I’m something of a fan of Catherine Tate as the Doctor’s new assistant Donna Noble.

I really enjoyed her first appearance in 2006’s Christmas special, The Runaway Bride.

I’m aware that lots of fans found her a little too much in the episode but I was concerned that she had been toned down too much after watching the first episode of the new series.

I think in a programme where the most memorable villains are giant salt and pepper pots with deadly plungers there’s a little room for a larger than life assistant.

One of the greatest strengths of the "new" Doctor Who is portraying the Doctor as a questionable hero. He is after all an alien and so should demonstrate motivations that are alien to ours. Also, he’s supposed to be leagues above humans in terms of technology and intelligence - and that’s got to give anyone a bit of an ego.

As much as I liked The Doctor’s last assistant Martha - she didn’t seem to challenge his morality as much as Donna’s already doing by episode two.

I’m looking forward to seeing the pair getting into more scraps and scrapes down the line.