Party morning

The bouncy castle has arrived and been inflated, for the entertainment of the younger generation. The presents for eight-year-old Sam have been wrapped. My sister has done vast amounts of cooking and prepared pass-the-parcel for the children, in case it rains.

Meanwhile, on the BBC - it's Doctor Who overkill. I turned on CBBC briefly, to see that a police box is parked on the set of Mighty Truck of Stuff. According to Outpost Gallifrey, from 11.58am the presenters on CBBC will be dressed as the Doctor and Rose. There's a rolling trailer (or was) taking up one of the BBC's interactive digital channels. CBBC now has its own 'behind the scenes' programme, the very painful Totally Doctor Who. It's all tending a bit towards overkill, and all before what I suspect will be a largely indifferent episode.

She's a bad girl now...

...so said my goddaughter, aged three, during 'New Earth' as she took in Rose's odd behaviour.

'New Earth' was a lighthearted beast, with generic disease make-up (though it scared one six-year-old cousin, who had to leave the room), bad but redeemable cats (it was a pleasing touch that the villains were taken into custody by the police - NNYPD Blue for the next spin-off?) - and a plotline which cheerfully dug itself loads of holes into which the production could sink, only to find that the script and its execution danced joyously around them and over them. Overall it was a strong story of redemption, allowing the tenth Doctor to show that he has a more sensitive emotional register than the ninth, and elevating Cassandra from cruel joke to a psychologically vulnerable and heavily scarred anti-heroine.

Oh, and the party went well. I am sitting here typing in yellow, green and black face paint, which must say something.