"Smith and Jones"

We open on Martha Jones walking down the street towards the hospital where she is training to be a doctor. She is on the phone to every single member of her immediate family who seem to turn to her every time they have a problem. Then, a strange man comes up to her and does something random and inexplicable, and her day gets odder from that point onwards.

"Smith and Jones" doesn’t have as much riding on it as other previous season openers, but it has to introduce the new companion while telling an entertaining story. The story is certainly a blast- upward rain, a hospital being transported to the moon, a detachment of space rhinos looking for a criminal, a little old lady who sucks your blood out with a straw- God I love this programme! The plot is simple, yet thoroughly engaging and zips along, laced with the trademark Russell T Davies wit. Throughout all this, we never lose sight of Martha as a character and it is a truly joyous moment when the TARDIS zooms off into the vortex. If there’s one flaw, it’s that the idea of frying the earth with one MRI machine does strain my credulity somewhat. Production values are of the fantastic standard we have come to expect, with stunning scenes such as the rain, the hospital on the moon, the landing of the Judoon, the Doctor’s method of expelling X-radiation, the awesome use of time travel as a cheap trick etc. Charles Palmer makes this a very energetic ride without losing sight of the people in the story.

Billie Piper was a tough act to follow. It helps, of course, that Freema Agyeman is absolutely stunning, but she also makes Martha clever and likable, but without alienating the casual viewer. Martha is written as being older and wiser than Rose, with a career and responsibilities, but her flirtation with the Doctor is more overt. Agyeman is probably not quite as good an actress as Piper, but she is more than up to the job- just look at the expression on her face when her flirtation is brushed off. Martha’s family are brought to life by Trevor Laird as her father and the always excellent Adjoa Andoh as her mother. Playing a smaller role is Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Martha’s sister- the Jones family are clearly unfairly advantaged in the gorgeous daughter stakes! There are further excellent performances from Roy Marsden as Mr Stoker and Anne Reid as the Plasmavore.

As said before, this story has less to establish than either "Rose" or "New Earth", which is probably why it is the most thoroughly enjoyable season opener yet.

NEXT: "The Shakespeare Code"