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Original Transmission
Cast
Crew
Plot Outline from Wikipedia In the middle of a rain storm, Mr Magpie, the owner of Magpie Electricals, does his books while on the black and white television set in the background a female continuity announcer announces the end of the day's programming from Alexandra Palace. Finding he is £200 overdrawn, he mutters that he needs a miracle. Nearby in the same neighbourhood, the Connolly family are listening to the radio. As Rita, the mother, works at a sewing machine, Tommy, the teenage son, asks his father, Eddie, about getting a television set. Eddie replies that they may get one for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Tommy's grandmother tells him that she has heard that television rots people's brains. Eddie goes out, passing by Magpie's, but does not notice a pink streak of what looks like lightning strike the television aerial above the store. Magpie is woken by the voice of the television continuity announcer, who now speaks directly to him. She asks him if he is sitting comfortably, then tendrils of pink energy lash out from the television screen, latching onto his head. Magpie begins to scream as his face stretches towards the television, and the announcer begins to laugh diabolically… Rose steps out of the TARDIS in a pink skirt and blue jacket, excited about seeing Elvis Presley perform. The Tenth Doctor rides out on a blue Vespa scooter, wearing a white helmet over his Teddy Boy quiff and sunglasses. They set down the street, ostensibly to see Presley perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York, until they notice a double-decker bus and the many Union Flags hanging outside the houses on the street. The two then realise, to the Doctor's chagrin, that they are actually in London.
The Connollys watch Muffin the Mule on their new television set. Eddie comments on the "realism" of the new technology, while Rita and Tommy seem nervous. Rita is worried about her mother, remarking about her face before Eddie cuts Rita off. From Grandma's room, they hear a steady rapping. The Doctor and Rose pass by Magpie's van as he unloads television sets to the various houses on Florizel Street. After they find out that it is 1953, on the eve of the Coronation, Rose notices that every house along the street seems to have a television aerial, which is unusual. Magpie says that it is not unusual around here, since he is selling the sets for £5 each. Suddenly, they hear a cry for help, and see two men usher Mr Gallagher out of his house and into a car, hidden beneath a blanket. The men brush off the Doctor's questions by saying it is police business. They drive off. Tommy has come out into the street as well. He tells Rose that this is happening all over the place — people turning into monsters — but is quickly called back into his house by an angry Eddie. The Doctor and Rose ride after the car on the Vespa, but the car drives into a warehouse, the wooden gates closing after them and a fruit stall set up so that it appears to be a dead end.
Magpie speaks to the television sets in his shop, saying that he has finished "it" as instructed. He presents what appears to be a portable television set. The continuity announcer appears on the screen again; Magpie pleads with her to release him: her presence is burning him from the inside. She tells him that the time is almost ripe. Tommy climbs the stairs to Grandma's room, but before he can go in, Eddie sternly calls him away. Tommy protests that they cannot just lock Grandma away, but Eddie yells to both him and Rita that he is talking. As the two are cowed into silence, the doorbell rings: it is the Doctor and Rose. Using the Doctor's psychic paper to pose as a representative from the government, the two barge in. The Doctor quickly takes control of the situation and persuades Eddie to start putting up decorative flags while he tries to question Tommy and Rita. Rita begins to sob, and as Rose comforts her, Eddie becomes suspicious of the two travellers. He yells that this is his house and when the Doctor interrupts, tries to cut him off by saying, as before, that he is talking. However, the Doctor just yells back that he is not listening and instead demands to know what is going on. As they hear the raps from Grandma's room above, Tommy tells them about people who start changing, and their families keeping it a secret. Somehow, the police find out, and show up to take them away.
Tommy takes them to Grandma's room. Her face is gone, completely devoid of any features. Scanning her with his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor finds barely any neural activity left, like someone has wiped her brain clean. Suddenly the police burst into the house. When the Doctor tries to fast-talk them, one of them punches him out. They take Grandma away. The Doctor revives quickly and gives chase, Rose following behind. However, she pauses in the living room when she sees pink electricity crawling over the television set, and the Doctor has no choice but to ride off without her. Rose examines the back of the set and sees the pink energy crackle over the cable to the aerial, then fade away. Eddie chases Rose out of his house. The police car disappears into the same street, but when the Doctor sees the same workmen at the wooden door, he realises, admiringly, how they decoyed him. He enters the warehouse through a side gate, and finds over a dozen of the blank-faced people locked up, their hands clenching and unclenching robotically. He goes in to examine them, but is interrupted by the police.
