Sometimes, an episode of a TV show just hits the right spot for me. It’s probably very subjective. At this midpoint in the season, I wanted a bit of light humour, I wanted some focus on Rose, I wanted a cool villainous monster, and I wanted a bit of style. ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ has these things. Some people wanted an explanation of how a monster explained as electricity based manages to remove faces from humans. This episode doesn’t have that.

Let’s start with what the show doesn’t have this week, because I’m worried about falling into a pattern but I’m too tired to do something particularly different today. When you’re watching Doctor Who, and an alien does something you didn’t think it could do, you’ve got two choices.

1. Assume the alien is more powerful and complex than you initially thought.
2. Decide that the alien is just as powerful as you initially thought, and that the writer of the episode, in fact, got it wrong (amazingly, many months before you ever saw it and confirmed your rightness).

Many people, including myself, are drawn to that second option. I’ve made it sound silly there for comedic effect but it’s not really so dumb. Any story builds up a world as you watch, using your visual and aural understandings to create a tale that you’ll understand. Ultimately, ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ throws a lot of different facts around about the true nature of the Wire, and they don’t all mesh as nicely as they could. I’ve given it some thought, and every time I try to come up with a satisfactory pseudo-science explanation, I give up and go for the traditional get-out clause; the Wire is so advanced that to us it looks like magic. Even though the nature of the defeat makes it seem a lot more vulnerable. So I can see why you might have the vaguest of issues with the Wire.¹

I’m surprised however that people have let those issues get in the way of one of the most enjoyable scripts so far this year. The Doctor and Rose are aiming to see Elvis’ notorious appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, but instead find themselves in London just before Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Even more disappointing than this; people from every household are being turned into lifeless, faceless zombies and being snatched away by mysterious men in black vans. The problem seems focussed on Mr Magpie’s fabulous new cheap televisions — and every house is buying, just to see the Queen on the telly!

It’s a beautiful setting for a story, and one that allows for many great jokes; the Doctor’s strong approval of television and the Detective Inspector’s amazement at seeing a colour television set being the stand-outs. Along with the Doctor and Rose, the narrative also follows the grotesque Eddie Connolly and his family — Jamie Foreman goes completely over-the-top playing a slightly violent, incredibly chauvinist idea of what a male Hyacinth Bucket might have been like in the fifties. I always love having strong guest characters, and seeing the effect that the Doctor and Rose have on their lives; to see the change on Eddie’s wife Rita (Debra Gillett) was very heart-warming. Meanwhile, at the electrics store, Ron Cook makes the rather culpable but very downtrodden Mr Magpie almost sympathetic. The Doctor comments at the end that “this is history, right here” — the house parties, watching the coronation on television, the normal people. It’s something worth saying, and ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ says it right, with great attention paid to getting the period details right, especially in the Connolly house.²

Euros Lyn is back in the director’s chair this week, and doing a marvellous job. His noir camera angles were brilliant, and one or two shots, such as seeing the Doctor’s through the window of the warehouse while he talks to the Detective Inspector, were particularly cool. And the Wire — an alien intelligence masquerading as a BBC continuity announcer — is inspired. Maureen Lipman plays the creature with relish and hilariously austere English, and while she perhaps said “I’m Hungryyyyyy” once or twice too often, the overall effect was brilliant.

But what I loved this week was the regulars. Not since ‘Tooth and Claw’ have we been able to just sit back, relax, and have fun with the Doctor and Rose. Both of them were fantastic this week; the Doctor got some great moments, none better than when he got knocked out mid-explanation. Let’s face it, he had it coming. The only weak spot in Tennant’s performance was his “nothing in the world can stop me now”³ moment. Having already done a bit of excellent shouting at the very shouty Mr Connolly, to be shouting about Rose being in trouble seemed misjudged. Some quieter anger would have been better — but then, the speech was quite long and over-written, and probably would have seemed a bit dull if it were played with quietness all the way through.

But let me finish by singing Rose’s praises. After perhaps one jealous moment too many, it looks like we’re back to normal, and thank goodness. It was awesome to see her walk into Magpie’s shop and go all Doctor-ish on him — I felt so proud. Of course, it didn’t work out so well in the end, but in fairness to her, if she’d had a sonic screwdriver,⁴ she probably would have been alright. That Doctor lives on easy street — he can wander in and do exactly the same, but they’re bound to stop before killing because he’s an alien, or because he’s carrying alien technology, or he’s got silly hair, or something.

1. People wondering how a monster can eat people without killing them clearly never heard the story about the wolf who swallowed people whole, but was cut open in his sleep, and then the people were freed and replaced with heavy rocks, and then he woke up, and felt crook, and went to the well for a drink and fell in and died on account of his being so heavy. I love fairy tales. People have also commented that Rose looked a bit like a wolf when her head started getting sucked into the telly. Coincidence? Well, yeah, probably. ↩
2. I’m no fifties scholar, I just watched Doctor Who Confidential and they said they did. Mark Gatiss certainly seemed pleased with it. ↩
3. Let’s hear that again. ↩
4. One of a few niggles this week — why does the Wire, on finding out that the Doctor’s armed and dangerous, proceed to let him go? Seemed odd. That’s not what I’d do if I were an insane alien intelligence trapped inside a television. And while we’re at it — how did the Doctor have time to collect all his equipment, run to the TARDIS, run out again and set it all up at Alexandra Palace when Magpie was screeching around corners in a van and got there at the same time? It’s been asked before, but dammit, it deserves to be. ↩

This entry was posted by the illustrious Tom Charman on Saturday, June 3rd, 2006. It concerns such pressing issues as Doctor Who, tv. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.