A New Doctor...

I was never a huge Doctor Who fan to be honest, it passed me by right up until Paul McGann's one off appearance as the 8th Doctor. Which was the first Doctor Who I ever watched in it's entirety and even then it was with an air of indifference. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it and looking back I wish Paul McGann had had a much longer tenure as the time-lord.

When the series was re-booted with Christopher Ecclestone in the lead role, I once again approached Doctor Who with the same level of indifference. I watched and enjoyed but never really became what I would consider a fan.

But then came David Tenant who grabbed my attention immediately, it was then I became a lover of Doctor Who. I know there are those of you who would consider me a heathen considering the many great Doctors who came before, and I admit that if circumstances had brought Doctor Who to my attention much earlier I would no doubt be saying these same things about Tom Baker, who for me is the most iconic Doctor. However, circumstances being as they were meant that David Tenant was the Doctor that pulled me into to the show on a much greater level. But it's not just Tenant's performance as the Doctor himself that did it for me, I felt the story lines during his reign were some of the best. His final sendoff featuring John Simms as The Master was a truly epic piece of television with a genuinely emotional ending as we said goodbye to David Tenant as The Doctor. 

Enter Matt Smith. Now considering how much I loved David Tenant as The Doctor I must admit to being skeptical which considering my usual fear of change was understandable. However I was pleasantly surprised and, although I don't consider him as good as Tenant, I thought he was a fantastic Doctor. However, I can say it was during his short time that I started to lose interest in Doctor Who, and it was nothing to do with him. It was here that I felt the writing of the show started to decline and that is what I want to focus on.

I hated the last series, I felt it had very little substance and was at times just generally lacking. No matter how fantastic a performance Matt Smith put in, it could not compensate for the poor plot lines and just lacked that epic feel that I'd loved about the earlier episodes. Considering there had been shows such as the Van Gogh episode that was filled with emotion and genuine character interest. The latest shows seemed to focus on gimmicks and imagery such as the Doctor riding a motorbike up the side of a building and ridiculous (and poorly filmed) special effects set pieces. It's all good trying to make your show look pretty, but when there isn't the foundation to build on all you get is a hollow ineffective light show.

So they've announced Doctor number 12; Peter Capaldi. This is a good choice and makes me happy, I think he too will make a superb Doctor. But no matter how fantastic a Doctor he may be, he will be wasted if the writing does not return to previous standard of the David Tenant and early Matt Smith eras.