There are airships in the sky and the people of London seem to be way too slow to deal with any problems, like the fact that so many of them are disappearing from the streets. The Doctor, Rose and Mickey find other things confronting in this world and Rose goes off to hunt down her father, who is alive here advertising his health drinks, while Mickey goes off to find his grandmother, who had died five years ago on his world.

But what an episode. A few jokes here, some disturbing imagery there, and some great performances from the cast make this a real attention getter from the start.

The exciting for me, but disturbing for others, I'd gather, is the ear implants that allow direct downloading of the latest news, views, current affairs, lottery numbers and jokes, to your brain! I've wanted something like that since the 70s!

Jackie Tyler gets given a diamond studded upgrade to hers and is promptly mentally invaded while she's putting on makeup. The antennae that appear from her new implants join together at the top of her head to form something disturbingly familiar.

The main character of this episode is John Lumic, head of Cybus corporation, who is slowly converting the useless refuse of society into Cybermen. He attempts to convince the President of Great Britain that this upgrade to humanity is necessary.

The title says it all but all regular Doctor Who viewers would already have guessed that, being the first episode of a two parter, we won't get to see the Cybermen until the very end.

There's the usual soppy stuff for the girls, Rose going off after her father, finding out who the Rose is in this world, trying to get her father and mother to stay together. And Mickey, finding his grandmother alive and well, dealing with his fears and phobias, and the Doctor getting stressed because these two are running around like their in a gingerbread house from Andersen fantasy stories.

But we've finally got some great body double effects when Mickey meets Rickey, head of the Preachers, an organisation investigating Cybus' schemes.

This episode comes to a head when everyone appears either inside or outside the party for Jackie's 39th birthday and the place is invaded by what looks to be at least 20 Cybermen.

This is a fantastic episode. I'm definitely giving this one 9/10. (It loses a point for not getting Cuba Gooding Jr's birthday right in both universes) I hope the second episode lives up to expectations.

Trivia note: Jackie Tyler's birthdate is 2nd February 1967. She's 40 in this story, even though she's promoting herself as being 39. That means this story is set in 2007.