Ah, a Doctor Whodunnit with special guest detective Agatha Christie. What a treat!
Sarah -
A whodunnit at the country estate of retired impresario Henry Gordon Jago! (It’s my head cannon, so go with it.)
Harry -
The timing might line up just about right.
Sarah -
It’s lovely to have Christopher Benjamin back on the team!
Harry -
After putting Donna through several wringers, the TARDIS finally lands somewhere grand. "Never mind planet Zog. A party in the 1920s, that's more like it!"
And so she and the Doctor play party crashers and join the gathering guests at an Edwardian manor home. The set up was classic, as one by one we meet the cast of characters as they arrive for Colonel Hugh and Lady Clemency's garden party. It was so great to see Benjamin make his return, even if his colonel was bound to a wheelchair. Here come the others: the curious Professor Peach, the cheery Reverend Golightly, the glamorous Robina Redmond, young Roger Curbishley and the very attendant attendant, Davenport, and the guest of honour, Agatha Christie!
Gobsmacked, Donna and the Doctor barely get a chance to say hello before a cry of "murder!" rings out. Miss Chandrakala has found a body in the library, and the mystery begins.
There's something so quaint about a British murder mystery. The historic setting, the engaging characters, and the intrigue of a Christie plot. Even though someone is already dead, it still feels like a holiday.
Sarah -
Despite the corpses, this story is an opportunity to catch a mid-series breath before we plunge into the rest of the series -- and we’re going to need it.
"The Unicorn and the Wasp" isn’t meant to be more than a romp and I have to admit I enjoyed the rewatch more than I expected. My memories of it weren’t terribly positive. The wasp is a little dodgy, but this is Doctor Who, after all, and Graeme Harper’s direction more than makes up for any challenges in the production.
Harry -
Graeme Harper can spin mud into gold, and he did it again here. Lots of quick cuts, interesting angles and nonstop pace. If this is the only light story of the season, so be it.
Sarah -
Fenella Woolgar is an excellent Agatha Christie in our latest celebrity historical. I always have mixed feelings about these stories. It’s fun to see the TARDIS team interact with characters we know (or think we know), but things can quickly get annoying -- Rose trying to get Queen Victoria to say, “We are not amused,” the Doctor feeding lines to Shakespeare, etc. There are a few of those moments in this story, which I guess are inevitable.
Harry -
What I liked here was that the Doctor didn't immediately take over and dominate, with everyone trying to keep up. It felt like there was a distinct lack of chemistry between the Doctor and Agatha. She was perplexed by his rapid fire outbursts, but not swayed, and kept pursuing her own lines of investigation.
You are right about the wasp. It was too out of place because of its oversized scale and made the story too much of a fantasy. Perhaps if they had made the alien into a swarm of wasps instead of just one giant one, that might have worked better and upped the horror. Once the big bug lost its stinger, it lost its most threatening feature and it was just a matter of time before it got killed. After the hilarious kitchen detox scene, I expected the Doctor to return and whip up some kind of bug killing powder.
Sarah -
The detox scene is classic David Tennant.
Harry -
One of the few Doctors who can pull off that kind of manic physical comedy.
After a merry round around the house and a couple of close calls, we get to the traditional reveal scene. It played out very traditionally, with some funny moments to keep it light. The unicorn was exposed as -- gasp! -- none other than the glamorous (and actually very cockney) Robina. It's funny how in North American film and television a criminal is often made more villainous by giving them a received British accent, while in actual Britain, the criminals are often given cockney accents.
Anyway, shock horror, the real killer is a gigantic alien wasp. Run away!
And everyone scatters as Reverand Golightly morphs back into the Vespiform. Christie drives off to a nearby lake, providing Donna with the setting to kill off the alien by drowning it. With the menace defeated, Christie passes out with amnesia and the mystery of her 10-day disappearance is sorted.
All of that to demonstrate why British people never call the police after a murder.
Sarah -
It’s been a fun romp, but now I’m ready for a library visit. Onward?
Harry -
I believe the term "game changer" was coming into popularity everywhere around this time, and we are about to run into one of Doctor Who's all-time game changers. Let's do it!
Sarah -
Best Line:
Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie.
Donna: What about her?
Agatha Christie: That’s me.
Donna: No! You’re kidding!
Favorite Moment:
The detox scene
Lasting Image:
Donna in her 20s garb.
6/10
Harry -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: A terrible day for all of us. The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us, and yet we still take dinner.
CLEMENCY: We are British, Doctor. What else must we do?
Favourite Moment:
The detox scene for sure.
Lasting Image:
Agatha and the Doctor conducting their investigation.
7/10
Our marathon continues into a new decade with Story #195: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead...
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