User Reviews

I think this episode is more unpopular than it deserves. I found a lot of it pretty good with a mixture of fun and some tougher drama which is well acted and with some spooky elements to enjoy.

It is certainly not the greatest story as the way the plot is carried out is not that convincing and the cries of "hungry" and "feed me" etc are a bit silly and annoying. The reactions of people and the authorities are also not that convincing.

On the plus side most of the episode is entertaining. I thought the boy was a well acted and endearing character and the 1953 Coronation setting was a nice aspect. The humour is very good in places and the subplot of the bullying father and struggles of his wife and son is quite affecting and touching. The faceless people are done well and are suitably creepy. Rose being attacked and the Doctor's reaction provide quite powerful moments. Maureen Lipman is perfect for her role as the TV face of the adversary despite it not being the best idea for depicting the threat. The idea of a villain using a surge in TV viewing to gain power from a TV mast is perfectly OK but it is just not entirely written in the most convincing way by Mark Gatiss. It could have been done better. But it is not bad at all in my opinion.

The human drama, creepiness and entertainment are fine, it just falls short on being a believable story overall. It is an acceptable filler episode, flawed in terms of how the plot is developed but quite fun.

My rating: 7/10.

The Doctor and Rose hoping to arrive in New York to see Elvis perform instead find themselves in London circa 1953, where they stumble on a plot to take the faces off of various Londoners. It's not as nearly as grotesque as the previous sentence implies, as the aforementioned faces are just kind of erased off via television sets. It all makes sense upon watching the show, I promise. Well if the last 2 episodes reminded me a bit of "Sliders", this one definitely had the feel of "Shapphire and Rose". Of course, enjoying that late, lamented show, I was definitely tickled by this one. Good acting by all (save for a few bit actors), splendid costume and set design, witty banter, and an intriguing plot all combine to make an amusing and highly watchable episode. Even if the bit of social commentary is a bit daft and it's full of plot holes.

My Grade: B-

I remember looking forward to this since it was written by THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN'S Mark Gatiss who wrote the previous years story featuring Charles Dickens and gas zombies . But after seeing the episode I felt rather disappointed and it's down to one very simple reason . The entire plot is summed up in the pre title sequence . After this - which I do agree is effective enough - we still have to endure a story which we know will end up with the Doctor defeating the alien and it's just a question of how . There's little surprise involved and this week's obligatory dysfunctional family subplot is more irritating than usual .

There is one other aspect conspicuous by its absence and that is Gatiss is a big fan of the QUATERMASS serials . For some reason the story is set at the Queen's coronation which was no doubt a big national event at the time but surely 1950s television was the decade where Nigel Kneale as a household name . Imagine if the audience had been watching an episode of QUATERMASS ? Wouldn't that have been a brilliant post modernist tour de force ?

Most people will tell you that a director on a television show cannot really make an impact, since all they do is run on set, take charge of the crew, and finish up the episode in less than a week. Due to this rushed process, television directors, supposedly, are restricted in terms of creativity, but "The Idiot's Lantern" is proof that this isn't necessarily true. Director Euros Lyn, also responsible for great episodes like "The Unquiet Dead" and "Tooth and Claw", makes this episode extremely entertaining with his visual style. "The Idiot's Lantern" might have been a fairly boring episode otherwise, disregarding the witty dialogue, the script wasn't exactly perfect. Inventive, zany cinematography make this episode a pleasure to look at. An inspired portrayal of the Doctor from Tennant and some witty dialogue make up for a pretty weak story and make this episode quite enjoyable. It's hardly the greatest episode, but it's good enough.

Letter Grade: B-

Mark Gatiss was always a little hit and miss when it came to his Doctor Who scripts, I found, and I'm afraid that, despite some interesting moments, "The Idiot's Lantern" is one that can be considered a bit of a damp squib.

Heading to the early 50's in a bid to see The King, instead they land in London preparing for a new Queen. Television sets are becoming popular in people's homes as they want to watch the Coronation - but several North London households are hiding a secret, faceless family members, caused by their suspiciously low-priced televisions from Magpie Electrics.

To be clear, I don't think that "The Idiots Lantern" is a bad episode, just that it's a bit underwhelming. Mostly I think this stems from the villain. Ron Cook's Mr Magpie is OK, but the reluctant accomplice comes rather soon after Colin Spaull's Mr. Crane in the Cybermen double bill. Magpie is more tortured, but still the similarities are present. Then we have the real bad guy, Maureen Lipman's The Wire. (Sadly short on references to McNulty or Stringer Bell). Whereas the idea of a character on a TV talking back to you has the potential to be a bit creepy, the actual performance is played for knowing laughs a little too much and the "Hungry... Hungry" refrain is too bizarre and too little unsettling. Add into that the Connolly family, and boorish patriarch Eddie, played by television staple Jamie Foreman, who again are nicely played - if not particularly memorable characters and you're left with an episode that doesn't add up to very much.

The Doctor and Rose do have some nice interactions though, particularly a funny gag about Rose's mum and sailors and you get to see his anger (again) when Rose falls foul of the Wire's power. It's odd, but once you know it was written with Ecclestone's Doctor in mind, it does start to feel a little more understandable.

Again, it's not a "bad" episode - it's just an underwhelming one.

I get that maybe other ones may have worse plots, but for me the script felt underdeveloped and I immediately thought it was a first draft. For example when David Tennant yells at the dad I felt that was suddenly and random and just shoved in there because 'oh ye the doctor good guy'. Everything felt so fast paced, and not in a good way, in a bad way.

