The Wire
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The Wire was a Hermethican criminal who escaped execution by becoming an energy being that, according to the Tenth Doctor, took the "essences" and "souls" of the television-watching population of Great Britain in 1953 for a few days before and during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Because her physical body had been destroyed by the time the Doctor encountered her, the Wire's true form remained unknown to him.
Biography
The Wire led a gang of criminals on the planet Hermethica until she was captured, sentenced to death, and executed. Her group had discovered a way to transform themselves into pure energy, a technique she used to escape execution by transmitting herself to Earth through a communications device (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac) that one of her executioners was using to illegally record the execution. (PROSE: Creatures and Demons)
She concealed herself in television signals, transferring herself from set to set. She fed off the mental signals of human brains, paralysing them and sucking out their energy with electrical tendrils. This process left the victims mindless and faceless. The victim's consciousness remained intact, as seen when the Wire showed the Doctor a sampling of her victims on the televisions in Magpie's shop. The Wire used the image of a female BBC continuity announcer to communicate with the outside world. She hoped to use this energy to manifest herself in corporeal form once more. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
Lizbeth Hayhoe of Torchwood One, in charge of Room 13, had the faceless victims placed in cages soon before the Coronation. (AUDIO: Parasite)
The Wire stole the face of Mr Magpie, who owned an electrical shop, but returned it to him and give him plans for then-future technologies (such as a portable television small enough to carry in one hand), promising him freedom after the completion of its simple two-phase plan: First, have Magpie sell cheap television sets all over North London so she could feed. Second, have Magpie connect the Wire (inside the portable television) to the television transmission tower at Alexandra Palace on Queen Elizabeth II's coronation day, June 2nd, 1953. Connected to the tower, the Wire would both transmit herself to the estimated three million viewers watching in the vicinity and transmit back energy she would use to reconstitute her corporeal body. After Magpie complied with the Wire's demands and then asked for a reprieve from the torture she put him through, she responded by disintegrating him with a bolt of electricity.
The Tenth Doctor trapped the Wire on a Betamax tape using a homemade video recorder. The Wire's victims were also restored to their normal selves. The Doctor seemed confident that the Wire would remain trapped, but said that he would tape over her, just to be safe. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
The Doctor accidentally released the Wire whilst looking for his copy of It's a Wonderful Life. He trapped her in a small suburban house, where Alice Wu helped him to recapture her. After the Wire destroyed Alice's smart phone, the Doctor upgraded it into a new "superphone". (PROSE: Loose Wire)
References
An image of the Wire was present next to the the Tenth Doctor when he was conversing with his other incarnations via the TARDIS' telepathic circuits. (WC: Doctors Assemble!)
The Doctor noted that he didn't know what the Wire's true form looked like. (PROSE: Loose Wire)
Personality
The Wire was cheerful by nature at first, hardly ever degrading from a genial smile and a bright attitude. Underneath her happy-go-lucky exterior, the Wire was a calculating and sadistic maniac with no scruples or moral compass and lack of any ethical capacities. She laughed maniacally whilst consuming the souls of others and taunted the Doctor on his apparent failure before her defeat. She remarked that her own people tried to execute her, suggesting that she was a dangerous criminal. She showed a playfully cruel sense of humour, granting Magpie his "peace" by destroying him after he was no longer useful, and previously asking if he was comfortable before tormenting him.
The Wire was also rather intelligent, shown by how elaborately she planned to absorb the minds of London. When she tried to feed off the Doctor, she remarked that he was particularly nutritious, due to the brainpower of a Time Lord, and even commented on his genius. However, she knew when to back down at times, retreating after he threatened her with his sonic screwdriver. The Wire complained of an intense hunger, which meant that she needed to feed off the souls of other life forms in order to survive, and she had to do so repeatedly. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
Behind the scenes
The Wire was based on Annette Mills, a children's television host in the 1940s and 1950s, known to start off her show For The Children with the phrase "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin."
According to the non-narrative sources Doctor Who: Creatures and Demons and Doctor Who: The Ultimate Monster Guide, the Wire escaped to Earth through the communications device of one of its executioners, who was illegally recording the execution. Also, Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia reveals its planet of origin to be Hermethica.
As part of the "Insane Invasions" feature of Doctor Who Adventures, DWA 20 humourously contemplated a scenario in which the Wire and the Abzorbaloff, while attempting to invade the same planet, tried to absorb each other in a tug of war. Ultimately, the Abzorbaloff succeeds in absorbing the Wire, resulting in his stomach sporting a television screen with the Wire's image. In a clear reference to the Teletubbies, the Abzorbaloff exclaims "Eh-oh!" and is said to be getting his own show on CBeebies.
