Dr Who

When you grow up with a TV series like Dr Who, have vague recollections of Jon Pertwee in the titular role, but discover the true joy with the jelly baby-eating, long scarf style of Tom Baker, it's hard to watch a dip into disappointment perpetrated by the series writers with Sylvester "clueless" McCoy at the helm. So when Russell Davis takes over for a reinvigoration, the scepticism remains. Christopher Ecclestone was just too, well, northern for the role (and that comes from a Yorkshireman). David Tennant, however, has nailed it. Backed by scripts that are invariably good, occasionally weak (Agatha Christie and giant wasps? Puh-lease), but frequently sensational (Journey's End) Tennant has become THE Doctor. And that is some praise.

Even if you didn't get the cool back-references to Sarah Jane's past encounters with Davros, the fill out of the backstory has been handled with superb care to the legacy. Davis now leaves with Steve Moffat in charge, a year to conjure up new plots (surely a return of The Master, the Cybermen, and others from the past), but it will be hard living up to the standard set by the season four finale. It's showing on the Sci-fi channel about four weeks behind England (where it's now over), but any sci-fi fan should do themselves a favor and get sucked in by the brilliant character development and stylish plots. Let's face it, the Daleks are one of the all-time great sci-fi villains, and it never gets old seeing them or beating them.