S03E01: 'Smith and Jones'

Righty-ho, if you've yet to scoop your jaw off the floor after watching the Season Three premiere of Doctor Who then please do so now. Faced with the mammoth task of inducting a new lead into the show, writer Russell T Davies ensured a seamless transition from Rose to Martha by skillfully weaving the new companion into a quirky storyline involving a hospital being transported to the moon.

It's not like in the old days when companions could come and go without that much scrutinity, often being a bit of eye candy for the dads, or in the case of poor Adric a hate figure for the fans. These days The Doctor and his 'assistant' are rightly given level pegging - which ups the stakes a huge amount. Doctor Who faced a major cast upheaval when Billie Piper left, so all the beady eyes of the viewers are now understably focussed on Freema Agyeman's performance as Martha Jones.

The beauty of this episode does not directly lie in the general events of the plot, but in overwhelming the viewer with so many fast-paced elements that Martha is in our hearts and minds before we have time to draw breath. We're never allowed to over-analyse to the point of pedantry as the episode's pacing is just right, thanks to well-spaced chase and death sequences.

There are some fantastic little directorial touches courtesy of Charles Palmer that work on an almost subconscious level. Witness the quick shot of Martha and The Doctor locking hands before the Time Lord shouts "run!" in order to evade the motorcycle courier baddies. This brief image closely harks back to the initial encounter between the Christopher Eccleston incarnation's first meeting with Rose Tyler in an Auton-infested basement. Inspired! Sometimes its easy to focus on the bigger picture, but often these tiny moments of flair make the show the wondrous entity that it is.

Small character quirks are also vital in enabling us to build a relationship with Martha. Take the way she closes the eyes of the deceased consultant Stoker - a sign of humanity and compassion in the midst of a fight for survival. These moments work far better than The Doctor's regular praise towards Martha's comments, which was laid on a bit too thick at times. "Your Tardis - it's blue," comments Martha. "Excellent colour perception Martha - your senses are a match for mine! Ain't that right viewers?" boomed back The Doctor. Okay, that bit of dialogue might not have occurred but it didnt seem too far off at one point.

Agyeman is simply a pleasure to watch, with Martha's excitement at her journey putting a smile on our faces. She's also smart and confident enough to hold her own with Tennant in both the serious and lighter scenes, with their moments of banter well delivered. Our introduction to Martha's family wasn't particularly absorbing, but that's easily forgivable. At this stage of the series the foundations are being laid for later events.

Swiping aside the characterisation, the actual alien-related plot is slightly underwhelming and not overly consumed with the sense of menace and danger that pervades the finest Doctor Who episodes. The Plasmavore threat to the Earth never has much gravity (like the rain in the episode), despite Anne Reid's fun performance. Still, you can imagine children around the country running around with straws in the playground, which is probably a tad healthier than imaginary machine guns.

A plot dissection isn't particulary relevant though, as the storyline is just a vehicle for Martha's introduction, foregrounding her attributes plus her saving of The Doctor's life. It also helps to have the visually and vocally impressive Judoon on board to keep us transfixed on the screen. It's a stroke of genius to have such scientifically advanced intergalactic bouncers using a felt tip pen to cross off the humans they have scanned. The Judoon faces also deserve a mention for being rendered so beautifully thanks to the marvels of animatronics.

Murray Gold's score also works fantastically well in this episode, non-intrusively heightening our emotions at the right points, such as when The Doctor and Martha stepped out onto the hospital's balcony to survey the gorgeous lunar surface. The music really added to that feeling of marvel and joy, whilst being tinged with fear and uncertainty too.

As for David Tennant, he feels so natural in the role. He is The Doctor. His physical comedy skills are particularly foregrounded by the radiation ejection scene, which echoes a similar moment beating out a samba in the 'New Earth' episode last year. He's not just a clown though, as packaged within this one-liner emitting figure is still a Time Lord who has anger, fear and loneliness.

Overall, this episode succeeded in its aim of endearing the character of Martha Jones to us, so that by the end of the episode we're delighted to have her on board for the trip of a lifetime. Job done lads.