Last season, Mark Gatiss's The Unquiet Dead showed that you could incorporate elements of an old-fashioned Dr Who story into the context and sensiblity of the new series. Of all the series one episodes, The Unquiet Dead felt like it would be the one story most easily transplanted into a season of classic Dr Who and not feel radically out of place.

This year, Gatiss returns to that sensibility with The Idiot's Lantern.

And while all the elements of an old-fashioned Dr Who adventure were there--historical setting, monster in everyday things, aliens bent on world domination--I still felt as if The Idiot's Lantern were missing something. It's nothing I can put my finger on directly and say--yes, this is definitively what's wrong with the episode. Instead, it's just an overall feeling of the episode trying very hard but just not quite connecting in the way it could or should.

Part of that may be that it seems like a greatest hits of a lot of various Dr Who elements.

TARDIS lands in the right time but wrong place--check.

Alien is using a big historical event to cover its own agena--check.

The Doctor is the only one who recognizes the threat and can stop it--check.

Shoot, this one even borrowed elements from Terror of the Autons and Logopolis with images of the Doctor climbing up a broadcast tower. Yes, I'll give you that in both of those stories it was a radio tower and here's a TV transmission tower, but it still felt simliar enough to me.

The thing is, on paper, The Idiot's Lantern seemed to have a ton of potential. Here you have an almost Robert Holmes like twist with televisions turning nasty. The idea of an alien creature using the TVs during the queen's coronation to feed upon the unsuspecting masses is a great idea. But despite some really intersting effects and some memorable moments of victims with no faces, we're not quirte sure exactly what the overall purpose and agenda of the Wire is--I mean other to make speeches and cackle with laughter (seriously, she could be the Rani for all we know). And there were isolated scenes that worked well, such as the Doctor becoming angry once Rose falls victim to the Wire and the Doctor's charging into a situation and setting himself up immediately as an authority figure.

I think the biggest thing that didn't work was the family dynamic. The family where the grandmother has been taken over by the Wire and is hidden in the upstairs bedroom. I think part of that is that if the father is turning in his neighbors, why'd he take so long to turn in the grandmother? Other than setting it up so the Doctor and Rose see what's happened to the victims of the Wire, it makes little sense. Oh sure, it does set up the family conflict, but even that felt a bit stitled and forced. As we kept cutting back to the scenes of the faher blustering and being a blow-hard, I kept wondering if time wouldn't be better spent with the Doctor and trying to figure out just why the Wire needed to feed off the unsuspecting television viewers.

In many ways, The Idiots' Lantern is the first major mis-step of series two. It's not Boomtown bad, but it still left me with an empty feeling at the end of 45 minutes. I'd just watched an epiosde of Doctor Who and while I was mildly entertained, it just wasn't on par with the depths of School Reunion or Girl in the Fireplace. And maybe that's my fault since when I heard Mark Gatiss was writing it and that it'd be a historical story with a monster twist, I had high expectations for it. Maybe when I've watched it a few dozen more times, something more about it will sink in and I will find more to it.

Until then, I have to chalk it up as a lot of good idea that don't add up to a great whole.

The best thing I can say about "The Idiot's Lantern" is that the period set design was beyond reproach. Although I appreciate the effort and talent that goes into designing the set from the focus of a scene to the peripherals, I have never particularly watched the good Doctor for this reason (anyone who has treasured any Doctor Who episode from the 1960s onward might agree).

After a thrilling teaser, the episode proper begins with more or less a flashback to 'Tooth and Claw' earlier in the season (Doctor and Rose go to see a concert, miss the target) before they are drawn into a mystery involving an alien who lives in a television and derives nourishment and power by sucking peoples' souls (and, inexplicably, faces) into itself. The B Plot concerns a single family victimized by this alien and the wife's declaration of independence from her overbearing and socially-conscious husband.

This B Plot feels forced throughout the episode, especially when Rose's face gets injested by the alien in question. At that moment, Tennant's Doctor breathes fire, snapping that nothing will stop him in getting Rose back and vowing vengence with his eyes. The very next scene, the Doctor arrives at the family's home, burning with no-nonsense intensity, and has to then stand idly by while the father, son and wife have an extended dialogue at their front door. At no point did I truly expect Tennant to lean in, push the father aside, and say, 'There's more pressing matters here' - actually, that would have been nice - but Tennant's furious Doctor just stands there and lets the family go through its plays for power and understanding.

