I think one of the first assistants - since Sarah Jane - that has added to the story, not diminished it.

I really didn't like Billie Piper, she was dominating Series 2 to the point of making the Doctor a secondary character. David Tenan'ts Doctor Who is mediocre with moments of inspiration, but with Billie Piper it fell into cheap, cloying soap opera.

The presence of Catherine Tate is enough to make think twice about watching series 4, but with the return of Billie "Talent Vacuum, Hamster Face, Limited Acting Ability" Piper, I will not be watching it.

/Stalks off to find a Patrick Troughton DVD to watch.

John Simm? Lily Allen? Dear oh dear. I'd rather see Geoffey Bayldon as the next Doctor - I know he turned it down forty-four years ago but he might say yes this time. Or Anna Chancellor.

According to the BBC News article "Piper left Doctor Who last year, when she was transported into a parallel universe."

One involving kinky underwear and graphic sex, I suppose...

Here, here. Well said.

Catherine Tate as a comedienne: Passable, One or two of her characters are actually funny. As a Doctor Who assistant, please no!

Talent vacuum is accurate for Billie Piper and she certainly is not a pleasant sight to behold. She would be best cast as an alien, Slitheen perhaps, it would certainly save on time and cost with respect to make up.

imho Elizabeth Sladen was by far the best assistant.

I'm waiting on UNIT to show up....

Voice from the Great White North

Sorry no real men allowed, only happy campers wiith American accents....

FX: Thumbs through Profanisaurus, doesn't find anything that isn't NSFW

SFX: Authoriative military voice: "Mocking ironic mincer over there, given him five rounds rapid"

I think they should get that Vicar from Dibley in. It should be big enough once you get through the door. Mind you, I don't know how much power the Tardis needs to take off though. Seriously, I think they should and I'd be happy to watch it again.

I don't recall Scotty showing up in the TARDIS - surely she's materialising?

How did she get back from the parallel universe after the fault between them was shut???

Yes, the anorak, how did you know?

I'd like to see Billie Piper as Rose again, but I'm not watching anything that has Catherine Tate in it. Maybe I'll download Billie's episodes so I can forward through scenes with that awful woman.

Oh dear.......Didn't Dr Who have to use some collapsing black hole as an energy source so as to communicate with Rose, once she'd been kidnapped by her "parallel universe father"...and didn't the good Doctor tell her it would be impossible to contact her again, as the space-time rift was sealed for good.....

Looks like Russell T Davies is trying to save the sinking ship.....and the Beeb clearly don't have the budget for any more NEW aliens...witness the Sloveen have now appeared in three different threads....(2x DW episodes and now a Sarah Jane...)....and with the cross pollination expected to continue with Torchwood....I think RTD is just running out of money, ideas and characters....

Time for a new Time Lord methinks......and he can run the England (football, cricket, rugby, or any other sport as they are crap at all of them) team when he's off-screen... We might win a few games if we zapped a few opponents with a Sonic Screwdriver....!!

...I'll take Katy Manning (with or without accompanying posing Dalek) thank you nicely.

Ah, the early 70's, still so squishily warming in my memories.

If I had to choose between the American Buffy inspired Serenity or Doctor Who I'd sadly have to go with the Americans, they _know_ how to do Sci-fi and it's such a shame because we have some really very good sci-fi writers in the UK.

I want Pratchett and Moffat to co-pen a Doctor Who episode :-D

>How did she get back from the parallel universe after the fault between them was shut???

You are thinking laterally. She does not need to. He has got a time machine so he can go back to a time before she went to the parralell universe.

She is returning for the last three episodes of the series so you can presume that its going to be a three part story like the one for the last series.

As RTD has already brought back all the really iconic Dr Who villians, the master, the daleks and the cybermen, and killed them off one by one he must go back in time if he wants to avoid the season cliff hanger involving Bertie Bassett or the plastic manaquins which he traditionally saves for the christmas special.

