So here it is at last, after all the waiting and weeks of build up: (modern) Series 3, Episode 1. And I don’t know about you, but it would have been hard to imagine a better start to the next thirteen weeks. If RTD and his amazing crew can keep this standard up we’re in for an amazing ride.

Modern storytelling, when it’s done properly, is an awesome thing to watch – on many different levels. I have in the past criticised the "new style" 45-minute Doctor Who adventure for spooling the story out way too fast and at times being literally incredible. Not this time. The pace of this first episode was pitch-perfect. In the space of the first five minutes we had met new assistant Martha Jones’ entire family, learned a significant amount about their back story, established her career, place of work, and the fact that she is feisty, level-headed and has a good sense of humour, and landed on the Moon.

Just as we were beginning to wonder why the air wasn’t exploding through the hospital windows, the Doctor chucked a pebble at the force field. A few moments later the question of who might be behind the abduction of a hospital and its 1,000 occupants arose, and the answer to that question was not far behind as the Judoon ships floated gracefully over the building. And what ships! Astoundingly well realised and a credit to the effects department.

I have to admit I stepped out of my rapt enjoyment at this point, just for a moment, to ponder on something that has always puzzled me about spaceships. About jet powered craft in science fiction in general actually, going right back to Supercar and Fireball XL5. How come the ships only start to land after the retro rockets have fired?

But I digress – the Judoon were landing. The Doctor recognised them at once, of course. School days on Gallifrey must have been great fun. Serried ranks of Time Lord children learning the species of the galaxy off by heart. Ugly buggers too, weren’t they? Stopping just short of representing the galactic police as humanoid pigs, Russell T Davies chose rhinos instead. Rhinos with distinctly piggy faces though. And not much truck with "offender management" either:

"Charge: assault. Plead: guilty. Sentence: death."

What, not even an ASBO to start with? Young scallywags take note, if you ever find yourselves on the moon.

Meanwhile, in the office of Mr Stoker, the alien for whom the Judoon were hunting – a plasmavore in the shape of Florence Finnegan (played by the ever-fabulous Anne Reid who was a total revelation in the role) – needed to assimilate some human blood to discombobulate the Judoon body-scanners. So it was farewell to Mr Stoker. I predict the phrase "and look, I’ve even brought a straw" will enter the public consciousness to bring a shiver to the spine whenever we enjoy a cocktail or a cold drink on a summer’s day.

Without seeming to stop for breath (which was just as well, because there wasn’t a lot of oxygen left in the hospital) the Doctor despatched one of Florence’s Slab guards (burning out his sonic screwdriver in the process! Yay!), tricked her into feasting on some of his blood so the Judoon would find her out, saved the hospital occupants (and the moon-side people on Earth) from having their brain stems fried by a magnetic pulse and arrived back on Earth with only his tie out of place.

Maybe RTD is getting better at pacing a 45-minute story or maybe I’m just getting used to watching them, but this cracking first instalment never felt rushed and never stretched the bounds of credibility. No, it was simply a thrill-a-minute non-stop roller-coaster of a story with a chilling baddie, some equally chilling enforcers, and a first-rate new assistant who looked from word one like she belonged at the Doctor’s side. Full marks to Freema Agyeman for an outstanding debut performance and full marks too to Russell T Davies for a script that gave her every opportunity to shine, while still managing to pay homage to Billie Piper’s Rose in an understated and touching way, AND briefly explaining the "similarity" between Martha and Adeola (from Army of Ghosts): "she was my cousin."

I didn’t really catch the significance of the "genetic transfer" kiss, which seemed to achieve nothing except slow the Judoon down as they were confused into thinking Martha was the alien (I suspect this may have been one of those little moments Russell T Davies is said to throw in every now and then to "send the Internet forums into meltdown") but I did catch the reference to "Mr. Saxon." Mr. Saxon is the name of the character that will be played by John Simm in the final two-parter, and which I suspect is the "Bad Wolf" equivalent for the 2007 series. Early days, but watch out for further mention of Mr. Saxon in future episodes.

Finally, the closing scenes where Martha stepped aboard the TARDIS for the first time demonstrated beautifully how RTD manages to blend the contemporary Doctor with the legacy of forty years. The obligatory line "wow! It’s bigger on the inside" was handled with fun and freshness, but preceded by the soon-to-be immortal couplet:

"I’m a Time Lord."
"Oh, not pompous at all, then."

Brilliant, brilliant stuff. More like this, please! Is it next Saturday yet?