The A and B plots come together at the end quite cleverly, with the Doctor and Rose giving the son differing advice about the vanquished father (the Doctor, ever the loner, suggests the boy let his father go; Rose, with her respect for her father, recommends he chase after his dad - and he does, wisely). Prior to that, there is a fairly by-the-numbers chase scene across London to the high transmitter (ala 'Logopolis') to defeat the alien.

As mentioned by other reviewers for other shows, I am still pulling in vain for David Tennant to really put his teeth into the character of the Doctor. His heights equal those of all of his predecessors (ie, his confrontation with Rose in 'School Reunion', his sadness in 'Fireplace'), but they are few and far between. He reminds me of Peter Davison's Doctor with a bit of extra electricity, which should make him unpredictable and alien but instead make him come across a bit unfocused and inconsistent.

Although he is saving the day much more than Eccles' Doctor, Tennant's is doing so very, very, very easily ('New Earth', 'School Reunion'). One is reminded of the Tom Baker/Lalla Ward era, when John Nathan-Turner even opined that with a Time Lord and Time Lady, nothing has a hard solution.

And that is my ultimate gripe with this particular episode. The A Plot is linear to the extent that no surprises are revealed, except that it is not completey derailed by the B Plot.

Of course, I'll be watching next week.

Well...are we sitting comfortably? Good...I'll begin.

The Idiot's Lantern isn't really about aliens invading via our television sets. It's about human monsters, as Rita in the story observes, 'living under our very own roofs'. The episode is very much concerned with Britain of the '50s. Gatiss really does encapsulate the approaching floodtide of the bold, new Britain that would be ushered in with Wilson's Labour government in the early 60s and its focus on the 'white heat of technology'. He also cleverly lines up the paranoia of the 50s with the moral panics of the present day. Many of the debates are similar.

This is post-war, austerity Britain. You have to remember that many families were torn asunder by the Second World War and then forced back together again after VE day. This is Eddie Connelly's dilemma. He fights for the 'British' way of life and then returns home to find that Empire supposedly being infiltrated by Communist and Fascist and other 'alien' elements. The very enemy he defended the country against seems to him to have sunk its claws into his community. This is ' Churchill's England - not Stalin's Russia'. Or is it...in the mind of Eddie Connelly? Eddie's actions arise because he thought he was doing the 'right thing' through a very distorted view of his own patriotism. A final thread is also visually represented by the Doctor and Rose in their ' rock and roll' personas. Don't forget that rock and roll was perceived as yet another bad influence on the teenagers of the 50s and this is regularly iterated throughout the episode.

These themes are as relevant today as they have ever been when we see the BNP taking council seats because the Eddie Connellys of this world see a threat in anything that is 'other'. Hence, two very resonant scenes - the family all gathered round the TV and the Aunt of the family observes that Tommy is a 'Mummy's boy' and hopes that Eddie 'can beat it out of him' and the later scenes where Tommy turns on Eddie - where Gatiss cleverly uses the ' we fought for you' argument to allow Tommy to state his case against a rather brutal father. Having had a similar relationship to my own father, I really recognise the in-fighting in this family. These are the archetypical arguments of a 50s parent trying to stem the tide of 60s liberalism in the name of patriotism. Nothing much has changed, I'll warrant.

The meat of the episode for me is the relationship between Tommy, Rita and Eddie. It is as much about a young boy finding his own voice despite the threat of violence, possibly discovering his own sexuality, as well as an adult woman realising that the man who came home from the war is still fighting that war and still believes a woman's place is in the home as a subordinate. For me the episode triumphs with Rita's emancipation from Eddie. Yet, in an echo of 'Father's Day' (how we keep coming back to this episode!) Rose advises Tommy not to abandon his father. Eddie is not painted so black - there is hope for that relationship. It is a fitting resolution.

Thematically, Gatiss weaves in observations on fascism and communism and a direct link to classic 50s SF movies and television - 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' and 'Quatermass' are particular examples. as well as links to Who's own history with 'The Faceless Ones'. Indeed, there is also a visual link to 'Sapphire And Steel' with the faceless victims of the Wire and it captures some of the mood of that series. Other visual clues include the swastika style TV antennas to really underpin the message as well as Euros Lyn's slightly over used film noir composition and strange angles.

