PRODUCTION INFO
Name
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Series 4
Episode 7
First Transmitted
17 May 2008
Final Ratings
8.40m
CAST
Regular Cast
David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna)
Guest Cast
Fenella Woolgar (Agatha Christie), Felicity Kendal (Lady Clemency Eddison), Felicity Jones (Robina Redmond), Christopher Benjamin (Colonel Hugh), Tom Goodman-Hill (Reverend Golightly), Ian Barritt (Professor Peach), David Quitter (Greeves), Adam Rayner (Roger Curbishley), Dabiel King (Davenport), Charlotte Eaton (Mrs Hart), Leena Dhingra (Miss Chandrakala)
CREW
Written by |
Gareth Roberts |
Directed by |
Graeme Harper |
Produced by |
Julie Garner and Phil Colinson |
SYPNOSIS
The Doctor and Donna find themselves in the middle of a classic murder mystery. So it’s a good thing Agatha Christie, crime writer extraordinaire, is around to help them solve it. There are no end of suspects at Lady Eddison’s estate – and don’t discount the giant alien wasp&hellip, Might the strange goings-on explain the mystery of those infamous ten days in 1926 when Christie went missing?
NOTES
Agatha Christie did indeed disappear in 1926, and the reason for this is unknown – Christie having claimed to have no memory of the event. There is, however, one main difference between the story told here and the true events (apart from the involvement of a giant wasp of course), in reality Christie’s car was found in a chalk pit, not beside a lake.
Donna inadvertently refers to the events of The Unquiet Dead when she claims that the likelihood of meeting Agatha Christie surrounded by a murder mystery would be as unbelievable as meeting Charles Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas.
The Tenth Doctor reveals he has kept the chest plate of a Cyberman (obtained in The Age of Steel) and also the orb in which he trapped the Carrionites in The Shakespeare Code.
This isn’t the first time The Doctor has encountered giant alien wasps – the met similar creatures in The Web Planet.
Although The Doctor claims in Terror Firma that he travelled with Agatha Christie for a while, he doesn’t acknowledge that here – apparently having met her for the first time in this story (which follows on from comments he made in Last of the Time Lords).
Donna orders a sidecar and the Doctororders a lime soda at the garden party.
Donna and Agatha Christie drink orange juice and Golightly tries to poison The Doctor by slipping cyanide into his lemonade.
It is routine for post-2005 Doctor Who, a “NEXT TIME” trailer for the next episode is shown at the end of the episode.