Meanwhile, Rose goes to Magpie's shop and asks why he is selling the television sets so cheaply. The announcer appears on one of the sets, crying out that she is hungry. Magpie brushes it off as a television programme, and says he is selling the sets cheaply as a patriotic duty. Rose, however, points out that something is happening out there and the common factor is the presence of a television set. The woman on the screen starts talking to Rose, to her surprise. Rose asks who she is, and the announcer introduces herself: she is the Wire... and she is hungry. The energy tendrils lash out towards Rose, drawing her in. She cries to Magpie for help, but he simply observes, with some regret, that twenty million people will be watching the Coronation. Detective Inspector Bishop interrogates the Doctor, who plays on Bishop's unhappiness at merely covering the disturbances up instead of solving them. The Doctor soon persuades Bishop that he can help, and so Bishop tells him what the police know. Bishop explains that the transformations began about a month ago, spreading out from North London to all over the city, but a large number in Florizel Street. At that point, another policeman brings in Rose, her features wiped clean like the others. The Doctor is furious that whoever did this just took Rose's face and left her on the street, and swears that no power on Earth can stop him from ending this. It is the day of the Coronation, and a group of friends gather at the Connollys' house to watch it on television. The Doctor and Bishop show up at the door, and the Doctor asks Tommy for details on what happened inside the house. Eddie comes out, angrily saying that they can handle this themselves; he has a reputation to maintain. Tommy realises that it was Eddie who informed on Grandma and the others to the police. Rita tells Tommy to go with the Doctor, then tells Eddie that there was a monster under their roof — but it was not her mother.
Tommy tells the Doctor that Grandma was just watching the television that night, and the Doctor makes the connection with all the aerials along the street. They rush to Magpie's shop and break in. The Doctor searches and finds the portable television set: made by human hands but not of human design. The sonic screwdriver also picks up another power source in the room — and as he scans for it, the faces of those transformed, including Rose and Grandma, appear on the television screens around them. Rose's face silently mouths the Doctor's name, and the Doctor assures her that he is on his way. Magpie appears, and the Doctor demands to know who is in charge. The Wire flickers into life on the screen, still using the image of the woman announcer, briefly even turning into a colour signal. She explains that her people executed her, but she managed to escape in this form, fleeing across the stars. She is now trapped in the television set, but once she has gorged herself on enough human minds, she will be able to manifest in a corporeal form. The Doctor realises, however, that she is still not strong enough, which is why she needs the portable television set. It will turn a large transmitter into a receiver, allowing her to reach every television set simultaneously. The Wire starts to consume Tommy, Bishop and the Doctor, but notices the Doctor struggling to work his sonic screwdriver. Realising that the Doctor is armed, she releases them. The three fall to the floor, the Doctor and Tommy merely unconscious, but Bishop transformed. The Wire orders Magpie to bring the portable set near, and transfers herself into it. Magpie brings the set to his van, and drives off towards what the Doctor says is the largest transmitter in North London: Alexandra Palace. The Doctor and Tommy wake up. When he finds out they are in Muswell Hill, the Doctor deduces where Magpie must be heading. The Doctor gathers various components from Magpie's shop, going back to the TARDIS to grab one more item before he and Tommy run for Alexandra Palace, assembling the device on the way.
As the nation watches the Coronation on television, Magpie climbs up towards the transmitter tower, the Wire urging him on. The Doctor and Tommy fool their way past a guard with the psychic paper, which the Doctor then checks, noticing that it identified him as the King of Belgium. The two reach the control room at Alexandra Palace, plugging in the device. The Doctor tells Tommy to leave it switched on as he grabs a coil of copper wire from a shelf and heads for the tower, trailing the wire all the way. The Doctor climbs after Magpie, but Magpie plugs the portable set into the tower, and the tendrils of energy crackle out across London as the Wire begins to feast on everyone watching. The energy stabs at the Doctor as well, but his rubber soles insulate him. Despite the Wire's demands, Magpie refuses to kill the Doctor, whimpering that he only wants peace. The Wire obliges Magpie by consuming him, his body vanishing in a burst of energy. The Doctor tells the Wire that she has overextended herself, and plugs the copper wire into the portable set. However, the device overloads, and the Wire mocks the Doctor's plan. Tommy quickly replaces the burnt out vacuum tube on the device and plugs it in. The tendrils of energy are drawn back into the tower, releasing her intended victims and restoring her previous ones. The Wire screams, and the portable set goes dead. The Doctor returns to the control room, and smugly tells Tommy that he turned the transmitter back into a receiver and trapped the Wire in a makeshift video cassette recorder. "She" is now trapped on a Betamax cassette. The Doctor and Tommy return to the warehouse, where Tommy is reunited with Grandma and the Doctor with Rose. Rita throws Eddie out of the house, and he leaves as the street is celebrating the Coronation. The Doctor gives his scooter to Tommy (but tells him he should keep it locked up for a couple of years), and tells Rose that the Wire is trapped on the video recording, but to be safe, he will record over it. Tommy is glad to see his father leave, but Rose persuades Tommy to go after Eddie — he may be an idiot, but he is still his father. Tommy was clever enough to save the world, so he should not stop there. As Tommy walks after Eddie and helps him with his suitcase, the Doctor and Rose toast each other with soft drinks.
Analysis from Cuisle There was a lighter look to this episode than others so far. Possibly
because most of the action took place during the day, in June, and
with a lot of exterior work. The set was a triumph of BBC design.
The street scenes and the interiors of the working class terraced
house and the TV shop from hell were wonderfully authentic. The costumes
were thoroughly authentic.
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