Symbolically, the disembodied faces are a representation of the Wire's appearance or projections into our outside world. The Wire represents the mistake of trying to deal with problems and anxieties in the outside world without coming to grips with them in the subconscious, interior world first. This relates to Tommy's relationship with Rita and Eddie. However hard Tommy tries to deal with a problem in the outside world (his father's contempt, his budding adulthood, his desire to be himself) it is made to recur in the threat of the Wire's subjugation. Tommy's diffculty in relating to his father is transfered to the Wire's manifestation on the TV screen. It is the Doctor who takes on the role of surrogate father that allows Tommy to become himself and help defeat the Wire. Rose then transfers her knowledge (from 'Father's Day') to Tommy in an effort to get him to connect to his own parent because she knows all about disconnection in the outside world..

The multi faces on the many TV screens in Mr. Magpie's shop are representative of the fragmenting of a fragile society. Individuals without voice, without the strength to argue with those that demand conformity ( Eddie and The Wire). I loved all the links to early television as this translates to a general fear of all that is new. People did really think that television would 'rot the brain into soup till it comes pouring out of your ears'. There is a fear of the unknown potential of the medium ably articulated here. The antennas become lightning rods for transmissions of a different kind. Bright serpents that come to steal the minds and bodies of the innocent. Lovely nods to early television shows such as Muffin The Mule and What's My Line as well as the landmark coverage of the Coronation.And to balance out the references to the past, Gatiss even throws in a nod to Kylie.

Ron Cook's marvellous Mr. Magpie is also another highlight. A wonderfully rich performance that details a man's journey, bird-like, from the earth to the sky above (the transmitter at Ally Pally). It is about his transcendence from misbegotten businessman to a sacrifical lamb who paves the way for the Doctor to defeat the Wire. Maureen Lipman's playing of the Wire was sublime. She got that Sylvia Peters BBC intonation just right and then added in the malevolence of the alien entity to the mix. Her 'feed me now...I'm hungry' will no doubt be echoed by many chldren up and down the land. It is also a playful acknowledgement of the alien plant from 'Little Shoppe Of Horrors' as well as a symbol of the oncoming explosion of the consumer society that would replace the austerity of 50s Britain.

Euros Lyn is now one of the top directors working on the show. His noirish sensibility and evocation of the period through pulp fiction and comic strips really comes across on the screen. It is a tad over-laboured but it makes the episode very distinctive.

Finally, we literally do see God Save The Queen...as the Doctor resigns the Wire to a Betamax video tape. The white heat of technology still-born with an obsolete recording format.Let us not forget that the current monarch became a constant in the life of 50s and 60s Britain. A figure that stands in the midst of continual upheaval. Her coronation was an act that reassured the populace that in the midst of turmoil there still would be one standard bearer. It is also symbolic of women achieving power in a very patriarchal society and Rita's dismissal of Eddie is yet another, domestic echo of this. It is all about renewal after a period of vulnerable uncertainty.

Well, what an utter delight that was. After the slightly mediocre Cyber-tale last week, we're back in the more than capable hands of Mark Gatiss. The man is a skilled, imaginative writer who loves to use the things around us and make them scary which is arguably a main staple of the show. Mark Gatiss just "gets" Doctor Who like RTD does and David Tennant "gets" the Doctor. The best episodes are always rollocking good adventures where you don't notice the direction or the writing until it's all over, and The Idiot's Lantern had this in spades.

To make television a possibly evil thing is a master-stroke. Nowadays, with every kid glued to their screens far too much, the demonisation of the familiar has chosen a perfect target. Of course, the underlying social comments are there to see for everybody - watch too much of it and it takes your personality away. Literally. Thank God for the Doctor and Rose. The first sight of Gran sans visage was shocking because it's such an unnatural thing to see - our faces are quite often intrisically linked to our personalities. It did put me in mind, however, of The Face from the Dick Tracy movie (if you've ever seen it, it was Madonna in the end, but I digress...) but this did not detract from the horror of The Faceless Ones (sorry), particularly when they advance on the Doctor in the cage.

Which brings me to David Tennant. This man can act. This man can act his socks off and shows a wonderful range of emotions with gravitas and pluck, often turning on a sixpence within the same scene. The bit where he confronts the bullying Dad and shouts at him after discussing telly with the boy is wonderful and made me realise why I fell in love with the character in the first place - he stands up to bullies big and small, be they meglomaniacs or weak shouty kings in their little castles. Perhaps this is another underlying message we could all do well to take note of. David Tennant really is the Doctor, and what's more he makes you believe it with every breath and reaction. There's no doubt about that. And for the first time since Tooth and Claw, Rose gets a better deal and is no longer sidelined or given bum lines. The focus is quite rightly back on the pair of them chiefly having fun and taking on the wrongs of the world with smile and spring in their step. Rose shows the pluck and the intelligence Billie embued her with in Rose and The Unquiet Dead. As I said last week, it's an absolute crime to underwrite for her so this week I was bouncing up and down with joy when she confronted first the Dad then Mr Magpie.

