"Doctor Who" The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Graeme Harper

Writer:

Gareth Roberts (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

17 May 2008 (Season 4, Episode 7)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

With a 1920s dinner party turning into a murder mystery, The Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie on the eve of her publicized disappearance.

Plot Keywords:

Agatha Christie | Murder Mystery | 1920s | Flapper | Jewelry Thief

Cast

David Tennant	...	The Doctor
Catherine Tate	...	Donna Noble
Fenella Woolgar	...	Agatha Christie
Felicity Kendal	...	Lady Clemency Eddison
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Reverend Golightly
Christopher Benjamin	...	Colonel Hugh Curbishley
Felicity Jones	...	Robina Redmond
Adam Rayner	...	Roger Curbishley
David Quilter	...	Greeves
Daniel King	...	Davenport
Ian Barritt	...	Professor Peach
Leena Dhingra	...	Miss Chandrakala
Charlotte Eaton	...	Mrs. Hart

Runtime:

45 min | 45 min (50 episodes)

Certification:

UK:PG (DVD rating)

Company:

BBC Wales

Trivia:

The anchovies that the Doctor pours down his throat in the kitchen were really mushrooms.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the housekeeper is lying on the ground, the 'stone' statuary moves on her stomach as she breathes, and then it is moved by 'Agatha Christie' when she bumps it with her knee.

Quotes:

The Doctor: A giant wasp! Well, there are tons of emorphorous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic sector.
Agatha Christie: I think I understood some of those words... enough to know that you're completely potty!

Dr Cluedo

To be honest there's not much of a story here . It's just a 40 minute whodunnit with the novelty of Agatha Christie making an appearance . Having said that it's something of a pleasure to watch a story that isn't an explosion driven runarounds like we saw with the dire Sontaran rubbish and the " not really the doctor's daughter but we thought the title sounded good " we saw in the preceding weeks . The sedate pace and the wonderful location filming makes it a very worthwhile episode

There are a couple of flaws . One is the lack of internal continuity where a giant killer wasp is unable to break through an internal door in one scene but manages to break through a heavier external door in a later scene when the script demands it . Another flaw is a zany scene with the Doctor and Donna which seems to jar with the rest of the story but it's thankfully not enough to ruin the episode

All in all this is a rather enjoyable episode . It's by no means a classic but a very watchable 45 minutes of television in a season that with hindsight is somewhat mediocre