It's been a while since I've gone back to watch Rose, and my review is almost 10 years late, mehh. I can remember the anticipation surrounding this one, everyone I knew was counting down to watch it, old and new fans alike. I can remember watching it and thinking 'Is this going to work?' Back in the day I worked in the store where the interior shots were filmed, and there was a bit excitement surrounding the cast's appearance. If memory serves during the initial transmission there was a slight interruption that cut to Graham Norton. Looking back on it now I enjoyed the exuberance of the episode, the mix of sci fi and light humour, so different from Series 8 (the most recently transmitted series at the time of writing this.) Two things I possibly didn't notice back then, one, how much I loved Billie Piper's performance, and two, Mr Eccleston was actually quite attractive. I knew I was going to love Camille Coduri, Jackie was a fantastic character, so much fun. Mickey certainly developed as he went on. I was so pleased to see the return of the Autons, a heads up to the Iconic Spearhead from Space, it was a safe bet to try to appeal to the hoards of existing loyal fans. On the downside I found Auton Mickey and the bin scene would have been better suited to CBBC, would be difficult to imagine that happening in a 2015 episode. Some of the effects seem a little on the dodgy side, the photo-shopping is particularly shambolic. Are they implying Rose is particularly dense? Mickey looks rather plastic and has forgotten how to drive, she doesn't notice. On the plus, I applaud it for hooking in a lot of original and new viewers, many of which would stay with the show for years to come. We got to see Chris smile, a definite plus. We get an endearing companion with a real back story, a family, a job etc. Chris injects a bit of mystery and sadness into the role. There is some very nice music in this episode, in my opinion the music in the earlier series was much better. The opening credits at the time and music were excellent, and the TARDIS interior was beautifully created. The new 45 minute format also seems like a winner. It's hard to find many major faults with Rose, it's not exactly a masterpiece or an iconic episode, but it is fun, pacey and very entertaining, they did a good job, drafting in the lovable Mark Benton was a good move. The positives massively outweigh the negatives. Wasn't it just nice to have the iconic blue Police box back on our screens. 10.81 million viewers thought so and tuned in. A very solid 7/10