Maureen Lipman also was a pleasure to watch giving The Wire her all while treading the fine line of Doctor Who villiany without falling off one side into underplayed or the other into pantomime. She relished every single word and it showed. My parents gave wry smiles at her performance and when Muffin the Mule came up. Of course, they were born into that world and they commented on how accurate the whole feel was compared with their memories. Churchill was still PM when they born, which I'd never thought of before. You see, Doctor Who still educates! Still, it would have been nice to have seen The Wire materialise into the real world, but that's a tiny, tiny gripe and thinking about it more might have spoiled the whole TV effect of the episode.

This episode sees a marked upturn after last week, and I say Thank Goodness for that. Exciting, educating and enthralling, it was an episode even Lord Reith would surely have been proud knowing the BBC had produced it. Well done, all. Now bring on the Ood!!

I personally don't believe that there is such a thing as a 'perfect' Doctor Who story. And that's fine with me. Call it 'the Hand of Sutekh effect'. Or maybe 'the Magma Creature syndrome'. Doctor Who can be brilliant, great, good, average and occasionally well dodgy...but it is seldom dull!

So I like to refer to the stories that *really* work for me big time as "nigh on perfect." Ridicule is nothing to be scared of, so I'd give 'Enlightenment' as an example here. I loved this story on first viewing as a kid and many subsequent viewings have not withered it's appeal for me. Perfect? No. Nigh on perfect? For me, absolutely.

Well, add another story to the list, because I thought 'The Idiot's Lantern' was sublime. Where to start? Well, as it's called 'Doctor Who', I'll start with the Doctor. I've found David Tennant hugely appealing so far, and I would say that this was his best performance as the Doctor to date. At the start of the episode, we see his humour and his infectious delight in his travels, even when he's got the wrong time and place...again. As the story progresses, we see extreme anger, sadness, warmth and a strong determination to 'sort things out'. A quirky hero who *obviously* has a betamax video recorder. 'Course he does. Great stuff, Mr Tennant.

I've said before that I think the programme works particularly well when it is confidently mixing 'light' and 'shade'. I loved the sequence where the Doctor furiously shouts down Eddie (who is clearly happier bullying women and children), then we see Tommy's faceless grandmother (shivery echos of 'Sapphire & Steel') and then the Doctor typically tries to talk himself out of a tight spot...and gets one heck of a right hook before he can really begin. Dramatic, creepy, funny...my kind of 'Who'.

The most outstanding scene for me was probably the one with the faceless Rose; beautifully acted, scored and directed (welcome to the elite of superb 'Who' directors, Euros!) Tennant's portrayal of anguish and fury is great here, and this image of Rose was arguably the most disturbing moment of the new series since 'The Empty Child'. Bet it scared the kids...I found it pretty horrible myself.

So, Mark Gatiss has 'done the double'...I was impressed by 'The Unquiet Dead', but would rate this higher. The atmosphere of an austere post-war Britain was evoked marvellously, and the performances were excellent. Ron Cook in particular stood out as the rather tragic Magpie and Maureen Lipman was great as the Wire. Lovely enunciation! (Blimey, even the dog on the sofa was spot on!)

Lovely details abound. Like the DI with his name written in his collar; Like the policeman curiously wrapping his hand around his elbow; like the fact that 'Magpie Electricticals' becomes a, ahem, little shop of horrors. ("Feed me!) I thought it was also the best Rose story of the season so far.It's Rose that figures out a lot of what is going on here, and almost as spine-tingling as her featureless face was the scene where we see her stuck inside a television, mouthing "Doctor!" You see the Doctor's devastated face reflected onto the screen here, and suddenly, after weeks of Reinettes and Sarah-Janes and Mickeys, you see their bond back as strong as ever. Well played again, Billie Piper.

I liked the scripts generosity of spirit too. Of course, Eddie is the titular 'idiot', but Rose knows about parental loss and nudges Tommy (another nice performance here) in the right direction at the end. After all, these events might possibly make Eddie a better person...