The season finalie will no doubt be all of the bad guys to date taking over a housing estate in Cardiff Bay in South East London which will mean that the Dr will need all of his assistants to date to save the universe all by themselves when he gets captured by the bad guys

Not that it's got a bit predictable or anything I just wont be supprised when the shop dummies dressed as santa appear on the Titanic with their spinning christmas tree.

Because bringing Piper back clearly smacks of run of of ideas.

I know no-one truly dies in sci-fi, there's always some over-explained strained reason as to why they can come back but for a character you've written off in such a manner it's folly to bring them back.

I have enjoyed the rival unlike most posters here it seems but enough is enough - keep tate out as she was annoying enough in the last episode and keep Billie in her parallel universe.

Write something new and interesting - then at least you'll have a reason to complain you're underpaid.

Come on, Harry Sullivan was so gay he'd give these new lot a right run for their money.

>>I'm waiting on UNIT to show up....

FYI, UNIT has been there the whole time ... you just have to pay attention.

TransMatt-ing I should think.

I want to see some more of UNIT too. Captain Jack is no Brigadeer.

@supermeerkat, admin

Billie Piper is a very versatile and talented actress and we're going to see a whole lot more of her in the future. She has a great on-screen persona and can be made up to look stunning or dowdy, as the role requires. (Have you seen any of her other work?) It is just unfortunate for her that in Doctor Who she was being directed and scripted by people BBC Wales have recently recruited from Shakespeare's infinite monkey gang, and that she was cast as a chavette who was clean and polite beyond human credibility.

@Timbo,

Yes, of course they have to reuse their props. That's no different from the old days -- each costume would appear in 4 or 5 episodes back then too. Of course, that was how long one story was then.

A request for the production team: can we have our cliffhangers back please...?

Finally, if they need a new doctor, can we get away from these angst-ridden 30-somethings and have a good old traditional curmudgeon in the role please?

Robert Lindsay FTW!

I don't do a great deal of TV, but wasn't she in "The Canterbury Tales" and "Diary of a call girl"? Well, she certainly looked like she was acting. But this is just my opinion and I am hardly a seasoned critic.

".... we're going to see a whole lot more of her in the future." You may but I? Well I will just suffer her appearance in Dr Who.

Your right about the props.. Spinoffs get them too. K9 and the slitheen in the "Sarah Jane Adventures" for instance. I don't regularly watch CBBC though.

And yes old, wizened, cynical and perhaps a little petulance too for the Dr...

What do you think of Michael Gambon for Dr Who.

Not her again. I was hoping we'd seen the last of her. More Martha, less Billie & Tate is what the show needs!

"Finally, if they need a new doctor, can we get away from these angst-ridden 30-somethings and have a good old traditional curmudgeon in the role please?"

Damn straight. I agree with that! What about a more quirky actor, someone like Richard E. Grant or perhaps Eddie Izzard?

Well I kinda liked this gift from Britsh tax payers, but alas, it gets too British of the Eastenders type now for me. Joy, my two least favourite assistents, a weak man doctor and bad scripts is all that remains. That Piper girl turned the whole series into a hug fest, and the frequent reappearance of her mother was a sign of things to come: the inclusion of the Tate creature. I fail to understand it from a continental point of view. This character seems to be aimed at middle aged spam-eating English women who watch Eastenders - which I am not last time I checked, but, ah well. It mostly resembles a sirene or scratching nails on a blackboard, how, uhm, entertaining! Just what I need after a day of hard work - no more fun fiction for you! Must be something British too. Agyeman was much better, the first assistent in the new series where I wasn't distracted half the time by huge, weird teeth, wondering what was wrong with them. Which also seems something British. Also, no hugging! I think everybody agrees that Mulligan would have been perfect. She's enchanting, sweet, intelligent, strong, and could provide a much more interesting character with some depth we can actually relate to. But alas, that character is no longer for us but for middle-aged Eastenders watching house wifes who are the cornorstone of fine British institutions such as The Sun. I wish them much viewing pleasure. Me, I gave up after that horrible, dreadful excuse of a season ending last time. For all the mindless fun that is Doctor Who: yes, even Doctor Who can jump the shark - who would have thought! Words fail..