Now this is one of those episodes that scared me to death when I was a kid, so it immediately a good Doctor Who episode. As an adult it's a little less interesting but still leaves you glued to the screen (Yes you heard me). All in all a different type of doctor who episode that can be watched 2 or maybe 3 times a decade but not one of those ones you can watch over and over again

As David Tennant starts to get to grips with the role of the Doctor, he seems to have created the character anew in the same way as Patrick Troughton did following William Hartnell. All fans have to accept now that this shares a name and concept with the old series but nothing more, and that is a great strength.

The Doctor and Rose arrive in London in 1953 dressed for their expected visit to Las Vegas in 1958! It is a great visual joke with Rose looking like an extra from Grease and The Doctor sporting a superb DA hairstyle as he exits the TARDIS on a scooter! It turns out that someone is tampering with history. As Rose realises, there are just too many televisions for the following day's coronation. There are also people being dragged out of their homes by the police hidden under blankets. It turns out that the old tale of television sucking your brains out is all too true!! The Wire, played by a splendidly over the top Maureen Lipman, lives off of the mental energy of other lifeforms and intends to use the Coronation to feast enough to bring about the return of her corporeal form. The adventure is a typically odd Mark Gatiss story that plays like a restrained version of his own 'League of Gentlemen'. With humour and an ending with a definite nod to the Fourth Doctor this is great fun. This series just maintains its high standards. The supporting cast is uniformly good with Jamie Foreman giving an excellent performance as a typical 1950's father.

This episode was great but something felt really off about this episode and I can't describe it what it was.

An early (1953) TV feed but it's not particularly nourishing, about an alien (the Wire) in the telly that is finely tuned and flourishing. It takes the face, of all who place, their ugly mugs before it (turning one into a stem), with a magpie in assistance acting like a kind of conduit. The Queens big day, what will they say, if all does not go ace, as the Doctor clambers up the spire of Alexandra Palace (it's not ace by the way, filler episodes set on earth in presentish times usually aren't).

Remember the Dickens episode in the first season? Well, The Idiot's Lantern marks the return of writer Mark Gatiss to the series with another quirky, inventive tale, one that has a bit of social critique to it: it's all about the negative influence of television.

Back on normal Earth, the Doctor and Rose head for what they think is 1958 Las Vegas, only to realize they're in good old England a few years before that. The Queen's imminent coronation is shaping up to be a big event, followed all around the country via television. Only something seems to be out of the ordinary: as Rose points out, there are a few too many TV sets available for the time period, and police officers hiding under blankets who drag away random people is a strange sight. And what if the old story of TV sucking your brain out were true? Yep, it's an ordinary day for the Doctor...

Hitting the right balance between funny and creepy, Gatiss' script is everything a good Doctor Who story should be: entertaining, suspenseful, magical and quintessentially British. The villainous Wire, played by Maureen Lipman, is a memorable creation that is bound to give viewers of a certain age bad dreams related to television, and the inventive way the plot works around an established historic event is wonderfully mad and brilliant. The best bit, however, has to be at the beginning of the episode, when Rose and the Doctor step out of the TARDIS in perfect American '50s attire. Who would have thought David Tennant could make a good Fonz?

Now I tend to be very generous when it comes to my reviews, pains me to say it but I really don't like the Idiot's Lantern. When I read it had Margaret John and Maureen Lipman I thought 'here we go.' Wrong! this is the first nu Who let down.

The positives to start with, the imagery is really good, it looks impressive, the sets and attention to detail excellent, the backdrop of the Coronation is a goody, I love the idea of the celebrations and those gorgeous Street parties. I like the re-styling of Rose and the Doctor, and the Connolly's house looks fantastic. Jamie Foreman is actually good playing Eddie 'the bully' Connolly, Rory Jennings 'Tommy' is possibly the best one in it.

The downsides, it is just so dull, it is so slow and uninteresting. Maureen Lipman, technically a British institution is criminally underused, what a waste of her talents. It's pretty hard to concentrate on because it's just so flat.

4/10 it's a shambles.

The story of the

I've been a little disappointed with the last couple of weeks of Doctor Who, the Cybermen story just didn't seem to cut it for me, especially after The Girl in the Fireplace, but The Idiot's Lantern just completely redeemed the series for me. I thought the way that this episode was put together was absolutely amazing, I'm a bit of an obsessive when it comes to 50s culture and music and stuff, and this managed to pull it off brilliantly. Maureen Lipman was fantastically cast as The Wire, she actually seemed to be like a genuine 1950s style television announcer. Mark Gatiss of "League of Gentleman" fame did an absolutely fantastic job of writing this episode, it was brilliantly done, enough to terrify millions of small kids into not watching TV for fear of having their faces sucked off!!! I thought David Tennant was amazing in this episode, as ever. He just seems to get better for me the further this series progresses, and The Idiots Lantern was no exception. His emotional range in this episode was superb, especially in the scene where he starts shouting and bawling at Eddie. Billie Piper was also great last night, I'm not particularly a big fan of hers but she excelled herself last night. Brilliant episode, lets just hope the rest of the series is at the same standard!!!

I somewhat enjoyed Gatiss' "The Unquiet Dead" from last series. The production values were good, the acting was good, and the writing wasn't bad either. In "The Idiot's Lantern," that is not the case. While Tennant and Piper were good, the Wire was a horrible villain and her constant repetition of "Hungry! Hungryy!" makes the viewer uncomfortable. Coupled with the disorienting camera angles, The Idiot's Lantern becomes something that's just hard to sit through. I really don't have much to say about this episode other than it was something I'd rather not watch again and an episode that I would never show to a non-Who fan. Mark Gatiss has penned some nice scripts: The Unquiet Dead, Robot of Sherwood, and Cold War were all pretty good, but The Idiot's Lantern was just hard to watch. I'm not sure if that's more on the director or the writer, but I do not recommend this episode at all. 5/10