10 Most Underrated Doctor Who Episodes
2. The Idiot’s Lantern
Doctor Who is versatile enough to be grim and serious one week, and light and fluffy the next. Sometimes, it's little more than a bit of light Saturday evening entertainment about a flying telephone box and badly made-up aliens. It's pure pantomime sometimes, and that isn't always a bad thing.
For example, The Idiot's Lantern.
Set during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler must figure out how newly-installed televisions are stealing people's faces. This brings them face to stolen face with the Wire, an intergalactic entity played stupendously by Maureen Lipman.
Lipman hams it up to the nines for this part, going full-on camp villain complete with an overzealous evil laugh. She puts everything into her performance, and it is a joy to behold.
The Idiot's Lantern is also one of David Tennant's best Doctor performances too, running the gamut from cheesy American accents to intimidating rage to despair at the loss of Rose, with a pinch of action hero thrown in to cap things off.
It doesn't bring anything philosophical to the table or put your favourite characters through a meaningful arc, but The Idiot's Lantern does provide a solid 45 minutes of well-crafted entertainment, and that's more than acceptable.