Doctor Who: Aliens of London/World War Three

To be fair to the first season of the new Doctor Who, I was rushed into hospital before I'd got a chance to really get to grips with it on television in 2005.

Therefore I didn't get to see the majority of the season until I was discharged three months later; and ultimately missed several 'key' episodes (seemingly every 'part one' of the two-parters!) from my videos.

Finally catching up with them on DVD, especially in the light of the magnificent third season, I can really see how the series has grown, but also, now being aware of Russel T Davies' uncanny ability to foreshadow, one can't help but 'read' into things (for instance, were the Family Slitheen somehow working with Harold Saxon?)

However, fanboy speculation aside, Aliens of London and World War Three are still pretty poor episodes, despite some good ideas (faking an 'alien invasion' to maneuver people in a better position to get them to do what you want is very Watchmen-like) and the first appearance of Torchwood's gorgeous Dr Sato, this two-parter suffers from some purile humour (farting aliens, please...) and lots of running about in corridors being chased by monsterous men-in-rubber-suits (something I'd thought we'd been promised was a thing of the past in the new Who).

I get that the windy politicians were supposed to be satirical, but it's not very clever satire, is it?

When you compare the writing of this to The Girl In The Fireplace, Human Nature or Blink, you can see what a lot of people would groan when they saw Russell's name on the writing credits of an episode - and immediately lower their expectations (take Love & Monsters as an example)