The
Doctor and Donna travel back to the 1930s to find themselves
in the middle of real life a murder mystery at a stately
home. When the Doctor and Donna pose as an inspector and
his plucky assistant from Scotland Yard, the investigation
begins but when the suspect is revealed to a shape shifter
of alien origin, the pair need help to discover who the
culprit is. Fortunately the special guest of the party is
the most famous crime author of all time and the one woman
who can help the Doctor and Donna solve the mystery, Agatha
Christie.
Russell
T. Davies and his creative team have always loved introducing
the Doctor and his companion to someone famous from Earth
history -- William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Queen
Victoria to name but a few -- and now he and Donna are about
to meet one of the most famous writers of the 20th Century.
One
of the most beloved writers and one that British television
and Hollywood have an obsession with adapting, this story
is set 1926 before she invented her second most famous character
Miss Marple, or wrote some of her classics like ‘The
Mirror Crack'd’, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
or ‘Death on the Nile’ and the writing team
play on this with Donna. Bringing the beloved writer to
life is an excellent performance from Fenella Woolgar, probably
best known for her roles in ‘Bright Young Things’
and ‘Vera Drake’ and this is one that will make
her a favourite ‘Doctor Who’ version of a real
life character.
Writer
Gareth Roberts, who also wrote ‘Only Human’
and ‘I Am Dalek’, creates a script that is,
as you’d expect, like an Agatha Christie story with
the Doctor playing the investigating officer and Donna as
his plucky assistant. With assistance from Christie, the
pair looks for the clues and make their conclusions about
the case, with "...the butler did it" on everyone’s
lips. With this being Doctor Who, however, you
know that there is going to be an alien influence.
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As with
any murder mystery you need your suspects in a stately home
and we have some good casting. Anybody who remembers the
BBC classic comedy ‘The Good Life’ will have
a soft spot for Felicity Kendal. As Lady Clemency Eddison,
she has her own secrets about the past, but is she the murderer?
The same can be said about Felicity Jones as Robina Redmond,
Christopher Benjamin as Colonel Hugh, Tom Goodman-Hill as
Reverend Golightly, Ian Barritt as Professor Peach and the
rest of the cast, who all have pasts that Agatha, the Doctor
and Donna will discover.
‘The
Unicorn and the Wasp’ is an entertaining episode that
is a lot fun and tries to uncover why and how Agatha Christie,
in real life, disappeared for 10 days. With another fine
and amusing performance from Catherine Tate and David Tennant
as good as ever, this is another episode that fans will
enjoy.
