The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)

The Idiot's Lantern was the seventh episode of the second series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
1953, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - but there are rumours of monsters on the streets of London.

Plot
The Wire is a creature/entity that was executed on its own world, but escaped by becoming living energy. In that form, it arrives on Earth in 1953 and is electrically transferred into the television signal system to stay alive. The Wire then makes a deal with a television repairman, Mr. Magpie. It will spare him if he sells televisions for extremely cheap- to maximize the amount of viewers (and therefore potential victims). The victims of The Wire are those unlucky television viewers who are subjected to alien radiations from their television sets; through this process their brain waves are robbed and their faces disappear and are captured onto the screens in the shop. The Wire steals this energy, which it feeds on to survive.

About then, the Doctor and Rose land in Muswell Hill, London, in 1953, yet expecting to be in New York. Dressed in an Elvis Presley vibe, they expected to attend a performance of the Ed Sullivan Show. However, the different skyline, a red double decker bus, and a Union Flag tells them that, actually, they are in northern London on the eve of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

By chance, the Doctor witnesses a person covered in a blanket being abducted by men in black. The Doctor and Rose hop on a scooter and race after the car. The car passes through a gated doorway which slam shut and a market stall is arranged in front of the gate making it look like a dead end (ala Indiana Jones). The Doctor and Rose arrive shortly after, mystified by the car's disappearance. They decide to investigate. Posing as Royal inspectors, with the help of the Doctor's psychic paper, they arrive at the home of the Connollys. Mr. Connolly bullies his family into ignoring Gran after her face was stolen. The father prohibits his son, Tommy, from talking with her or seeing her. She is being away from everyone else in the family. The Doctor convinces Rita Connolly to bring him to Gran. As the Doctor examines Gran, two men burst into the house and hustle her away, after knocking out the Doctor. The Doctor gives chase but Rose stays behind. She notices the television set is giving off electrical sparks. Rose reads the name on the television's tag: Magpie. She decides to investigate. At the shop, Mr. Magpie tries to get her out the door before The Wire is alerted to her presence. But Rose insists on staying. The Wire appears on a screen and steals Rose's brain waves and her face.

At the dumpsite, the Doctor finds people whose faces have been stolen locked in a cage. As they begin to surround him, the investigators shine a light into the cage. Detective Inspector Bishop begins to interrogate the Doctor but the tables are turned as the Doctor asks him questions he can't answer. He convinces the DI that he can help. As Bishop begins to share information, an agent brings in another victim: Rose. The Doctor is very angry at Rose's condition and tells Bishop, nothing can stop him now. They return to Floridel Street. The Doctor and Bishop ask Tommy what happened with Gran the night her face was stolen. They learn she was watching television. The three head to Magpie's shop, but Magpie is not there. As he looks around, the Doctor discover a handheld portable TV as well as external power source. He discover the people's missing faces as they appear on the screens in the shop. Magpie enters, and the Doctor demands to know who is really in charge. The Wire appears and attacks Bishop, the Doctor and Tommy. The Doctor is able to stop the transfer with his sonic screwdriver, but too late for Bishop. The effort knocks them both out.

The Wire transfers itself into the portable TV and orders Magpie to take it to Alexandra Palace. Magpie climbs the antenna and plugs the TV into the tower. It begins to suck the energy from the coronation viewers. The Doctor comes to and with Tommy's assistance, quickly assembles a device. They race to the Tardis to pick up one more part then run to the Palace. The Doctor orders Tommy to keep the device operating no matter what. He goes to the top and begins to climb the tower. Magpie is at the top begging the Wire to stop the pain in his head. It completely consumes Magpie in a bolt of electricity. The Doctor is able to plug in his machine into the portable. But a fuse shorts and the machine stops. The Wire taunts the Doctor. Tommy quickly changes the fuse and the machine operates again. The Wire is transferred from the portable into a betamax cassette the Doctor built with parts from the TV shop. All the victims regain their faces and minds.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * The Wire - Maureen Lipman
 * Mr. Magpie - Ron Cook
 * Eddie Connolly - Jamie Foreman
 * Rita Connolly - Debra Gillett
 * Tommy Connolly - Rory Jennings
 * Grandma Connolly - Margaret John
 * Mrs Gallagher - Marie Lewis
 * Detective Inspector Bishop - Sam Cox
 * Crabtree - Ieuan Rhys
 * Aunt Betty - Jean Challis
 * Security Guard - Christopher Driscoll

