I can hardly remember when we didn't know the Doctor was going to be *gasp* a woman.

So by the time Jodie Whittaker's embodiment appeared on our screens, that really wasn't on my radar. It was also no longer on my 10-year-old son's.

Oliver had taken the controversial casting pretty hard but soon snapped out of it, and having been drip-fed images and trailers ever since, he was nothing but plain old excited as we geared up to watch The Woman Who Fell To Earth.

From the get-go my son was on the edge of his seat, and watching him watching the show was a joy in itself.

The next hour was exciting, silly and full of genuine moments that impressed - with Oliver instantly loving the Doctor's new, self-made sonic screwdriver, done in fantastic A-Team style. But for me, the best thing about it was the return to proper Doctor Who scares.

Oliver couldn't take his eyes off the thrilling train scene, where we found our new Doctor and soon-to-be companions all in one place, up against a creature that came sinisterly out of the dark. But this was not the true 'baddie'.

We soon discovered it was a device used by Tzim-Sha, an alien on Earth as part of a hunt. And I don't know what was worse, the fact he was cheating his way to glory or that his face was embedded with the teeth of his victims. On second thoughts, it was the teeth thing. Oliver was grossed out and enthralled in equal measures. A real ewwwwww! moment. But as he pointed out, we never saw the fate of this creature, and he predicted we'd see him again down the line. Hope he's flossed.

There was an unexpectedly high death (murder?) count in this debut too, all at the frozen hands of Tzim-Sha, which I found a little uncomfortable for Sunday night family viewing but none of it was gory or in fact witnessed from our sofas.

Going into this, my main worry was the companions. Over the years some of these have seemed forced or flat or worse, pointless, and we were due three. I was pleasantly surprised.

Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) are an odd trio and initially I wasn't convinced they'd pull it off but they did. Not only that but we were left looking forward to seeing them again.

For me and Oliver, the Doctor's return ticked lots of boxes, and it was a relief. Whittaker was deemed 'fun and clever' by my young fan, although he was disappointed we didn't see, or hear, the TARDIS.

We always enjoy the 'next week' preview but we were also treated to a 'who's who' of faces to appear in future episodes, and all in all, it just made us fall back in love with Sunday nights.

The wait was over, and everything was right with the universe. Well, until Sunday, obviously...

By Claire Pearce, mum and casual Doctor Who fan