New Doctor Who Tonight: the Dawn of a New Era

On April 3 2010, the world will welcome the newest adventures of the newest Doctor. I am, of course, talking about Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor.

Although Matt has already made his first appearance as the Doctor in the last minutes of The End of Time which aired January 1st 2010, it will be the first time that we will properly see Doctor Eleven in action.

Matt Smith has big shoes to fill, and the question on every body's lips is : does he achieve that.

David Tennant is the most popular Doctor of all time

Smith is following David Tennant, who played the Time Lord for four years and is the most popular and well loved Doctor of all time. It's a huge and daunting task for the 27 year old actor who also happens to be the youngest man ever to play one of the most iconic Sci-Fi characters of all time.

Matt Smith is the youngest Doctor ever

Everyone should rest at ease as the general consensus seems to be that Matt Smith is quite good as the Eleventh Doctor. I myself am not overly worried about his performance, plus, from the tidbits I have seen, I have to say that I am mighty excited and looking forward to this new incarnation – at the same time I'm still mourning David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor's Regeneration scene was one of the saddest ever, with countless fans breaking down at his last words: ''I don't want to go'' - including me.

I loved David Tennant as the Doctor and will always see him as MY Doctor, much like many of you out there. But after the series took a year off after it's last airing in the summer of 2008, with nothing but the specials to wet our appetites in 2009, I am glad to return to the regular format of the Doctor Who Series. I have to say 2009 felt lonely and empty without it. It was a long wait.

Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in tonight's first Series 5 episode ''The Eleventh Hour''. He's still wearing his Tenth Doctor outfit.

Now, not only do we have a new Doctor but we also have a new show runner, Steven Moffat, a new companion in Amy Pond, played by the lovely Karen Gillan, a new Tardis which is bigger on the inside than the former one (there is apparently more rooms, with even a library to be seen!), a brand new screwdriver, a new logo and a new theme song!

Everything is new.

But is everything new good? More importantly can it be great?

New Doctor, new Companion, new Tardis

I'm hoping it will. I'm hoping to be entertained and to be looking forward to tune in to the Doctor's adventures week after week for the next 13 ones. I have faith in Steven Moffat – who did give us some of the greatest Doctor Who stories of the Russell T. Davies era (The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Silence in the Library, Forests of the Dead and the scary Blink), I have faith in that new fresh faced young actor Matt Smith who now plays the Eleventh Doctor and I even have faith in Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond.

I'm ready to jump in - take me to the Tardis! Are you?

Doctor Who starts tonight in the UK on BBC ONE and BBC HD at 6:20pm and on April 17 in North America.