Rose

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.

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.

A great way to introduce the new era of Doctor Who. A new era which was immediately successful, credit to a 'Fantastic' opening episode. In this episode we meet Rose and The Doctor and some of the supporting characters as well. When a strange man saves a young woman called Rose from killer mannequins she becomes embroiled with him and helps him face a hidden invasion by the Autons: led by the Nestene Conscienceness.

It really was a great introduction. Christopher Ecclestone is now long in the past which is a shame. Not to say he should of gone on in place on Tennant but I really felt Ecclestone got the role. Billie Piper will always be the most memorable NuWho companion to me as she was just so much more charismatic than the others. Martha and Amy, i find boring. Donna got on my nerve. Rose was near perfect. As a story it isn't much. There were some daft little moments clearly aimed at kids. On the whole though it was brilliant.

The best moment has to be 'I can feel it' speech by Ecclestone. Very rarely in his tenure was he as good as this. That isn't a knock as this is one of my favourite NuWho moments. It really did sell me on the new series. The final scenes were also great, The Doctor's remarks about time travel the key.

OVERALL - 7.0: Very good intro but not a suspenseful, thrilling masterpiece. However very entertaining, great characters, and the Nestene looks great.

It's been a while since I've gone back to watch Rose, and my review is almost 10 years late, mehh. I can remember the anticipation surrounding this one, everyone I knew was counting down to watch it, old and new fans alike. I can remember watching it and thinking 'Is this going to work?' Back in the day I worked in the store where the interior shots were filmed, and there was a bit excitement surrounding the cast's appearance. If memory serves during the initial transmission there was a slight interruption that cut to Graham Norton. Looking back on it now I enjoyed the exuberance of the episode, the mix of sci fi and light humour, so different from Series 8 (the most recently transmitted series at the time of writing this.) Two things I possibly didn't notice back then, one, how much I loved Billie Piper's performance, and two, Mr Eccleston was actually quite attractive. I knew I was going to love Camille Coduri, Jackie was a fantastic character, so much fun. Mickey certainly developed as he went on. I was so pleased to see the return of the Autons, a heads up to the Iconic Spearhead from Space, it was a safe bet to try to appeal to the hoards of existing loyal fans. On the downside I found Auton Mickey and the bin scene would have been better suited to CBBC, would be difficult to imagine that happening in a 2015 episode. Some of the effects seem a little on the dodgy side, the photo-shopping is particularly shambolic. Are they implying Rose is particularly dense? Mickey looks rather plastic and has forgotten how to drive, she doesn't notice. On the plus, I applaud it for hooking in a lot of original and new viewers, many of which would stay with the show for years to come. We got to see Chris smile, a definite plus. We get an endearing companion with a real back story, a family, a job etc. Chris injects a bit of mystery and sadness into the role. There is some very nice music in this episode, in my opinion the music in the earlier series was much better. The opening credits at the time and music were excellent, and the TARDIS interior was beautifully created. The new 45 minute format also seems like a winner. It's hard to find many major faults with Rose, it's not exactly a masterpiece or an iconic episode, but it is fun, pacey and very entertaining, they did a good job, drafting in the lovable Mark Benton was a good move. The positives massively outweigh the negatives. Wasn't it just nice to have the iconic blue Police box back on our screens. 10.81 million viewers thought so and tuned in. A very solid 7/10

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.