Story notes

 * This story had working titles of: Mr Sandman, Sonic Doom, The One-Eyed Monster.
 * The Idiot's Lantern was originally to have been the ninth episode of Series 2.
 * Originally, The Doctor was supposed to have a line about having trouble with radio transmitters, which was supposed to be a reference to Logopolis, where the Fourth Doctor fell from the Pharos Project transmitter.
 * The Doctor quotes Kylie Minogue's song "Never Too Late." Minogue would later appear as a guest star in the episode Voyage of the Damned, playing Astrid Peth.
 * All the television aerials seem to resemble Nazi swastikas. On the DVD commentary one of the set designers mentions that this was done to evoke the post-war era.
 * The scene where the Doctor flips his interrogation with Detective-Inspector Bishop is similar to the scene with the Seventh Doctor and the Chief Caretaker in DW: Paradise Towers.
 * 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.

Myths

 * This episode is frequently mistakenly cited as taking place in 1952, the year Elizabeth ascended to the throne upon the death of her father; her official coronation ceremony, however, did not occur until nearly 18 months later, in June 1953. (In addition, the episode itself states that it is 1953.)
 * It is often erroneously claimed that footage of Rose calling out from the TV set was recycled for her brief cameos in the Season 4 episodes The Poison Sky and Midnight.

Filming locations

 * Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, London
 * Florentia Street in Cathays, Cardiff
 * Blenheim Road in Pen-y-lan, Cardiff
 * Cardiff Royal Infirmary
 * Veritair Limited tarmac at the Cardiff Heliport on Cardiff Bay

Production errors

 * David Tennant mentioned on the DVD commentary that he accidentally hit the button on the sonic screwdriver prop while putting it into his pocket, causing the light to flicker on and "sonic-ing" himself. This is clearly visible on the episode itself.
 * The episode's last scene in Magpie Electricals ends with the Doctor exiting the shop and looking towards Alexandra Palace. It was achieved by dropping in a matte painting of Ally Pally on a hill into a location foreground actually filmed in Cardiff. According to David Tennant on the DVD commentary for the episode, however, the composition of the shot violates the narrative of the story. Magpie is said to be in Muswell Hill, but in order to have that particular view of Ally Pally, one would actually have to be filming from the vantage point of Crouch End. Whether this is a production error or not depends on one's point of view. To those unfamiliar with London, there's nothing wrong with the technical set-up or execution of the scene. But given the episode's otherwise meticulous attempts to capture a the reality of a particular moment in history, it is a glaring error to anyone who knows London.
 * When the Doctor is climbing the transmitter, there's a moment where David Tennant's right foot disappears due to a compositing error.

Continuity

 * Magpie Electricals apparently continues to exist beyond the death of Mr. Magpie; Martha Jones had a Magpie brand television in DW: The Sound of Drums, and a Magpie brand microphone can be seen in Voyage of the Damned. The new TARDIS interior, after it repaired itself following the events of DW: The End of Time has some parts made by Magpie Electricals. Magpie apparently continues to thrive into the future, as a large sign with the company's logo can be seen aboard Starship UK in DW: The Beast Below.
 * The Wire shares many things with the Abzorbaloff (Love & Monsters, also of the second series). Both absorb their victims, whose faces are visible somewhere around the creature and whose consciousnesses are preserved somehow in such medium of captivity. However, The Wire expected to be fed and to regain its corporeal form. The Abzorbaloff wanted to absorb the Doctor's memories.
 * Lara Phillipart, who played Jasmine Pierce in TW: Small Worlds can be seen briefly as a girl in the Connolly's living room watching the coronation.
 * The Wire's repeated demand "FEED ME!" is reminiscent of a similar demand made, to comic effect, by the killer plant Audry Jr. in the classic horror-comedy film (and later musical) The Little Shop of Horrors. Also when the faces are shown on the screens in the TVs, it is also similar in the orginal film when Audry Jr. finally bloomed showing the faces of all its victims.
 * Grandma refers to Eddie Connolly as "Our lord and master" in the opening scene. The same phrase had previously been used to describe John Lumic and the Bad Wolf Corporation. It would later be used about The Master.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DWA: No One Died
 * This story occurs before NSA: The Nightmare of Black Island

Home video releases

 * This was released on a vanilla DVD along side Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel.
 * It was also released as part of the Series 2 DVD box set.