Rose



While I was channel surfing last night when I stumbled across a repeat of Rose on UKTV. I came in just as the title character enters the TARDIS for the first time and that wonderful shot where we get to see the new console room in all it's glory. And it got me thinking.  Has it really been six years since Doctor Who made it's comeback? I can remember all too well the anticipation waiting for it to make it's Australia debut; waiting for 7.30 on that Saturday night in May when it did. And then seeing the TARDIS flying hell for leather through the vortex and hearing Murray Gold's strident arrangement on the theme music and thinking IT'S BACK!

While there are bigger episodes in series one (I'm thinking of Dalek and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - Steven Moffat's blueprint for the show four years early), Rose is good at what it does: re-introducing the series to a new audience. It's the story of Rose meeting the Doctor and it does it really well.

Christopher Eccelston makes an immediate impact as the Ninth Doctor (his first words are"Run!" which says it all about the Doctor!). Billie Piper manages to brush aside the concerns some people had about her acting ability by making Rose believable and likable (though I still prefer the series one version of Rose to the love-struck teenager of later years). And of course, it's in this episode we're introduced to someone who is possibly the most normal person ever created for Doctor Who. I'm speaking of the one and only Jackie Tyler (take a bow Camille Coduri.) The only weak point in the cast is Noel Clark's Mickey Smith who comes across as wet and unlikeable (and you have to wonder what did Rose see in him?).

It might not be a classic. But it's what brought Doctor Who back better than ever. And for that it'll always be one of my favourite episodes.