Ok..What have you got for us this time?

Ok I admit it. I am a huge Doctor Who fan. I know a lot of people say that kind of thing about current geeky ‘in-things’, like: “oh yeah Star Wars, I love that R2-Threedeetoo guy”, but when I say fan I mean FAN.

I’ve spent the majority of my life being a fan, in fact, one of my earliest memories was the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker), regenerating into the 5th (Peter Davison). I remember being genuinely upset for a few months and then Davison took on the role and became (and remains) my favourite Doctor. I’ve been to conventions, met every Doctor that was still alive (up to the 7th at least), and I have a large Tardis and Dalek in the SittingNow office. So there.

Anyway, I digress.

The Doctor's new Scarlett lady ... nice

Tonight, just now in fact, the BBC broadcast the first episode of the new series starring the new Doctor Matt Smith. To say I was a little nervous this week is an understatement. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whenever a new actor takes on the role, it’s a very nervous time for me. I normally end up going back and re-watching the first few episodes once I’ve adjusted, so that I can watch it as a ‘Doctor Who’ episode; this time however, it was different.

For some reason I felt immediately at ease with Smith’s Doctor, he felt familiar. This is no mean feat; in the past when a Doctor regenerates it’s normally up to an already established  character (companion, Lethbridge Stewart, et al) to carry the watcher back into the fold and believe that the new guy is our good old Time Lord. (Remember Tennant’s first episode, he was pretty much asleep for the whole thing.) This time round, however, it only took (somewhat ironically) about twenty minutes before I sat back and started watching what I recognised as a great episode of Doctor Who.

It seems that I am not alone in my my opinions. Once the episode concluded, I fired up tweetdeck and started a #Doctor column to see what my fellow netizens thought, and surprisingly, they all seemed to agree.

So this season then – armed with what promises to be a great new team – we have Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, Vampires, and loads more. Bring it on Doctor number eleven! I can’t wait.


Ken Eakins

If you missed it and you’re in the UK, you can watch it for free here (BBC iPlayer).

About the Author

Ken Eakins is a filmmaker and weird stuff enthusiast from the South of England.

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