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It’s a good time to watch Doctor Who if you haven’t seen the TV show since its 2005 regeneration when the BBC brought it back after a 16-year hiatus. In the first episode of the new series, The Eleventh Hour, airing this weekend there’s a new doctor, Matt Smith, and a new companion, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond. And no loose plot strands from previous episodes to bamboozle newcomers.

A new executive producer/chief script writer is also onboard the Tardis (the Doctor’s space and time traveling machine). Stephen Moffat, creator and writer of Press Gang and self-confessed Doctor Who fan, is now overseeing the show. This is a good thing since Moffat has written the best episodes of Doctor Who since its return, including the downright creepy award-winning 2007 episode Blink.

When it was announced that relatively unknown and frankly worryingly young 27-year-old Matt Smith was to be the centuries old alien time lord there was much fanboy and fangirl consternation. They needn’t have worried. Smith aces it. Moffat initially intended casting an older actor than the wildly popular previous doctor, David Tennant, but it’s easy to see why he chose Smith.

Smith is an eccentric, gangly and floppy-haired whirlwind of fidgety mania who slips easily into the iconic role. He even makes a tweed jacket and a bow tie (a bow tie!) combination look almost trendy. Gillan also excels. Moffat is no stranger to writing spiky banter between characters — as Press Gang proved — and it’s clear Amy won’t be a simpering bland piece of eye candy to exist solely to be rescued from peril.

The Eleventh Hour isn’t perfect. The Earth threatened yet again by aliens storyline isn’t anything the show hasn’t done before, Smith is a little too manic early on (blame his recent regeneration) and there’s a lacklustre CGI eel-like monster that, if you’re being generous, could be a homage to the show’s infamous cheap and dodgy special effects-laden past. But ultimately, The Eleventh Hour is a fast-paced, quirky and fun adventure that bodes well for the rest of this series.

By the end of The Eleventh Hour,  Smith is the doctor. A rooftop scene niftily links Smith directly to all of his predecessors in the role reminding long-time viewers that, despite his changed appearance, yet again this doctor is still essentially the same man battling against evil throughout time and space. Little Doctor Who geek hearts everywhere will soar. Matt Smith had me at “Hello … I’m the doctor.”

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour will be available to watch online from midnight tonight on ABC’s internet TV service iView, before airing on proper television on ABC1 on Sunday at 7.30pm.