I remember watching Billie Piper in her first proper TV acting job, a BBC adaptation of one of the Canterbury Tales, and I *loathed* her. I thought she couldn't act for toffee, to me she was still an annoying teenage bubblegum pop singer who was flailing around out of her depth. As a result I didn't bother watching Doctor Who last year until after the Christmas Special, when enough people had raved about it to convince me it was worth a shot.
Of course I was convinced that my initial impression of her as an actress had been unjustified after watching the first few episodes of the show, but after tonight I officially take it back 100 million percent. She is fantastic and wonderful and made me cry and I love her.
The goodbye scene was so utterly heartwrenching that I didn't really feel it was appropriate to then suddenly flip a switch and spend the final few secnds setting up the Christmas Special out of nowhere, but I guess it had to be done and the fact that it was Catherine Tate made it more bearable. I'm sure she'll be brilliant and I can't wait to see it.