Who's the Daddy!
- Publication: Daily Star
- Date: 2005-03-28
- Author: Peter Dyke
- Page: 6
- Language: English
New look Doctor makes dummies out of Ant 'n Dec as the fans go wild for a trip in the Tardis and another monster showdown
Timelord and Billie dec their ITV rivals
DOCTOR Who made dummies out of Ant and Dec.
The revamped BBC1 series drew 10.5 million viewers on Saturday night, smashing their ITV1 rivals by two million.
The Timelord's battle against the Autons - aliens who brought shop dummies to life - was an instant hit for the Beeb. Ant and Dec pulled out all the stops on Saturday Night Takeaway after it went head-to-head against the Doctor.
They drafted in a host of special guests including David Beckham, Mariah Carey and Simon Cowell, to boost viewing figures - but it wasn't enough to topple the time traveller.
Fans across the country switched on in their millions to see Christopher Eccleston, 41, as the new Doctor and sexy Billie Piper, 22, as his sidekick Rose. Last night a BBC spokeswoman said: "Obviously, we are pleased that so many people sat down as families to watch the return of Doctor Who."
The Beeb were celebrating the news that their £12million makeover of the show, brought back after 15 years, had been such an instant success.
Pressure
They knew the series, originally launched in 1963 with William Hartnell as the Doctor, had mass family appeal.
And they launched a massive publicity campaign to woo viewers.
Marketing experts claimed that it would have cost the Beeb £50million to pay for such advertising. The producers have already lined a string of cameo roles for some well-known faces including One Foot In The Grave's Richard Wilson, 66, Corrie's Bruno Langley, 21, Zoe Wanamaker, 56, and Simon Callow, 55.
A source added: "I don't think there was anyone in the country who didn't know Doctor Who was back. You would literally have had to have been on another planet to miss the huge promotion for the show.
"But the pressure is on now. They've got to keep this up for the whole series." Ant and Dec's little versions did their best to boost their eight million ratings. The lads got England skipper David Beckham dressed up like a king as he lives in Beckingham Palace, complete with Prince Charles-like big ears and a huge nose. But the new Doctor, Eccleston refused to be drawn on the battle for viewers.
He said: "What's interesting is that you've got three people with regional accents on prime time TV shows on Saturday night.
"You've got me with my Salford accent and Ant and Dec are Geordies. That would never have happened 10 years ago." Next weekend the battle is on again. Ant and Dec have Tony Blair lined up.
A source said: "It will be another tough contest." Dr Who fans yesterday claimed the BBC purposely created a technical problem during the show to stop them cashing in with video copies.
Graham Norton's voice and a studio audience from Strictly Come Dancing on BBC3 could be heard in the opening few minutes.
Rose pokes fun at Jacko
BILLIE Piper's character Rose Tyler takes a cheeky pop at Wacko Jacko next week when she meets a woman who's had over 700 cosmetic surgery ops.
Rose comes across the acid-tongued Cassandra O'Brien, who boasts she's the last human.
But having undergone hundreds of ops, she is now nothing more than a stretched piece of skin.
Rose is horrified and mischievously tells The Doctor: "I'm going to have a word with Michael Jackson over there."
Caption: DOUBLE TAKE: Rose reckons Cassandra looks just like Jacko
OUT OF THIS WORLD SAYS PETER DYKE
LIKE millions of telly viewers, I was glued to my screen on Saturday night awaiting the return of you know Who, The Doctor.
And thank goodness the BBC delivered.
The new-look show is fast, furious and funny - and has all the ingredients to carry the show (under the expert writing of Russell T Davies) well into the future.
Everything any die-hard fan holds sacred about the series is kept intact - the opening theme tune has had a subtle remix, the Tardis is still a trusty old police box and the Doc's even hung onto his sonic screwdriver.
The new TV show might be a bit camp and a bit Carry On at times but it's better to be laughing with the Doc than at him or those wobbly old sets. Christopher Eccleston cleverly embraces some of the old Timelord's qualities (Davison's naïveté, Baker's
tomfoolery and Troughton's comedy) as well as bringing his own brand of northern charm to the hallowed role.
And his sidekick Rose (played by the lovely Billie) is no longer a helpless hysterical screaming girl who can't fight her way out of a bag of jelly babies.
This time the Doc's assistant is a kick-ass heroine whom all the boys will want to date and all the girls will want to copy.
In the opener, we were treated to 45 minutes of scary fun and frolics with the Autons.
And we've been promised another 12 weeks of behind-the sofa action, including flying Daleks, spooky ghosts and vicious demons. No disrespect to Ant and Dec - they're still kings of the jungle.
But with 10.5 million viewers tuning into the new Doctor Who, this BBC show is just what the doctor ordered for a Saturday night.
LOAD OF DALEKS SAYS IAIN BURCHELL
AFTER all the hype, the first new series of Doctor Who for 16 years finally hit our screens - and what an anti-climax. It was meant to be a rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills, an amazing telly treat not to be missed.
But all we got was walking shop-dummies, a burping wheelie bin and some shocking one-liners from the Manc Doctor.
The writing was on the wall almost from the start when a bungler at the Beeb ruined what was supposed to be one of the episode's scariest moments.
Graham Norton's voice suddenly blasted out from nowhere just as the murderous mannequins were closing in on the lovely Billie Piper.
And it was downhill all the way from there. Even the much-vaunted special effects were nothing to get excited about.
As for the Doctor himself, on this evidence Christopher Eccleston will have to go some if he wants to match fans' favourite Tom Baker - although he wasn't helped by some rotten gags.
And surely the wardrobe department could have come up with something a bit more imaginative than a leather jacket and jeans for him.
His assistant, Rose, is meant to bring a bit of girl-power to the series - but a few seconds of swinging around on a chain hardly makes her the next Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
If the first episode is anything to go by, I reckon it will only be a couple of weeks before ITV rivals Ant and Dec are asking: "Doctor who?"
Is there a doctor in the house?
Dr Who zaps Ant + Dec in ratings war
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- APA 6th ed.: Dyke, Peter (2005-03-28). Who's the Daddy!. Daily Star p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: Dyke, Peter. "Who's the Daddy!." Daily Star [add city] 2005-03-28, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Dyke, Peter. "Who's the Daddy!." Daily Star, edition, sec., 2005-03-28
- Turabian: Dyke, Peter. "Who's the Daddy!." Daily Star, 2005-03-28, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Who's the Daddy! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Who%27s_the_Daddy! | work=Daily Star | pages=6 | date=2005-03-28 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=15 October 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Who's the Daddy! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Who%27s_the_Daddy! | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=15 October 2025}}</ref>
