partly because I consider Russell T Davies a genius but also because I love Catherine Tate.

What I love about RTD is that it's never quite what you expect.

Like this opening episode - great fun; Sarah Lancashire was fabulous; the little fat babies were adorable; unlike any other Doctor Who but terrific fun all the same.

Amazing, time has meant I haven't been able to look in on the board for a while, but I thought seconds ago "wonder what JK thought of the episode" so came on in!

Yep very confident episode I thought - especially that scene at the end with a certain actress which was a bit of a wow moment. Great stuff, I'm just making a little icon of one of the little alien babies!

I have a theory - certain creative people are given full power to indulge themselves almost like kids with toys - Russell T Davies has the entire might and power and budget and organisation of the BBC - with our tax money - to enjoy himself - and it works like a charm.

I was lucky enough to have the same with Entertainment USA - total control, all the facilities, just made my series and it got 9 million viewers.

It only happens every now and again but when it does... WOW!

Last nights Who got an overnight of 8.4m - top show of the night, 10th in the week behind the soaps. Given that the BBC were haranged for the timing of the episode thats not a bad rating and the consolidated results should have the final figure above 9m.

In the 70s and 80s the same effects people worked on Dr Who as on the Star Wars movies. Difference was that the BBC gave them a near zero budget, so effects were poor to minimum. Last night, BBC4 devoted an evening to the wonderful Verity Lambert. They didn't choose the best written Dr Who story to show, but Verity always injected a certain charm and intelligence into whatever she produced. Jonathon Creek was just like the early Dr Who but without the Sci-Fi element. Same style and quality of writing and production.

My two favourite Dr Who stories are 'The Three Doctors' and 'The Mind Robber', although many of the early stories were expertly written and very entertaining.

Dr Who is totally different now. Little remains of the original concept. The new stories are never as deep, even though the budget has greatly improved. Too many of the new stories rely on material "borrowed" from elsewhere, such as the "I do believe in fairies!" scene from Peter Pan and the exact copy of the final "I'll be back!" scene from the Flash Gordon movie. Then there's 'Pigs from space' and 'Restaurant at the edge of the universe', all quickly detected by users of the various TV and Sci-Fi forums, and all highlighting the limited imagination of the current main Dr Who writer. However, I did like the 'Blink' episode, which was adapted from a story in a Dr Who magazine, so not written by RTD.

I gave last night's episode a fair chance, but have to admit I gave up. It was nice to see Bernard Cribbons again, but the rest was quite awful.

RTD admitted he wanted to take Dr Who away from it's fans. He certainly achieved that, but I can't help thinking that if the BBC had chosen somebody who respected the original concept and gave him/her the budget to make it better, then both old and new fans would have combined to give Dr Who the largest audience known in modern TV Land.

It's been a bit like reforming Abba but with new members performing Indie Rock. There might be millions of new fans but it would not be Abba - except in name.

Doctor Who has always borrowed and used elements from other literature and stories. Indeed in it's heyday of the mid 70s under Tom Baker, it borrowed from Frankinstein, the Midwich Cuckoos, the Phantom of the Opera, Egpytian mythology and Jack the Ripper.

One story from 1975, The Ark in Space however is a little different - regarding an alien menace stalking a spaceship, it PREDATED the Alien movie which starred Sigourney Weaver by five years - and in another twist, that film was directed by Ridley Scott, who was down to design the original Dalek story in 1964 but got reassigned elsewhere!

Its first showing has bee panned by the critics. Something to do with Tates over-acting and the fact she could be the Doctors mumm. Bring back Billie Piper!

Those knocking Tate - like Sam Wollaston in the Guardian today - are wrong, I believe.

I bet she really grows on them as the series develops.

Sam got the charm of the show spot on in the rest of his review incidentally; the reason I love RTD so much is that he has broadened the appeal so much.

I never liked Dr Who before he took over - it was simple basic kids TV - he has made it far cleverer and more subtle yet, I believe, has still retained the charm for kids - though other posters clearly disagree.

It's about degrees. All stories borrow from others to some extent. I see the level of 'borrowing' by RTD as rather more than in previous Dr Who eras. There is a difference between adapting an idea and copying entire scenes, although there is the exception of intentional parody. It's noticeable that the newer Dr Who stories which show the most originality are those not written by RTD. Maybe he should stick to producing and leave the writing to those with more imagination.

Dr Who was only basic kids TV in the 1980s. It was created as a dark Sci-Fi for adults. As a young child I was not allowed to watch it. For it's day it was very ground-breaking and there were even calls for it to be banned. Such was the innocence of the era.

It lost quality towards the end of the Tom Baker era when some bod at the BBC decided to make kids the target audience. By the time Sylvester McCoy took the role it had lost the plot entirely, but briefly recovered form in the Paul McGann movie.

I don't think RTD has broadened the appeal. He's just made it for a different audience.