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Matt Smith wins plaudits as the new Doctor Who
New Time Lord impresses critics - but his assistant’s short skirt shocks the Mail
Matt Smith may have crash-landed his Tardis on Earth in his Doctor Who debut on Saturday night, but the 27-year-old actor seems to have won over most critics and fans, with impressive ratings and reviews.
Audience figures for Smith's first outing as the Doctor peaked at 8.4 million – about the same number of viewers the last Doctor, David Tennant, got for his first appearance in April 2006.
Smith is the 11th and youngest actor to take on the long-running role. And he should be delighted with his reviews for his first episode in which he found himself with 20 minutes to save the world. The Daily Telegraph's Benji Wilson awarded Smith an "A+" for his efforts, adding that: "It was ridiculous but it felt right: mad, alien, brand new but very old.".
The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith was a little more wary of the new Doctor, noting that his hyperactive acting style bore more similarities to Hollywood comedian Jim Carrey than David Tennant. "You do feel he could simmer down a bit,” she wrote.
Actress Karen Gillan also won praise from the critics for her debut as the new Doctor's glamorous and feisty Scottish assistant Amy Pond. Only the Daily Mail tried to spoil the party by suggesting BBC viewers had complained about her "almost non-existent mini-skirt" - her police kissogram costume.
The fact that Amy did not shy away from looking at the Doctor when, later in the episode, he undresses in front of her, also upset the Mail. One viewer apparently complained in an online forum: "They've completely demeaned Doctor Who by replacing good episode stories with slutty girls."
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:Sinclair McKay, the Daily Mail: "By the end of the episode, in his tweed jacket and bow tie, like an Indie-band Professor Quatermass, you have forgotten all about his illustrious predecessor. Indeed, Smith might turn out to be one of the best Time Lords of the lot."
Nancy Banks-Smith, the Guardian: "Even allowing for the fact that the world is going to end in 20 minutes, you do feel he [Matt Smith] could simmer down a bit. And that goes for the new scriptwriter, Steven Moffatt."
Benji Wilson, the Daily Telegraph: "Ballsy, bewildered, aghast and simultaneously delighted, she [Karen Gillan] only let the sisterhood down by gambolling around in a skirt the size of a placemat. For everything else, A+ again."
Rob Sharp, the Independent: "As for [Matt] Smith, it's too early to say how he'll fare, though he equals Tennant's over-the-top eccentric, devil-may-care manner very well. He throws things around a lot when he could hand them to people" ·
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Manic! Manic! He had twenty minutes to save the world not twenty minutes to nip down to the corner shop before it closed!
Sexy? I've seen better legs on an upright piano. Incidentally, if the storyline continues in its latest vein, ie 20 mins of utter rot to fill out a story with naff beings in it I won't be watching it further.
Bring back Carole Ann Ford; she was a little cracker - and she could act as well - unlike the current cast.
I am a 40 year old women and not really 'target audience' for DR Who, but I have loved it since I was a child. I never once hid behind the sofa or have nightmares. But to say that it is too sexy is daft, anyone remember Neela? She could be classed as far sexier. Sexy doesn't seem to mean the same thing it did, we think of P.M's sexing up certain documents and I don't think they meant putting it in slinky underwear! They needed to change it, make it different Matt Smith has to make it his own and not live in the shadow of David Tennent. For years there has been a sexy companion for the menfolk and its nice to have a sexy doctor for us women! We can now look at the last three doctors and think 'I would go a round his TARDIS any day of the week' I couldn't say that before, maybe I could but that would be a bit pervy really as considering they were all old enough to be my grandfather!. Leave it be, let sink or swim but we have to give him a chance. I agree with George Robertson Tom Baker was wonderful,
My son 10 year old son made the comment about making Doctor Who more sexy. Looking at past companions the best looking one was K9! Why not I say, it is a new age of Doctor Who we have to give the new writers and the new team a chance to develop as Mr Eccleston was a bit manic in the first returning episode of the programme. Let it be - we have the sci-fi factor for all the kids at heart, the Doctor for the ladies so let the menfolk have a nice piece of scottish gingerbread to give them something easy on the eye. Only time well tell if he can match up to Doctors of the past. At the end of the day even Mr Tennant couldnt match up to Tom Baker (words of my 10 Year son not mine).