My sky subscription may be on suspension, I may have missed virtually all of the second series of Life on Mars, and I may have missed most of the latest series of 24 and BSG, but... things aren't all bad!

Yes...

Doctor Who is back on telly...

Three episodes in, and I'm really enjoying the new series so far. Although I'm a bit frustrated that they're revealing the words/phrases/theme of the series through Confidential, but it's back! And Confidential is now 45 mins too!

Episode 1 was a bit of a let down in some respects, as we were convinced from the trailers that the Judoon (platoon on the moon - sorry, had to say it!) were Sontarans. But it was an ok intro to Martha, and had a nice moment in the TARDIS where the Doctor mimes Martha's 'it's bigger on the inside'... nice touch from DT there! Not too keen on the large family of Martha's and I do hope that Russell doesn't bring us back to them too often... Jackie, Mickey & Pete all had reasons for being involved (as it turned out), but I can't see that the same will work for this large family. All I could think was that if I had a family like that I'd jump at the chance of escaping in the TARDIS!

Episode 2 was brilliant. Not least for it's knowledgable references to Shakespeare's plays (including the lost play, Love's labours won!). I really enjoyed the 'yes, you can have that one' moments when the Doctor quoted lines from Shakespeare's future plays. I thought that the way that the Doctor keeps shunning Martha, albeit unconciously, was really well played and written too. We all know that there was a real connection between the Doctor and Rose, and it's quite interesting to see a modern approach to the Doctor losing a companion.

Episode 3 was intriguing, and not a bad RTD story. I liked the comparisons to how we, and the Doctor, remember New Earth, and the insight into the undercity. The Face of Boe finally had his chance to deliver the much-anticipated (and well predicted) final words to the Doctor... "You are not alone". Simply stated, without any hammy overacting, and leaving the Doctor with a look of shock, surprise, astonishment, and yet disbelief. The final scene was really nice too, and really indicated how different the relationship between the Doctor and Rose was from the one developing between the Doctor and Martha. And it also showed how different Martha is from Rose. Not only is she more mature from the outset, and more intelligent (I think maybe I should say more academic?), she doesn't suffer fools gladly, and refuses to be treated like a child. And, as a long-term fan, I was so pleased that RTD used phrases from previous references to Gallifrey, and also added his own description of the planet. I nearly blubbed when DT mentioned the silver leaves on the trees!

It would seem that there are two things we need to follow this year... Mr Saxon (who is played by John Simm) and the truth about the Face of Boe. Mr Saxon has been refered to once so far, at the end of episode 1, in a radio interview - the interviewee said something like 'Mr Saxon is right, there is alien life out there'. I think he's only been refered to there, but I may have to go back and see if I can find any other references. It's being widely speculated on that Mr Saxon is in fact the Master, and I have to say that I rather hope he is! In the latest Confidential DT said that the Face of Boe isn't wrong, but neither is the Doctor, and that the truth lies somewhere in between... now, technically speaking the Master hasn't truly been a time lord since 'The Keeper of Traken' when he took up body-snatching. The other thing to watch out for is that apparently we'll find out at the end of the series who the Face of Boe is. Paul thinks that maybe he was another incarnation of the Master. It is odd that the has always refered to the Doctor as 'old friend', as Roger Delgado's Master used to refer to Jon Pertwee's Doctor... it's all rather intriguing, and in many respects I can't wait for the end of the series to find out!

Anyway, this week we have the return of the Daleks... the BBC website has changed, and so has my desktop wallpaper at work... I now have this rather fetching piccy! It looks really good... and we already know that it's a two-parter... can't wait!

Oh, and the Beeb are being really kind and putting online versions of the trailer up each week... which start with the fantastic split screen of the Doctor and Martha in homage to the classic Pearson cover for 'An Unearthly Child' that many of the fans have been replicating in their artwork since the 9th Doctor & Rose!