The Idiot's Lantern

173 – "The Idiot's Lantern"
173 – "The Idiot's Lantern"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
	Doctor David Tennant – Tenth Doctor;
	Companion Billie Piper – Rose Tyler;
	Others Maureen Lipman – The Wire; Ron Cook – Mr. Magpie; Jamie Foreman – Eddie Connolly; Debra Gillett – Rita Connolly; Rory Jennings – Tommy Connolly; Margaret John – Grandma; Sam Cox – Detective Inspector Bishop; Ieuan Rhys – Crabtree; Jean Challis – Auntie Betty; Christopher Driscoll – Security Guard; Marie Lewis – Mrs Gallagher;
Production
Directed by	Euros Lyn
Written by	Mark Gatiss
Script editor	Simon Winstone
Produced by	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies; Julie Gardner
Music by	Murray Gold
Production code	2.7
Series	Series 2
Running time	45 minutes
First broadcast	27 May 2006
Chronology
← Preceded by; "The Age of Steel"	Followed by →; "The Impossible Planet"
	List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Idiot's Lantern" is the seventh episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 27 May 2006 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.

The episode is set in London in 1953, at the time of the coronation of Elizabeth II. In the episode, the incorporeal alien the Wire (Maureen Lipman) intends to regain a physical body by consuming enough energy from the minds of the coronation's television audience.