The Unicorn and the Wasp

I'll admit to three of my pleasures in life, Agatha Christie, Starbucks coffee and of course Doctor Who. While 2 out of 3 are a frequent to have all three seemed like a dream come true!! but was it?

It's England 1926, mint and lime fill the air, Lady Eddington is giving a party to a range of socialites, where one guest turns out to be none other then Agatha Christie. We learn a jewel thief, the Unicorn is at large.

The Doctor informs Donna that it's the actual date that Agatha Christie did indeed disappear, and what was to follow would explain how she landed up in a Hotel in Harrogate.

There is some wonderful humour, The Doctor referring to Donna as the plucky young girl is so funny, I loved her reaction, and her referral to Dickens. The recollections of where the cast were too, The Captain's recollection is side splitting. The number of her books they reference is a nice feature too.

Stunning production, the house itself, the cars, the outfits, right down to the Royal Worcester Howard Blue china and Stuart Crystal Beaconsfield glasses. The attention to detail is glorious.

I've mentioned Catherine Tate's performances in each episode and had nothing but plaudits for her, again she's glorious. However, the plaudits in this one go to Fenella Woolgar, I've always been a huge fan of hers, and she is ridiculously good, so stiff upper lipped and British. Her summing up of the crime is just delightful.

I love the Unicorn and the Wasp, it's a total one off, it's clever, it's funny, it's different, it tries to answer a true life mystery, it's just glorious. It literally feels like a BBC Agatha Christie production which has been invaded by Doctor Who. Impossible to watch without smiling. The little acknowledgement of her brilliance was welcome 9/10

There once was an author called Agatha, crime fiction was what really caught her, till a Vespiform arrived, vicariously alive, now it's the wasp, with the sting, in the cloister.

Unlike most filler episodes, this will not leave you scratching your head, maybe a little, as the Doctor and Donna investigate a hive of activity in 1926 with the assistance of the one and only Agatha Christie.

After being poisoned the Doctor runs into the kitchen and shouts "Ginger beer" at the male member of staff previously heavily hinted at as being gay. Either everyone is being too PC or polite or maybe it's lack of American knowledge but in rhyming slang "ginger beer" means queer.The servant reacts in a startled manner thinking he has been uncovered when in fact the Doctor is demanding actual ginger beer/ale in order to counter the effects of the poison. The scene is another little dig at the way in which those of high status in "polite" society at the time would cover up what would be seen to be unacceptable, not only because of the sexual nature but also because of the fraternisation with a "lower" class.

If season four has been a bit underwhelming so far, I think it picks up a bit here with "The Unicorn and the Wasp" which has several of the classic elements I've come to look for in this rewatch run. Classic British characters actors, check. Hollywood star in an early role, check. Foreshadowing, check. Call backs to previous episodes, check. Visual effects that aren't quite good enough, check.

The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) rock up at a country estate in 1926 - just in time for it to turn into a murder mystery weekend. This is apt because the guest of honour is none other than Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar) who, together with the Doctor and Donna settle in to interrogate the suspects and identify the killer. But things take a more bizarre turn when Donna is attacked by a giant wasp.

Generally, I think the wasp element is the only bit that lets the episode down. It's not a great special effect and it's odd that sometimes it seems like it's an instinctual killer, when it tries to murder Donna - but at others, kills by human methods, such as pushing a gargoyle off a roof. It's a fun and funny episode around it though. Fenella Woolgar is a good Christie and is joined by Felicity Kendal and Tom Goodman-Hill as well as that early appearance for Felicity Jones long before a Galaxy far far away came calling. It's actually quite clever too, with its explanation for why things are happening as well as some of the more common tricks in the books of the age to disguise what was actually happening - a time spent bedridden to hide a pregnancy, for example.

A definite upturn in the season.

I recently rewatched this episode to find that a lot of elements worked very well indeed. It's greatest strengths, I think, are in its idyllic evocation of upper-class 1920s England and the sheer blithe charm that it brings along with this. Fenella Woolgar is perfectly suited to the piece and very believable in her performance as Agatha Christie, and the script is an extremely witty one. David Tennant's Doctor is in his element here in the earlier decades of the twentieth century, jumping into the mystery with relish, and it makes one wish he would spend more time in this time period.

The main failing of "The Unicorn and the Wasp" is that, in an episode about a mystery writer getting involved in a real mystery, the actual mystery and alien-involvement plots get a little bit of the short shrift. This means that the long scene near the end in which the Doctor and Agatha Christie solve the mystery, while fun in its evocation of a genre-staple scene, seems a little unnecessary. This episode unashamedly goes over-the-top in its mimicry of the 1920s and '30s mystery genre. Sometimes this is really clever, and sometimes it feels a little too clever or gets a little too sweet in its loving homage.

However much it ironically lack fully-developed mystery plot while paying tribute to a classic crafter of mystery plots, it wins us over by being purely funny and fun all the way through, with a lot to love for those who appreciate the books and films of Agatha Christie's era, several great comic scenes, and many great turns for the Doctor and Donna. They, by the way, are developed very well through action as far as their friendship and working relationship are concerned, and Donna especially gets some nice character moments. It's nice to see the Doctor's relationship with a character grow quietly like that, without being underscored six times by a script and director eager to make a point of it.