A messy script ridden with plot holes, some dodgy CGI work and some OTT acting. That is some of the complaints that I have heard about The Idiot’s Lantern in the wake of its broadcast.

While I agree that there are some problems, it’s not my first reaction when I was watching it. With this sandwiched between the high octane Age of Steel and the likely grimness of The Impossible Planet, I found this story this is an enjoyably spooky tale with an epic climax.

The fun starts after the title sequence when we see David Tennant and Billie Piper arriving in festively 50s mood with the scooter, the Doctor’s hair and an outfit that the 50s would be proud of. It’s even better when they realise that they are in London rather than New York. Indeed, Tennant is now settling into the part really well and we’re starting to see him really relaxing into the part. There have been some complaints that his shouting at Eddie was over-the-top, but I thought it was fine.

We get some brilliant guest performers, including the return for a proper villain in the form of the Wire. An alien that is using the form of a television announcer to feed off people’s mental energy to form a whole body again. This role is played with great gusto by Maureen Lipman, who is clearly enjoying the part, and has a fantastic sparkle of evil about her.

We get some other good guest performances, Jamie Foreman’s role as the nightmare father is well realised including the revelation about him while the role of temporary companion falls to the bright Tommy, sympathetically played by Rory Jennings. While Ron Cook might feel like the token part in Doctor Who, man who is being possessed by aliens, he does this with some conviction.

I do have some concerns about the acting. Debra Gillett was probably a little stereotyped as the typical 50s suppressed housewife while all of the other supporting characters just feel like stereotypes, with the heavy, the world weary detective and the dotty old Nan and Aunt. However, these complaints are probably a little harsh given that the script focuses on other characters.

The script has some problems, nobody knows exactly what the Wire was. We can only assume from the script that it’s some sort of alien but there is no back story behind the creature. While the sequence in the shop is creepy and emotional, why did the faces appear on the television.

The motives of the Wire are questionable. If it just wanted a new body, why didn’t it justtake over the form of Magpie and carve out a new existence? Why does it need to go on the convoluted method of sucking the mental energy from the population to achieve this goal. The other obvious question is why does the Wire exactly want to take over the world? This isn’t something that isn’t explained aside from making for a good story.

While the design of the fifties felt very authentic, some of the CGI elements aren’t up to The Mill’s high standards. Previous efforts to create monsters without a face, you have the Shape from Sapphire and Steel or the nun without a face in an Armchair Thriller all those years ago were done without the aid of computer generated effects and looked a lot better for it.

Unfortunately, the remnants of the Wire look like a very bad piece of CG work rather than the stuff of nightmares. Indeed, the sequence set in the cage where the creatures have all been given a prosthetic and shot in dark conditions look a lot better than the GC faces.

However the computer generated effects surrounding the climax on the top of Alexandra Palace is genuinely stunning and is very reminiscent of some of the best effects used in the series.

It might be easy to knock The Idiot’s Lantern but, given the depth of some of the previous stories, I enjoyed the light relief that this episode provided given the heavier stories likely to follow

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