The Idiot's Lantern

173 – "The Idiot's Lantern"
Doctor Whoepisode
Cast
Doctor David Tennant–Tenth Doctor
Companion Billie Piper–Rose Tyler
Others Maureen Lipman–The Wire Ron Cook– Mr. Magpie Jamie Foreman– Eddie Connolly Debra Gillett– Rita Connolly Rory Jennings– Tommy Connolly Margaret John– Grandma Sam Cox– Detective Inspector Bishop Ieuan Rhys– Crabtree Jean Challis – Auntie Betty Christopher Driscoll – Security Guard Marie Lewis – Mrs Gallagher
Production
Directed by	Euros Lyn
Written by	Mark Gatiss
Script editor	Simon Winstone
Produced by	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Music by	Murray Gold
Production code	2.7
Series	Series 2
Running time	45 minutes
First broadcast	27 May 2006(2006-05-27)
Chronology
←Preceded by "The Age of Steel" Followed by→ "The Impossible Planet"

"The Idiot's Lantern"is the seventh episode of thesecond seriesof the Britishscience fiction televisionseriesDoctor Who,which was first broadcast on 27 May 2006 onBBC One.It was written byMark Gatissand directed byEuros Lyn.

The episode is set in London in 1953, at the time of thecoronation of Queen Elizabeth II.In the episode, the incorporeal alienthe Wire(Maureen Lipman) intends to regain a physical body by consuming enough energy from the minds of the coronation's television audience.

Plot

TheTenth DoctorandRoseland in North London in 1953 (although, they initially believed they were in New York). While looking around, they see that most houses have TV antennas, which Rose recalls should be rare at this time. Mr. Magpie, a local merchant, informs them that the TVs are on sale to celebrate the upcomingcoronation of Elizabeth II.

The Doctor and Rose witness someone being taken from their home with a sheet over their head, and driven away by the police. The Doctor and Rose question the Connollys, a local family consisting of the bullying Eddie, his timid wife Rita, and their teenage son, Tommy. They are introduced to Grandma Connolly, Rita's mother, whose entire face is missing. Before the Doctor can learn more, the police burst in and remove Grandma Connolly; the Doctor follows.

At Magpie's shop, Rose discovers an entity hiding in a TV calling itself "the Wire", an alien that escaped execution by its people by turning itself into an electrical form. The Wire seeks to consume enough minds to recreate a body, intending to use the coronation broadcast to do so. Rose then falls victim to the Wire.

Meanwhile, Tommy discovers that his father has been informing the police about the faceless people, including Grandma Connolly. When Rita finds out, she kicks Eddie out of the house, and tells Tommy to go with the Doctor and "do some good".

Magpie's shop, on location in Cardiff.

The Doctor locates a holding pen where the police are keeping the victims. He speaks to Detective Inspector Bishop, and the police bring in a faceless Rose. Angered at Rose's condition, the Doctor, Tommy, and Bishop confront Magpie at his store. The Wire reveals herself and tries to consume them, but upon seeing the Doctor'ssonic screwdriver,she stops, retreats into a portable television set built by Magpie, and escapes, heading for theAlexandra Palace television station.

The Doctor and Tommy use equipment from Magpie's shop and the TARDIS to create a device to capture the Wire. The Doctor pursues Magpie as he connects his portable device to the television station transmitter, allowing the Wire to start to consume minds while killing Magpie. The Doctor connects his device to the transmitter, and the Wire is captured on aBetamaxcassette. The faces of those who were consumed by the Wire are returned to normal. Rose persuades Tommy to reconcile with his father. The episode ends with the Doctor explaining how he'll tape over the Wire's cassette, to which Rose says she'll do it instead.

Production

Rose's costume for the episode, as shown at the Doctor Who Experience.

"The Idiot's Lantern" is written byMark Gatiss,who also wrote theNinth Doctorepisode "The Unquiet Dead"as well as severalspin-offaudios and novels. The title of the episode was suggested by writerGareth Roberts,who recalled the term being used by his father to refer to television.

The episode is set in theMuswell Hillarea of London, and second-unit photography was conducted aroundAlexandra Palace.The exterior of Magpie's shop was filmed on Blenheim Road inCardiff.

The game associated with this episode, the "Magpie Online Archive",is a" file-sharing application "in which the player must search through various clips of BBC television history to look for messages left behind by the Wire. Unlike earlier games, it is only accessible through the BBCDoctor Whowebsite.

Cast notes

Rory Jennings, who plays Tommy Connolly, plays the teenageDavrosinBig Finish Productions'I, Davros: Innocence.Margaret John, who plays Tommy's Grandma, also played Megan Jones in theSecond DoctorserialFury from the Deep(1968).

Broadcast and reception

Overnight viewing figures for the initial broadcast of this episode were 6.32 million, peaking at 7.78 million, an audience share of 32.2%. The final rating was 6.76 million, making it the most watched programme of the day.It was given anAppreciation Indexof 84.This episode was released as a basic DVD with no special features in the UK in July 2006, together with "Rise of the Cybermen"and"The Age of Steel".

"The Idiot's Lantern" received mixed reviews. Ian Berriman ofSFXgave "The Idiot's Lantern" a rating of four out of five, calling the main plot "fairly insubstantial" and noting it would not please viewers who liked everything explained. However, he referred to it as "enjoyable" and praised the directing ofEuros Lyn.Berriman considered the highlight of the episode to be the subplot of family.IGN's Ahsan Haque rated the episode 6.8 out of 10, finding several logic flaws and calling the story "marginally interesting".Digital Spyreviewer Dek Hogan felt "The Idiot's Lantern" was a disappointment after Gatiss's previousDoctor Whoscript "The Unquiet Dead",feeling that a similar plot had been done before and it played like a" pastiche ofDoctor Whothan the show itself ". He was also not favourable to Lipman's performance as the Wire, saying the character" [lacked] menace ", and found the subplot of Tommy's father" annoying ".Stephen Brook ofThe Guardiannamed it as an episode of the series he disliked, finding it "too clever and way too preachy".

External links

• "The Idiot's Lantern"at theDoctor WhoStories Website
• "are you sitting comfortably"– episode trailer
• Episode commentary by Ron Cook, Louise Page and Sheelagh Wells(MP3)
• "The Idiot's Lantern" episode homepage
• "The Idiot's Lantern"at theBBCDoctor Whohomepage
• Maureen Lipman discusses filming this episode inThe Guardian
• "The Idiot's Lantern"atIMDb