Just as there was never an exact point when Doctor Who went from "resting" in the early nineties to threatening to "come back" at almost every opportunity since, something gradual is in the momentous advent of occurring with the new series. If there is a time when Doctor is suddenly and unremarkably a going concern once again, then surely it is now.

"The Long Game" is the key. A story unremarkable in the sense of not being "Dalek" (as "Terror of the Zygons" was remarkable for not being "Genesis of the Daleks") I'm beginning to wonder if kids today have already forgotten that a great sci-fi legend has just returned. No longer, perhaps, is Doctor Who this almighty TV event to be tried out, but instead a regularly comfortable component of Saturday evenings. All hail the first true "meat and two veg" episode! The stuff that the backbone of the series is, will be, and always has been founded upon.

We found ourselves in Finchley yesterday morning, calling in for tea and cold chicken legs with the family the morning after Simon's cousin Sean's birthday party. It took Simon slightly longer than me to get what Frankie, Sean's niece, was babbling about as she tore about the house making her own amusement very loudly in the very specific way that all children can. Eventually her small-voiced plea could be translated thus: "Can I watch Doctor Who now please?". We were amazed - a girl too! Whatever next? Showing great restraint having not seen last night's episode yet ourselves, we stayed in the sitting room talking while Frankie disappeared upstairs and watched "The Long Game" on video by herself.

As we sat and chatted, I imagined her sitting enraptured in front of the TV screen and wondered how scary it was. There's a strange thought! How often have we scoffed as bleating TV watchdogs and newspaper critics try and have a pop at our creaky old show for being unsuitable for kids. Well obviously you wouldn't leave a kiddie to watch it alone, we usually say, in the full knowledge that you easily can. We'd hate to admit it, but no kid is ever going to lose sleep over Freddie Jaegeurs painted-on eyes or the plastic Morloxes really, are they? But hang about - this is new Who, complete with quite-good monsters and effects. Anything could be going on up there - would Frankie return in half an hour, dribbling on the carpet, her mind a tortured fragment from watching what the BBC kids this week imply is one of the more terrifying episodes?

We needn't have worried. Frankie ambled down a while later, quiet in thought, not scared witless or even running around with her arms outstretched pretending to be Simon Pegg. And was it scary? "Yes... actually no," she decided before going about her business. But then, after seeing it the next day, this didn't strike me as one of the more chilling episodes of the new series either (certainly not on "Unquiet Dead" levels), and in retrospect the BBC Kid's comments seem a little baffling. But to be concerned by this misses my point.

The fact is, our unwitting child subject is now a regular viewer. Even the next day, she nagged Mum and Dad to watch it, stayed presumably engrossed, and then forgot all about it, as is healthy. How lovely it must be for her not to know that somewhere there are people discussing the music and the pace and attempting to rank this instalment in relation to all the others. I doubt Frankie is aware of how long Doctor Who has even been on for, and that's the point. The real future generation of fans, the kids in the playground, the scamps in Smiths fiddling with the "Leisure Hive" DVD, the Frankie's of today, don't care how much "The Long Game" was trailed or that it didn't contain a returning enemy or that it was written by RTD, whoever he is. And that's why "The Long Game" will be someone's favourite episode in 10 years time. You know, that one with the creature in the ceiling and the lady in the lift. Where the foreheads opened up. That was great, that was. Disposable TV. Yes!