SO ... drum roll .... what did we all think???

Okay wow ... where to start *starts by helping self to a chocolate biscuit*. New series, new Doctor. Old and still rather annoying assistant but can't have everything.

This was a historial episode - one of my favourite types and one of the things that Who does very well I think. It was great to see Strax, Jenny and Vastra back - they can carry the show by themselves! The plot was average and re introduced some old monsters who will not have been recognised by anyone who has not seen or does not remember 'Girl in the Fireplace.' The plot felt secondary, really, to the saga of the Doctor's regeneration and attempt to 'stabilise' himself in his new face but that did not matter. Strax provided a satisfactory amount of comic fodder and I like the rapport between Vastra and Jenny.

It's too early to say what I think of Capaldi really. He did not immediately grab me but then it took me a few episodes to warm to both Tennant and Smith when they first started. As usual, it's too soon to say what sort of personality quirks this Doctor will have. Clara seems to be having more trouble with his regeneration than most of his assistants usually do - perhaps because the 'young' man she fancied now looks sixtyish

Yeah she is shallow. I liked Jenny's response when Clara asked her how she would feel if Vastra changed (I mean let's face it, Vastra already does look extremely ... different )

I enjoyed it; Capaldi's doctor is different, but good. I adore the historical episodes and the similarity to Sweeney Todd. Also, did anyone else notice the Sherlock Holmes reference when Vastra said "the game is a foot"? The phone call from the previous doctor at the end was very touching.

Oh, I missed that. Stephen Moffat couldn't resist inserting that in, or did he forget which series he was writing for

I didn't like the phone call from the previous Doctor. It just reinforced the idea that Clara is a shallow girl and even the Doctor knows it. Of course, then we have to ask how he knew he'd be 'old and wrinkly' and Clara would need to be told that it's the same person/man/alien.

Did anyone else find the audio mix to be very unbalanced? I had a hard time hearing dialogue during the action scenes.

Clara is very shallow and almost infantile. She could use more spunk and just character, don't ya know?

New Doctor has great potential, I think, but someone needs to write him a cracking good story.

There is a rumour that Clara is leaving after the Christmas special and I hope that it is true. There's just nothing to her. She's not detestable and she is not as irritating as Martha was but ... you simply can't define her personality because she does not seem to have one.

I think that this series is likely to be pivotal in the future potential of Who. The last one was just woeful ... bad stories and, as has been mentioned a bland and irritating assistant. I'll be really cross if the show ends up cancelled because of lame storylines but I suspect that it lost some viewers last season. I hope they've got something better for us now.