching.