Goodness gracious me, a Doctor Who episode that was actually good. The whole concept of such a phenomenon existing had fallen so far into unbelievability recently that it's a huge surprise to see it happen again.

It contained:

- A 1408ish crack in the wall with a giant twitching eye on the other side
- A disused room that hides in the corner of your eye...
- ...that housed a Synx-fish-tentacle thing
- Twin girls with needle teeth
- In a deserted hospital
- Victor Meldrew's wife/Manny Bianco's mum
- Sort of airborne Aletheia-snowflakes
- A post office (and it's shut)
- A mini
- Patrick Moore

Clearly, Steven Moffat is starting as he means to go on. If it had also involved driving that fire engine through the wall instead of stopping disappointingly short at poking the ladder through a window, then that would have completely crowned it.

Even though this is the first time in the post-2000 run where there's been a change of all the main characters, it still felt more like a complete reset than I had expected. The titles, logo and music have all been replaced to form a darker-themed, synth-choired opening, but it's not a complete move into Darker And Edgier territory - the new Doctor keeps a lot of the eccentric tone, there were a couple of funny moments, and the new design of the Tardis interior looks somewhat like a cross between the ocean zone of the Crystal Maze and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There was a bit of bluescreening at the start, but apart from that it all somehow even looks better, now - and that can't be just due to a change of writers, but the whole thing just feels like it's been refreshed.

I got the feeling that the new President of Hiding Behind the Sofa was holding himself back for a slightly gentle introduction to the series - this wouldn't have required the usual "Warning, this episode was written by Steven Moffat" note for family viewing - but it's nice to know that he has the potential to fulfill the programme's intention of making its younger and more nervous viewers lose a bit of sleep.

I think that even after the specials over the last year which hovered at some level below diabolical that I'd possibly label "really stupid", you can consider me reconvinced once more. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to this new direction with Matt Smith.

Ace.