TV episode review
UK airdate 3 April 2010 (BBC One)

The TARDIS crash-lands in a little girl’s garden as a newly regenerated Doctor – and the show’s new production team – prove their worth…

…And prove it they most certainly do. Despite an opening sequence that feels like a hangover (or maybe even a conscious homage) from the OTT spectacle of the Russell T Davies era, The Eleventh Hour feels like a return to classic Doctor Who. The small village setting recalls various stories such as The Android Invasion, The Daemons and The Awakening. We’ve done our time in contemporary London, and this feels very different from the show’s last four-and-a-bit years.

The show is back to being shot like a drama as opposed to the ‘shiny floor show’ that often made the series feel too glossy over the last five years. There are no more hero shots of the Doctor as he walks in slow motion towards the camera or horrible crash-zooms accompanied by musical stings – techniques that sometimes made the show feel naff and cheap. Even the often criticised device of the Sonic Screwdriver, which has been treated as a magic wand at times (albeit one that struggles to penetrate deadlock seals), is put out of action, forcing the Doctor’s cunning and sense of invention to save the day. Of course, there are set pieces and special effects (giant eyeballs threatening to torch the Earth, a scary snake monster), but other than that, this episode feels gloriously low-key, concentrating instead on the new Doctor and his new companion.

And what a Doctor! Faced with the challenge of following the Most Popular Doctor of All Time (TM) Smith was possibly apprehensive about the sequence in which all of the previous Doctors (apart from Peter Cushing – although the latest TARDIS seems to be modelled on the one from the 1960s movies) flicker up large on the screen, dwelling on a close-up of the Tenth. But as he walks through it, using Tennant’s face as a theatrical curtain with which to make a grand entrance in full costume, he’s established in grandiose style.

After a charming introduction to Amelia Pond as a child (and where exactly is her aunt?) during the show’s first act, we meet the older Amy Pond, who on the face of it is a sex object (a kissogram no less) designed to appeal to the dads (if the French Maid’s outfit doesn’t see active service by the end of the series, Moffat might have some disgruntled viewers). Yet beneath that, there is a resourceful, bewildered and canny young woman. Her boyfriend, Rory, feels like he might be the weak link in the show, much like Noel Clarke didn’t quite work in the early episodes of the 2005 season, but it’s still early days.

The new titles are excellent and while the new version of the theme tune might take some getting used to (the Doctor Who music doesn’t seem to start till midway through), it’s exciting and iconic – as the Doctor Who opening titles always should be.

After a frankly terrible run of specials that managed to feel distinctly unspecial, it feels like a brake has been applied to the kind of Doctor Who that brought us flying buses, battles against time and bastard Time Lords.

In narrative terms, The Eleventh Hour is by no means perfect. Prisoner Zero is formidable in appearance yet does little apart from standing around waiting to be captured. It’s a small price to pay when the primary concern is establishing our leads in much the same way that Rose and even An Unearthly Child set up the key players rather than telling an entirely satisfying story.

If the action-packed trailer at the story’s conclusion is anything to go by, either there’s going to be a very busy second episode or this series has plenty of wit, scares and adventure to keep the new Doctor, his new companion and his lovely, if slightly gaudy, new TARDIS enthralled for the next 12 weeks. Jonathan Wilkins

VERDICT: 9/10