If you think of Christopher Ecclestone as a present day Tom Baker, this new Dr Who acts more like a modern Sylveste McCoy.

Still, the first programme of the new series wasn’t bad. If he tones down the suppressed hysteria, he should be OK in the part. 

Billie Piper did most of the acting in this first episode. (She has the advantage of  loooking and sounding dumb  – and of even having demonstrated real-life dumbness by marrying Chris Evans. So, when she turns in a competent performance, as she has done throughout Dr Who, the audience is so impressed that she can do little wrong.)  Maybe she should stay centre stage throughout the series or at least until we can get used to yet another Dr Who with an annoying face.