What to watch
Return of the Doctor: Matt Smith with his assistant (Karen Gillan) Doctor Who
BBC ONE. 6.20PM
It won't just be scared children who'll be barely able to watch as the Time Lord returns for a new series. The Doctor's new incarnation, 27-year-old Matt Smith, is a risky choice for British TV drama's most high-profile role, and BBC executives can't afford this new series to be a flop. But they can relax. Smith is a revelation: a proper Doctor, with elements of both absent-minded professor and schoolboy, and given rather subtle jokes by Steven Moffat's first script as Doctor Who's show-runner. It's a welcome relief after the absurd self-indulgence of the end of the Russell T Davies era, when the plots were unfathomable and David Tennant descended into slapstick. Tonight, Smith finishes regenerating, finds his new companion Amy Pond (no fewer than three times, in fact), saves the world from intergalactic policemen and takes delivery of the biggest Tardis we've ever seen. Amy (played by red-headed newcomer Karen Gillan) will be joining Smith in the Tardis for the duration of this series, and the way she is introduced - which sets her up both to resent and fancy the Doctor in equal measure - is the cleverest part of tonight's story. See features on pp4-7.
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