As a child, I was a Doctor Who fanatic. Peter Davison (the fifth doctor) is the first Doctor I remember – I was five years old by the time he regenerated into Colin Baker, who I remember being rather disappointed with. Then came Sylvester McCoy, and things just got a bit silly. The Daleks and Cybermen still scared the life out of me, but villains like the Kandyman (a giant Bertie Bassett-alike) were just ridiculous.

The series was cancelled in 1989, and that, it appeared, was that.

Then in 1996, after years of fans petitioning for a revival, came the feature movie starring Paul McGann as the eighth doctor. Almost universally panned, it seemed as if even this final throw of the dice had failed, and that there would be no more Doctor Who. Ever.

So to have just finished re-watching the final episode of one of the best series of Doctor Who that I’ve ever seen is quite remarkable.

Christopher Eccleston as the ninth doctor was a concept that bothered me when it was first announced. As did the casting of ex-teeniepop chanteuse Billie Piper as his assistant. Eccleston, whilst undoubtably a great actor, was more renowned for playing gritty sinister roles – I’d last seen him as the unscrupulous Major Henry West in 28 Days Later. He played the part well, of course, but I was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to bring the energy and fun that Doctor Who requires.

I needn’t have worried. Eccleston and Piper’s presence and on-screen chemistry have been a revelation, and while the scripts have been silly (sometimes very silly) on ocassion, there was always a certain amount of silliness in Doctor Who. My only gripe with this has been when it’s got too much, as with the Kandyman episode, which (if memory serves me correctly) even featured a pink TARDIS. Although this series came close on a couple of ocassions (farting extraterrestrials in Aliens of London/World War Three/Boom Town, a burping wheelie-bin in Rose), it’s evened out pretty well.

The Bad Wolf meme has been spectacular, and perhaps a victim of its own success. The words ‘Bad Wolf’ have appeared on-screen in almost every episode, with no explanation, and the characters themselves only began to notice in the final three episodes. All was revealed in the final installment, but with the incredible amount of speculation online, I think the final revelation was always going to pale in comparison to the wacky and wonderful theories that were floating about online – see the comments on some of these blog entries at Scott’s Place: Bad Wolf Hunting, RTD on Bad Wolf part 1 and RTD on Bad Wolf, part 2.

The only real disappointment has been Ecclestone’s decision to quit after just one series. David Tennant is the Tenth Doctor. In replacing Ecclestone, he has quite a task ahead of him…

Finally, a point about media licensing. Sorry, something of a tangent, but it’s related – I’ve been watching most episodes on my PC. I’ve paid my TV license, so I’m entitled to watch, and record Doctor Who. However, I haven’t always been around when it’s been on, so I’ve been downloading the episodes instead. I’m entitled to own recordings of the episodes, and I do own recordings of the episodes. Surely no problem so far? However, the DVD boxset of the series will be out in a few months time, with a list price of £69.99. Technically, since I didn’t actually make the recordings myself, the BBC could argue that internet “piracy” has cost them £69.99. But if I hadn’t been able to download them, I would have made the effort to record them myself. So then they wouldn’t have got their £69.99. Media licensing is hard…