Doctor Who: Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, my initial dislike of Russell T Davies' writing can be traced to these episodes, particularly the dreadful, lazy conceit of using sci-fi clones of modern, trashy television programmes as attempted satire of mind-numbing television. The Classic Who episode Vengeance on Varos showed that it's possible to make this point without using this cheap stunt.

For me, seeing the Big Brother logo (and hearing that theme music) or listening to a robot Anne Robinson say: "You are the weakest link, good bye", tore up the truth of the story and stamped it shamelessly into the dirt.

Unfortunately, this wasn't just a minor irritant, like the sonic screwdriver's barbwire healing powers in The Doctor Dances, but a major part of the Bad Wolf episode, which is a shame because otherwise this two-parter has a lot (on the surface) going for it: the return, in force, of the Daleks; some great dialogue (as you'd expect), especially one-liners from Captain Jack; some, vaguely coherant, explanation of the "Bad Wolf" message that has been following the Doctor and Rose throughout this season; and the incredible image of the army of Daleks flying out of their ships and through space that has become as iconic as the Daleks themselves.

But then we come to the climax - Rose using the "heart of the TARDIS" to wipe out the entire Dalek fleet. It's just too quick and simple, too much Deus Ex Machina (quite literally if you think about it); almost as though Russell had written himself into a corner with this overwhelming Dalek invasion of Earth in 200,100 and couldn't come up with a convincing way of getting our heroes out!

Tragically this makes a pair of weak bookends for what is, otherwise, a great story; and we even get the beautiful coda of the Ninth Doctor's regeneration into the Tenth (David Tennant).

One can't help but wonder how much of this was already written and how much was dictated by Christopher Eccleston's decision to abandon the role after a single season ... unless, of course, he was only ever contracted to play the role for one year.

In the BBC Radio 2 documentary Project: WHO?, from March 2005, he is asked: "Are you in this for the long haul?" and Eccleston replies, tellingly, "I've done the long haul."

Just how far in advance has Russell T Davies planned this new regeneration of Doctor Who?