So...nigh on perfect. (I do wish they'd kept Mark Gatiss' line about the Doctor being nervous of transmitters because he "fell off one once", though)

That'll be a 10/10 from me then...

As a Doctor Who fan, IВ’m sure Mark Gatiss was delighted to be asked to write an episode of Series Two. Whether he was quite so thrilled when he found out where his contribution featured in the pecking order, IВ’m not so sure. The midpoint episode, The IdiotВ’s Lantern was coming hot on the heels of the CybermenВ’s return, plus an episode from the writer of last yearВ’s fansВ’ No.1 story, plus the high-profile return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9. It was a tough position, the most difficult of the season, but Gatiss filled it admirably with a lovingly-crafted story, full of imagery and strong performances, especially from the three lead players.

Structurally, The IdiotВ’s Lantern wasnВ’t a million miles away from GatissВ’s well-received contribution to Series One, The Unquiet Dead. Both were set in EarthВ’s past, they featured an alien presence with designs on the planetВ’s population for their own needs and also called for a lot of computer-generated flashing lights! Both were also adorned with a cracking pre-credits sequence (although, as I seem to point out every week, their excellence is now almost a given) complete with an iconic image В– in this case, a fork of strobe light protruding from a 1950s TV set to suck the face from its viewer. Great stuff! Usual great work from The Mill.

Billie Piper in her flowing pink dress looked fantastic and she really appeared to be enjoying herself В– as did David Tennant. I think the relationship between Rose and The Doctor benefited greatly from MickeyВ’s departure (although, as a continuity fan, it might have been nice had he merited at least a mention in passing!). The old adage В“twoВ’s companyВ” was never more applicable than to Rose and The Doctor. It still doesnВ’t have the intensity of the relationship pre-regeneration, but we have six more episodes this season В– we might get there.

I thought the core of the story В– The Wire using the TV sets of the nation to В“feed offВ” the population В– was a strong one, and perfectly paced, which isnВ’t easy in this single-episode format. Again, itВ’s worth stressing how difficult it is to build up characterisation in such a short space of time. Russell T Davies is exceptional at this aspect, and Gatiss followed suit here. The Connolly family were an important part of the story, but a poor writer would never be able to make you care about them in one episode. Gatiss managed that, and was able to weave in a subtext about an authoritarian post-war patriarch, who essentially ruled the roost by fear В– a subtext still applicable in many family dynamics today.

Maureen Lipman as The Wire was an inspired piece of casting В– can you imagine anyone else playing that role? She portrayed it absolutely perfectly. Lipman has the gravitas to carry off the part of a 50s BBC announcer, but brought out the dry humour in the script by not sending it up, and also delivered no little menace. A fabulous performance. Piper and Tennant were also excellent, with the former delivering her finest episode of the season. Or, to be more accurate, Rose was given a better slice of the action than has been the case in every other episode except New Earth. Now itВ’s В“just the two of usВ” again, I expect The Dynamic Duo to grow ever stronger together until the seasonВ’s end.

There were plenty of good moments along the way. I donВ’t recall The Doctor being laid out by a punch too often В– he took a decent slap from Jackie in Aliens Of London, of course В– and I found that rather refreshing, showing itВ’s not all psychic paper and sonic screwdrivers. He can be floored by a whack like everyone else. To use a footballing metaphor, it was Route One . . .

Rose falling victim to The Wire was obviously a strong part of the tale, as was The Doctor seeing her face В“trappedВ” on one of the TV sets. The scene of all the stolen faces on the bank of screens was quite creepy В– rather reminiscent of the denouement to The Five Doctors, when the Time Lords seeking immortality were entombed for all eternity . . . being buried alive taps into a natural fear of most people, and that was the sort of vibe given here.

And, of course, it was an exciting climax. The Doctor chasing the unfortunate Mr Magpie and The Wire up the transmitter mast of Alexandra Palace was good fun, and really well shot. Imagine what that would have looked like on the showВ’s previous budget . . .

There are fans who donВ’t like Doctor Who historicals period, so The IdiotВ’s Lantern В– like The Girl In The Fireplace В– wonВ’t take top rank when the post-season gongs are handed out. This is an individualВ’s review, though, and, for this individual idiot, Episode Seven shone brightly on his lantern. Like Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss is a safe pair of hands for a Doctor Who script, with an appreciation of the showВ’s rich history. I look forward to his third contribution to the series.