I really, really enjoyed this. A lot of people describe this as the epitome of a ‘mid’ episode but for me it was always one I fondly remembered and, after this rewatch, it’s definitely increased its standing in my mind.

The 1950s period detail and atmosphere is excellent. The living room of the Connellys, the street party, Magpie’s shop, the transmitter station, the cage where the faceless people are watched. It all feels so atmospheric. The dutch angles are maybe an odd choice but I really feel like they work in this story.

Another highlight is the opening scene with the Doctor and Rose. I know the smugness grates across this season for many – myself included – but when an episode is watched in isolation it actually isn’t too bad and this first scene with the Doctor emerging from the TARDIS on a moped and Rose in period costume is great fun. Not sure why it takes the Doctor so long to realise he’s not in New York but it’s still quite a fun gag.

The Wire is such a fun villain and impeccably played by Maureen Lipman who, bearing in mind she never goes beyond a head and shoulders on a screen, embues the character with proper menace. Yes, ‘Hungry!!’ doesn’t always work, especially as it continues but it works well enough at the start and the visual of people’s faces being sucked into the TV is pretty scary. As an example of Doctor Who making the ordinary scary it’s a good one and using an object that children would literally be watching the adventure on is a stroke of genius.

The visual of the faceless people is properly unsettling and the hand-clasping a simple yet scary image. I don't think the faces on the TV screens work quite as well and, if anything, I don't actually think it's needed; the faceless people are more than enough iconography.

Ron Cook is great as Magpie too. A man trapped by his own inadequacies and desperate for a way out. His disheveled appearance and performance are excellent. His character is mirrored, somewhat, in Eddie Connolly – another man who, despite looking more composed on the service than Magpie, is trapped by his inadequacies and therefore traps those around him to hide it. His betrayal of the families in the street, and then his own mother-in-law is his way of protecting his tiny kingdom. He is a man with no sense of self, only defined by his role as the head of the family.

And that final scene which upsets so many. I think it is played right. Eddie is a monster but he is weak. You can see how easily he is shouted down by the Doctor, how easily he kowtows to Rose’s authority about the flag. Even Rita is able to stand up to him. I know people read him as an abusive father and that is definitely there, especially in how Tommy reacts to him, but both are able to stand up to him, even before the end of the story comes round. I think it is more written as a dominant father who wields his power through a lot of shouting and aggressiveness. He isn’t presented as irredeemable though. He is presented as someone who can, pretty easily, be shouted down and be told to sod off. Tommy going after him just adds to the fact that he can be given a second chance and that, after those events, he may be able to see the error of his ways and get a second chance. In a show where the Doctor even tries to give Davros and the Master, second chances, why would he not wish for a fallible human to be given a second chance. The power has shifted to Tommy – he now has the ability to choose how their family functions and relates. I think that’s actually a pretty important message.

Historically, we are finally emerging from the shadow of World War 2. We are seeing technology entering homes and a nation coming together for the shared experience of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. This is still a society that dresses up for a special occasion, even if that special occasion is on a tiny, black and white screen in the corner of their living room. There is a joy permeating under the fear and tension of the faceless people which is released as soon as the Wire is defeated. This is also seen in Tommy and Rita’s sense of power and accomplishment when they break free of Eddie’s grip. They are indicative of a nation emerging finally from a period of fear into one of joy and looking forward.

This is a story which, to my mind, deserves an element of reappraisal.

📝5/10 = MIXED!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: the dangers of television! 

The Idiot’s Lantern transports us back to the early 50s, sometime before the coronation of Queen Elisabeth, in the infancy of commercial television sets. It’s the story of the Connolly family, led by the abusive Eddie Connolly, and an alien trying to invade Earth by possessing people through television.

The depiction of 50s family values and abusive fathers feels a bit heavy-handed. That being said, it does recieve a good payoff when Rita decides to essentially throw Eddie out and send Tommy away with the Doctor—well, until the very end, that is, where Rose persuades Tommy not to give up on his prick of a father.

The latter half of the episode is more focused on the alien invasion part, which isn’t anything too special but cleverly mixed with the breakthrough of television as an entire nation watches the Coronation. The climax at the TV tower, with the Doctor climbing to save the day, is a pretty exciting sequence.

