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"The Idiot's Lantern" is the seventh episode of the second series of the British
science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'', which was first broadcast on 27 May 2006 on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
. It was written by
Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. Best known for his acting work on stage and screen as well as for co-creating television shows with Steven Moffat, he has received ...
and directed by
Euros Lyn Euros Lyn (; born 1971) is a Welsh Film director, film and television director, best known for his work in ''Doctor Who'', ''Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock'', ''Black Mirror'', ''Daredevil (TV series), Daredevil'', ''His Dark Materials (TV seri ...
. The episode is set in London in 1953, at the time of the
coronation of Elizabeth II The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon th ...
. In the episode, the incorporeal alien
the Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
( Maureen Lipman) intends to regain a physical body by consuming enough energy from the minds of the coronation's television audience.


Plot

The
Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series and nine specials. The character has also appeared in other ''Docto ...
and
Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
land 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 upcoming
coronation of Elizabeth II The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon th ...
. 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". 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's
sonic screwdriver The sonic screwdriver is a fictional multifunctional tool in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, used by the Doctor. Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme, and spin-off ...
, she stops, retreats into a portable television set built by Magpie, and escapes, heading for the
Alexandra Palace television station The Alexandra Palace television station in North London () is the oldest television transmission site in the world. What was at the time called "high definition", ( 405-line) the world's first TV broadcasts on VHF were beamed from this mast fr ...
. 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 a
Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...
cassette. The victims of 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; Rose offers to do it herself instead.


Production

"The Idiot's Lantern" is written by
Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. Best known for his acting work on stage and screen as well as for co-creating television shows with Steven Moffat, he has received ...
, who also wrote the Ninth Doctor episode "
The Unquiet Dead "The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn. In the episo ...
" as well as several
spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
audios and novels. The title of the episode was suggested by writer Gareth Roberts, who recalled the term being used by his father to refer to television. The episode is set in the
Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, London, Highgate, Hampstead Garden ...
area of London, and second-unit photography was conducted around
Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...
. The exterior of Magpie's shop was filmed on Blenheim Road in
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
. 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 BBC ''Doctor Who'' website.


Cast notes

Rory Jennings, who plays Tommy Connolly, plays the teenage
Davros Davros () is a fictional Character (arts), character from the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was created by screenwriter Terry Nation, originally for the 1975 serial '' ...
in
Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'' ...
' '' I, Davros: Innocence''. Margaret John, who plays Tommy's Grandma, also played Megan Jones in the
Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. Out of his 1 ...
serial ''
Fury from the Deep ''Fury from the Deep'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, completely missing sixth serial of the Doctor Who (season 5), fifth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in six weekly parts from 1 ...
'' (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 an Appreciation Index of 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 of '' SFX'' gave "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 of
Euros Lyn Euros Lyn (; born 1971) is a Welsh Film director, film and television director, best known for his work in ''Doctor Who'', ''Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock'', ''Black Mirror'', ''Daredevil (TV series), Daredevil'', ''His Dark Materials (TV seri ...
. Berriman considered the highlight of the episode to be the subplot of family.
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
's Ahsan Haque rated the episode 6.8 out of 10, finding several logic flaws and calling the story "marginally interesting".
Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...
reviewer Dek Hogan felt "The Idiot's Lantern" was a disappointment after Gatiss's previous ''Doctor Who'' script "
The Unquiet Dead "The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn. In the episo ...
", feeling that a similar plot had been done before and it played like a "pastiche of ''Doctor Who'' than the show itself". He was also not favourable to Lipman's performance as the Wire, saying the character " ackedmenace", and found the subplot of Tommy's father "annoying". Stephen Brook of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' named it as an episode of the series he disliked, finding it "too clever and way too preachy".


References


External links

*
"are you sitting comfortably"
– episode trailer
Episode commentary by Ron Cook, Louise Page and Sheelagh Wells
(MP3)
"The Idiot's Lantern" episode homepage
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Idiots Lantern, The Fiction set in 1953 Doctor Who pseudohistorical serials Tenth Doctor episodes 2006 British television episodes Television episodes written by Mark Gatiss Television episodes set in London Television episodes set in the 1950s