I thought Dr Who was pretty well recieved by all, but then

"But alas, that character is no longer for us but for middle-aged Eastenders watching house wifes who are the cornorstone of fine British institutions such as The Sun"

Mate your an idiot, Sun readers would not be into Dr Who

anyway guess what it is British and thats what the charm of the program is for me,

and as for the prop moaners come on pls, thats the point... you know its a guy in a costume right?

Will the Tardis still be stuck in Cardiff/London for most of the season?

It's time to sack Russell T Davis and get someone in who can bring out the full potential of the Doctor and the Tardis.

Here's one story...

Tardis arrivies on the USS Enterprise NCC1071-E who encounter the refugees of the 12 Colonies lead by the Battlestar Galactica while Doctor Sam Beckett Quantum Leaps into Admiral Adama to save them all from Cylons that have been assimulated by the Borg.

FYI - The shop mannequins did dress up as Father Christmas playing band in the 1st episode of series one, did NOT have spinning Christmas trees

You’re thinking of the Robots (I honestly cant remember their names, Dr Who said it 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion" just before he fell into his regenerative sleep, again) who also had they flying/exploding baubles in the 2006 Christmas special "the runaway bride"

The mannequins did not have Spinning Christmas trees, though they did have firearms in their arms (excuse the pun) and possessed wheely bins

Catherine Tate should return to Dr Who but not as the bride.

I'd like to see her bring the 'Gran' character to be the Doctors assistant.

"Daleks! what do you want? Now fack off the lot of you! What a load of old shite"

Hmm, maybe as Sarah Jane's long-lost gran . . .

Most commentators seem to want an assistant they could fuck rather than one that could fight. Maybe they'd prefer not to be hiding behind the sofa with a comfort blanket but on the sofa with a box of tissues.

No shit sherlock. The assistant with bad teeth that you fight rather than fuck is called the wife, remember? There's no escape!

Oh dear, it looks as though the last spark has finally died at the BBC. If using washed up comediennes wasn't enough to ruin a great series, they've finally done it. Can they not come up with some new ideas other than bringing back old characters, aliens and celebrities to boost their viewing figures? No. Clearly not. I think Sample said it best with "I didn't realise that the writers strike had hit the UK."

I don't mind that people want to be dissing R T Davis for what has been some very "creative" scripting, but, I will not have people slandering the very talented Billie Piper and Lily Allen. Both are talented individuals who have/will bring a bit of humour and glamour to the series. As for the doctor I think we need old Chris back!

It's gotta be Paris, you'd be swapping one talentless blond who people can't see the point of or agree if they are fit for another but it would open up the US market!

Just getting me coat...

Which very talented Lily Allen would that be? None spring to mind for me, I'm afraid.

By the end of the second series BP did seem to be getting the hang of it though.

Dear sweet Elizabeth Sladen yessss,

no,

yes,

mmmm yessss - where is that wonderfully naughty place? I could leave my underwear there quite safely.... etc etc.

And at least Ms Tate has been a VAST improvement on that Langford [censored comment].

BUT what is the BBC up to? Rather than create, devise and write they resort once more to the good old "change the lead character" plot and then presumably dredge up the same "old faves" like daleks, cybermen, etc slith(yawn)eens ad nausium, repeatedly, over and over again and again. We're running out of regenerations here and I'd love to see me (writer) being a Doctor on me (Paris) the assistant ;) Now THERE's a paradox of sufficient power to knock a hole back to Billie Piper Dimension. But why can't we have that nice McGann chap back too? T'was such a waste only to have him as a single movie doctor.