I have to admit that seeing the Doctor and Rose in period-accurate get-ups and driving around on a Vespa is pretty cool. The return of the smugness between them is less so. I love how Ten puts Eddie in place by reacting to his bullying (a moment partly ruined by the fact that Rose tries to do the same). What annoys me is how leisurely the Doctor begins investigating before Rose loses her face, after which he goes on a furious rampage to save the day.

The supporting cast is one of the more unlikeable in New Who: I don’t sympathise with the Connolly family at all, even if the father is a major prick and one of the most unlikeable characters in Doctor Who history. Tommy is an annoying kid, but at least he makes for a good ally in the climax as Rose is incarcerated. The only supporting character I like is Mr. Magpie, as played by Ron Cook.

The Wire is a creepy villain. The nice lady speaking with her victims through the TV set is an effective idea, and Maureen Lipman’s performance perfects it. However, the “hungry!” catchphrase feels like too much of an attempt to make the wire stand out more and makes her less nuanced later on. The faceless people created by the Wire also make for quite creepy zombies.

Euros Lyn is a great director, so I don’t know why exactly he wanted to use so many Dutch angles in this episode. They are in every other shot, it feels like. Also, the simple suburban setting doesn’t really make this period piece justice.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• Is Gatiss trying to remake his VNA novel Nightshade with this one? Both stories feature TV programs and big research/TV stations as major plot elements.
• The Wire has a similar function and design as both the Library Robot in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and the Ambulance in Boom.

Another episode I consider legitimately offensive. And on top of that, it's f**king mid.

To put it bluntly, The Idiot's Lantern is not very good. It's a standard sci-fi story around televisions gone haywire - in hindsight the Giggle really is able to do what this episode was going for with it's focus on the first television broadcast much more efficiently. Idiot's Lantern and the woman in the TV are just plain annoying, though. That family that is the focus of the story is almost as unbearable as Maureen Lipman. I think Lipman is a fine actor, too, rather that she just was given a thankless role and had poor direction. It feels like the story taking place in the 50s was trivial and could have happened in any decade with television.

There's not much more to say on this episode. I often just skip it as it can be so loud and a bit of a nuisance with its noise. The dad is also really hard to watch. To this episode's credit, it is probably because it is a realistic take on how fascism grows in people - but the handling of this material is very clumsy and I feel as though the script needed a rewrite, while the actors needed better direction all around. Even the Doctor and Rose don't leave much of an impression on me here. Rose losing her face and the Doctor losing his mind in response should be a much bigger moment on the level of the Human Nature two-parter, and instead it kind of feels like a bit of a nothing moment. I should feel some catharsis at the Doctor standing up the the Dad and the Wire - instead of feeling nothing.

Weirdly enough, unlike others I don't hate this ending. Sure, the dad is a monster, but he is still Tommy's dad, and I don't hate the idea of Tommy being open to the idea of his dad reconciling with the family or redeeming himself potentially in the future. That's up to the man's victims whether that path is open and whether they want to continue a relationship with their, hopefully now former abuser - but it is their decision. Tommy being allowed to make it is his choice and I am not against the idea. It feels like an idea often unexplored in fiction (or at least not one done maturely all too often) so I don't hate that idea. Again, though, the execution feels quite lacking.

The first half of this story is much better than my memory (or fan wisdom) would have had me believe. The Doctor and Rose as detectives making house calls is a treat - its the first time that I feel their chemistry is quite as good as reputation would have you believe. It feels like Billie and David have at this point had a chance to truly get to know each other and get comfortable with each other's performances after being thrown into portraying a loving relationship between characters who already know each other deeply.

The show's defence of the mother and child who are victims of a horrible husband / father is pure Doctor Who. It feels inspiring as they are exactly the kind of voiceless people The Doctor was invented to defend. I also love the setting and costumes for Rose and The Doctor. When I was a young boy I remember being quite taken with Rose's pink dress and matching headband...!

The visual of missing faces and the concept behind the villain work well. However, The Wire unfortunately becomes relentlessly one note once her “HUNGRY” dialogue begins, randomly switching away from her established eloquent way of speaking. Once she enters this mode the episode veers into a black hole of forgettable-ness.