Rose (2005)

About this episode

This episode was first broadcast on March 26, 2005. The episode was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Keith Boak. The showrunner was Russell T Davies.

Plot summary

Rose loses her job and goes swanning off with a stranger.

Review

The good news:

• This is an extremely well-made bit of 21st-century television. It's got excellent production values, it's well-paced and often quite funny.
• Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are both terrific here, and the episode does a great job of introducing their characters and establishing the relationship between them.

The somewhat less good news:

• Looking for answers, Rose finds a web site about the Doctor and goes to meet Clive, the owner. The way he describes the Doctor to her - as a mysterious stranger who always shows up when a major disaster is about to happen - seems like an excellent idea for a television series but it has very little to do with this television series. Also, the photos that Clive presents as proof are glaringly obvious fakes. The scene is pretty funny, though. ("Dad, it's one of your nutters!")
• On the way back, Rose fails to notice that her boyfriend Mickey has turned into a plastic replica of himself with a manic disposition and really, really smooth skin. This is hard to believe since, even if your relationship has cooled off a bit, this kind of thing is rather hard to miss.
• There's not really a great deal of story here. At the start of the episode the Doctor is already hot on the trail of the aliens, and the final confrontation between him and the Nestene Consciousness, the episode's Big Bad, is mostly used to spout exposition about the series' mythology.

The bottom line

Excellent start.

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