And now to Dr Who: The Stolen Earth

Oh my god, Oh my god. OH MY GOD!!! Was that not the best ever ever episode of nu Who??? It was even better then The Parting of The Ways (my previous favourite).

Please be prepared here for a lot of over excitement and general squeeing. (A new word I learnt recently from visiting other DrWho Fan blogs, and one which fits my general mood to a T).

You have to hand it to RTD, he certainly knows how to take you on a roller coaster.

So first we get the Doctor and Donna arriving on Earth. So far so good. Except. It isn't. Because within seconds of going back inside the Tardis the Earth disapppears, leaving no trace behind. Cue lots of puzzlement from the Doc before he decides to whizz Donna off to the Shadow Proclamation (Police Scifi style) to find out What Is Going On?

Meanwhile on Earth, all the Doctor's pals are also wondering What Is Going On? Martha's in Manhattan with Unit, Jack and his Torchwood team are stuck in Cardiff and Sarah Jane and her improbably alien adopted son are in Ealing, while wonderful, brilliant, sassy Rose is strolling about London with a fuck off gun and lots of attitude.

It doesn't take long for them to discover that Earth has been stolen (along with 26 other planets) by der. der. der.... The worst kept secret in this series of Who, the Daleks. Led by none other then Davros, the evil genius who created them.

Now I mentioned here recently that the daleks were the first thing that I remember ever being terrified of on TV, and Davros is just brilliantly scary. So I loved the combination of both, and old and all as I am, that first Exterminate! Exterminate! still sent shivers down my spine. Although I was slightly less then impressed to see Jack's immediate response was to give up (oh god and did he have to kiss Ianto and Gwen - pass me the sick bag, please.), and Sarah Jane's was to respond to wimpy type and burst into tears. I was so impressed with the way they reinvented her when they brought her back, but turns out she's still the same wet she always was.

Luckily, Rose held her own with that gun, and good old Harriet Jones came out of the woodwork to save the day with her improbable subwave machine, which allowed them to get a signal to the Doctor.

This was just as well as after discovering The Shadow Proclamation wanted our hero to lead the charge in a war against the daleks (presumably, his been there done that, lost all me mates credentials were the reason he declined their kind offer), as well as uncovering such imponderables that this series has thrown up (what's happened to all those bees, and aren't there a lot of planets disappearing?), the Doctor and Donna found themselves stuck in the middle of the Medusa Cascade, which is some kind of time rifty thing which I didn't quite understand (but that's ok, cos I don't think you're supposed to understand anything much in a RTD episode, just go with the flow), but which prevented them finding the earth, let alone reaching it (No 1 rated this the scariest part of the episode as she found the idea that the Doctor didn't know what to do pretty appalling.), but luckily Harriet Jones' invention led to that call getting through (even if she got zapped by a dalek as a result).

So suddenly we're on full tilt for the Doc and Donna to get to earth, while Martha managed to escape Manhattan, Torchwood is about to be overtaken and Sarah Jane and Jack simultaneously decide to find the Doctor (rather selfishly leaving their companions to face the music). Meanwhile poor old Rose is the only one NOT to get through on the trunk line, instead of which Davros did, so he and the Doc parried views as ever and you realised just how great he is as an adversary for the Doctor. Oh what fun we had (and hopefully will get to have next week).

And then it was cue the dramatic moment when the Doctor and Rose are finally reunited. C'me on don't tell me that you haven't ALL been hoping for that moment since the end of series 2. I know I have. But.... whilst I am a serial romantic, I also love my romance to be tinged with a bit of pathos, so the bitter sweet way it was left in series 2 was perfect for me and I was CONVINCED that Rose wasn't going to meet him. Or at least not in the same world. And THEN I was convinced when they started running towards each other she'd disappear or something.

And then FUCK ME SIDEWAYS. This bloody dalek appears from the shadows and shoots the Doctor. I mean Talk ABOUT Messing With The Canon. In Dr Who terms this is practically sacrelige isn't it? A DALEK killing the Doctor? NOOOOOO.... but YESSSS, because it was so unexpected, and upped the tragedy, and now we don't know what's going to happen, and oh my god, do I really have to wait till next week to find out???

I was certain last night that he was going to regenerate as the Master, but then today I have read so many conflicting views, I really don't have a clue. Which is much much better.

Because it looks like they've really pulled a rabbit out of a hat and to quote a character from my new book, we should expect the unexpected.

All bets are off now. I haven't a clue how it will end.

And that's just the way it should be...