The Idiot's Lantern
"The Idiot's Lantern" is the seventh episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 27 May 2006 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.
In the episdode, Mr. Magpie (Ron Cook) sells overly cheap sets because he is held hostage by The Wire (Maureen Lipman). She blazes rays from screens to take faces and soul energy from victims, including Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) must save millions of endangered viewers before they watch the Elizabeth II Coronation.
Plot
The Doctor, intending to take Rose to an Elvis Presley concert in New York City, by mistake lands the TARDIS in Muswell Hill, London on the day before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Doctor's curiosity is piqued when they see people, their faces covered by sheets, being taken away by police. The Doctor befriends teenager Tommy Connolly who shows him his grandmother, devoid of any facial features and lacking any brain activity. Tommy admits the problems started when they all started buying inexpensive television sets in preparation for the coronation from Mr Magpie. The Doctor follows where the police are taking the faceless people while Rose investigates Magpie's shop. There, she discovers an entity calling itself the Wire, an alien being that managed to escape execution by its people by turning itself into an electrical form, and now presents as a spokeswoman on Magpie's television sets, seeking to consume enough minds to recreate its own body and planning on using the wide broadcast of the coronation to do so. Rose is unable to flee before the Wire steals her face as well.
As the Doctor is studying the other victims, the faceless Rose is brought in by the police. The Doctor races back to Tommy to enlist his help as they go to Magpie's store and confront its owner. The Wire reveals its plans to the Doctor and tries to consume him and Tommy, but the Doctor fights back with his sonic screwdriver. The Wire retreats into a portable television Mr. Magpie created, and he escapes, intent on reaching the Alexandra Palace transmitter. The Doctor, with Tommy's help, uses equipment from Magpie's shop and his TARDIS to create a device to capture the Wire, and shortly follow Mr. Magpie. As Magpie connects the portable device to the tower, allowing the Wire to start to draw in the viewers' minds while killing Magpie in the process, the Doctor is able to connect his device to the transmitter. The Wire is pulled into the device, and viewers continue to safely watch the coronation; similarly, the minds and faces of those consumed by the Wire are returned to normal. The Doctor shows Tommy that he has captured the Wire on a Betamax cassette, which he will have Rose remind him later to tape over in order to destroy the entity. Rose is reunited with the Doctor, and the two celebrate the coronation with the rest of London.
Continuity
- The story is set at the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, due to its significance as the first key event televised across the United Kingdom putting the story as the 1 and 2 June 1953. According to a report in The Daily Mirror newspaper, Queen Elizabeth is a fan of the new series of Doctor Who, and requested DVDs of the 2005 series during her summer stay at Balmoral.[1] Elizabeth II appears here in archive footage; she previously appeared (played by an impersonator) in the Seventh Doctor story Silver Nemesis (1988). According to a late 1980s interview with former Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner published in Doctor Who Magazine, an attempt was made to get the Queen herself to appear in Silver Nemesis but the plan fell through. She is again portrayed in "Voyage of the Damned".
- As the Doctor examines the blank-faced Rose, Bishop says in the background that this will get "Torchwood on our backs, and no mistake."
- The Magpie Electricals logo has been seen several times in Doctor Who since "The Idiot's Lantern" was first broadcast. It is seen on Martha Jones' television in "The Sound of Drums", aboard the Starship UK in "The Beast Below" and even within the TARDIS itself from "The Eleventh Hour" onwards. Additionally, Magpie's television sets appear in the "Hub" from the spin-off series Torchwood,[2] and the Magpie branding is seen on Sarah Jane Smith's computer in The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Mark of the Berserker.
Production
- "The Idiot's Lantern" is written by The League of Gentlemen co-writer Mark Gatiss, who also wrote the Ninth Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead" as well as several spin-off audios and novels. He also starred in the 2007 episode "The Lazarus Experiment" as Dr Richard Lazarus, making him the first writer of the new series to also star in the show.
- The title of the episode was suggested by writer Gareth Roberts, who recalled the term being used by his father to refer to television.[3]
- The episode is set in the Muswell Hill area of London, and second-unit photography was conducted around Alexandra Palace but Doctor Who productions are Cardiff-based. The exterior of Magpie's shop was filmed on Blenheim Road in Cardiff [4]
- Almost every scene is filmed at a Dutch angle.
- 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
Historical details
- What's My Line?, which began in 1951 on UK television, is mentioned by the continuity announcer in the pre-credits sequence.
- The "Bat's Wings ident" is seen on the television sets in this episode, but that particular ident did not see use until 2 December 1953, six months after this episode is set. Although the ident is seen the BBC logo is never shown clearly.
- Rose scolds Mr Connolly for not knowing the difference between the Union Jack and the Union Flag. However, this is an urban legend, which was debunked on Radio 4's Today programme. The original 1902 naval regulation states that the flag can be referred to by either name on land.[3] Rose herself refers to the flag as the Union Jack in "The Empty Child".
- Muffin the Mule, clips of which feature in this episode, was also mentioned in the 1999 Doctor Who Night sketch, "The Pitch of Fear", which was also written by Mark Gatiss.
- The phrase, "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin," was popularised by the 1950–1982 BBC Radio series Listen with Mother, which began each episode with those words. The Wire uses a paraphrase of this when first speaking to Magpie. Another paraphrased version was said by the Doctor at the beginning of "School Reunion". The phrase "Goodnight children, everywhere," used by the Wire as she feeds on Rose, was the catchphrase of Children's Hour presenter Derek McCulloch.
- The Morris Jb van used in the filming is a 1957 van. The van has also been used in "Willy Wonka" and other film/TV work.
- The normal price for a Pye television set in 1953, including installation, was about £70, compared with the £5 Magpie was selling them for as part of the Wire's plan.[5]
- Throughout the story, several later developments in television technology are alluded to and shown: colour television, portable televisions, and video recording.
- The street in which the episode is set is Florizel Street, the original name of the long running UK soap opera Coronation Street.
Ratings and DVD release
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.[6] 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".
References
External links
Reviews