Writer: Gareth Roberts
Director: Graeme HarperCast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Fenella Woolgar (Agatha Christie), Felicity Kendal (Lady Eddison), Felicity Jones (Robina Redmond), Christopher Benjamin (Colonel Hugh), Tom Goodman-Hill (Reverend Golightly), Ian Barritt (Professor Peach), David Quilter (Greeves), Adam Rayner (Roger Curbishly), Daniel King (Davenport), Charlotte Eaton (Mrs Hart) & Leena Dhingra (Miss Chandrakala)
The Doctor and Donna arrive in 1926 and have to help Agatha Christie solve a murder that appears to involve a giant wasp...Gareth Roberts returns after The Shakespeare Code with another story that puts a sci-fi spin on a literary author. This time he sets his sights on Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar) – explaining her infamous 10-day disappearance in 1926 as a consequence of helping The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) defeat an alien murderer...
As you'd expect from the premise, The Unicorn And The Wasp is crammed full of murder mystery iconography: an English country mansion, posh residents, a kindly vicar, a thunderstorm, a jewel thief, a stabbing during a blackout, a body in the library, two secretly gay men, a suspicious-looking Butler, a Drawing Room scene where the villain is unmasked, etc.
There are even a few allusions to the board game Cluedo in the alliterative Professor Plum, whose death by lead piping kicks off this whodunit. Roberts is clearly a fan of Christie's work, as there are plenty of clever in-jokes and references -- most of which have entered pop-culture, so don't exclude anyone. But for Christie aficionados, there are a few cleverer moments – such as a plot-point of a wasp sting in Death In The Clouds being linked to events in this episode.
David Tennant is very good, as usual – with The Doctor as captivated by Agatha Christie's presence as he was Charles Dickens' in The Unquiet Dead, although it was amusing to see Christie turn her nose up at his (slightly) distasteful glee at being in a murder mystery. As the world-famous authoress, Fenella Woolgar was excellent, and one of those actresses with a "period face" well-suited to the 1920s. Woolgar gave a measured, believable performance, and the script managed to make her a decent temporary companion for The Doctor, but one who never overshadowed proceedings.
Catherine Tate was okay, but does anyone else think Donna's role in recent episodes has been purely to add the occasional joke and be The Doctor's conscience? She does it better than most people expected, but I'm not really sensing a big arc for her character. She's just along for the ride, with her granddad's blessing. Tate gets a few nice comedy moments to play (more playfulness last seen in The Fires Of Pompeii), a handful of dumb sequences (her magnifying glass versus the giant wasp scene was far too silly) and her obligatory face-pulling in exaggerated shock. This was the first episode Tate filmed as Donna after her Runaway Bride debut, so I can overlook a few lapses as her learning to adjust the character.
The supporting cast were all playing stereotypes, as befitted the spoof style -- but Felicity Kendal (The Good Life) and Tom Goodman-Hill stood out as Lady Eddison and Reverend Golightly, respectively. Everyone else was perfectly fine, and the script did a good job of keeping the killer's identity a secret (neatly avoiding the comedy resolution of "the butler did it").
I was a bit disappointed in how jewel thief "The Unicorn" factored into the story, and must confess that the eventual solution to things – involving an alien lover for Lady Eddison and a mysterious Firestone gem – began to strain credibility. A part of me would have preferred a more human climax to events, but I suppose Doctor Who has to strike a balance between pleasing adults with a worthwhile whodunit, and kids who just want to see The Doctor battling a giant insect.
Overall, this was an amusing and spirited adventure that unfortunately became a bit too preposterous towards the end. But the script's sense of fun, boundless energy, and intelligent links to reality made up for a few lapses. Writer Gareth Roberts clearly intended to put a pseudo-historical spin on Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance, while indulging all the whodunit clichés and just having fun with literary traditions.
The Unicorn And The Wasp totally succeeds on that level and provided plenty of entertainment. It got a bit too silly at times (the Time Lord cyanide "detox" scene was fun, but overcooked), and the resolution wasn't as neat and concise as I'd hoped for. But for sheer enthusiasm and narrative bounce, this really hit the spot.
17 May 2008
BBC1, 7.00 pm
