Doctor Who says bow ties are cool

It's a new start for Doctor Who. New Doctor. New assistant. New head writer. The Russell T Davies seasons have been cut off and left as a separate era. Now everything won't come back to Rose Tyler - there's a new story to build. But the most interesting thing about this fresh season is the direction Stevan Moffat might take it in. It's clear that he's already written some of the best episodes - 'Girl in the Fireplace','Blink' - and now he's overseeing everything. I'm hoping for a shift from the (good) loud action episodes that Russell T wrote into more quiet, scary, and thoughtful stuff. I'm probably in the minority of viewers who want to see less 'running around', and they do have a responsibility to the time slot, but I've always thought Doctor Who is at its best when it's trying to scare you with the unknown, putting invisible monsters in familiar places.

In 'The Eleventh Hour' Moffat shows both sides of the Doctor. The episode begins with him investigating a crack in a little girl's bedroom wall. The power of a child's 'imaginary' monsters in a big house is, for me, one of the most compelling things you can write about, so that made me happy. And then the second half of the episode sees the regenerating Doctor saving the world in a small village through some logic I didn't entirely understand. A good episode apart from the inevitable end-of-the-world scenario (Why does it always have to be the end of the world? The end of the world is boring). The new Doctor, Matt Smith, takes over from David Tennant as another quirky, enthusiastic type. From his first episode he's got the character down pretty well. Instantly likable and possibly funnier than his predecessor, it'll be interesting to see where he goes. I wasn't sure why he was wearing a bow tie, but as soon as he said 'bow ties are cool', I believed him. Like the last transition, it doesn't take long to forget about the last Doctor. It's been an almost perfect start. The show is in good hands.