The Unicorn and the Wasp
Encyclopedia
"The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the 7th episode in the revised fourth series of the British science fiction
television series Doctor Who
, which was aired by BBC One
on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the most successful episode in this series since "The Fires of Pompeii
". The episode is a pseudohistorical story set in 1926, in a manor owned by a character named Lady Eddison, which crime fiction novelist Agatha Christie
is visiting, and is a comedic episode with a murder-mystery storyline.
(David Tennant
) and Donna Noble
(Catherine Tate
) arrive in 1926 and invite themselves to a dinner party hosted by Lady Eddison (Felicity Kendal
) and her husband, Colonel Hugh (Christopher Benjamin). They are thrilled to find one of the guests is Agatha Christie
(Fenella Woolgar
), and realize that today is when she will inexplicably disappear for ten days. As the party ensues, some of the guests are found dead, following patterns from Agatha's books, though the Doctor finds traces of alien morphic residue at one of the scenes. Donna also encounters a giant wasp, which she is able to scare off. Donna, the Doctor, and Agatha Christie chase the creature, but it morphs into a humanoid shape and eludes them. The Doctor himself becomes poisoned with cyanide
but his Time Lord
physiology allows him to detoxify himself with a combination of ingredients of protein, salt and a "shock" provided by Donna kissing him. This inspires him to add pepper to the dinner meal; while harmless to humans, it would act as an insecticide due to piperine
. As they eat, the guests hear the wasp sound, but the lights in the room are blown out before they discover the identity of the alien. When the lights are restored, they have found that Lady Eddison's Firestone necklace has been stolen, and that Roger, Lady Eddison's son, was stabbed by a knife.
The Doctor assembles the remaining guests in the sitting room, and first Christie, then the Doctor himself, reveal several truths they've recognized about the guests, including the identity of the thief who stole the Firestone. Most importantly, he has determined that Lady Eddison's claim of suffering from malaria
years ago was due to her becoming impregnated by a Vespiform (played in human form by Damien Mantoulan), who had also given her the Firestone necklace as a means of linking her telepathically with their child. Eddison ultimately left the boy for adoption. The Doctor reveals that child is the Reverend Golightly (Tom Goodman-Hill), who recently became aware of his alien nature in a bout of anger and, through the telepathic link with his mother, absorbed the details of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, prompting him to kill in similar fashion.
Golightly transforms back into a wasp and threatens the guests. Agatha grabs the Firestone necklace and lures the wasp away while driving towards the nearby Silent Pool
, with the Doctor and Donna giving chase. When they catch up to Agatha, Donna grabs the necklace from Agatha and throws it into the water, prompting the wasp to dive in after it and drown. Due to her brief possession of the necklace, Agatha also suffers the wasp's death pangs but then merely falls down unconscious. The Doctor realizes this is the event that gave her the amnesia during her disappearance, and uses the TARDIS to quietly drop her near the Harrogate Hotel ten days later.
As the two return to the TARDIS, the Doctor shows Donna Agatha's novel Death in the Clouds
, in which wasps play a significant part, concluding that her amnesia was not complete. The Doctor's explains that his copy was printed in the year 5,000,000,000 and that Agatha Christie is the best-selling novellist of all time.
chest-plate from "The Age of Steel
", the head of a Greco-Roman
statue (possibly depicting Caecilius from "The Fires of Pompeii
"), and the crystal ball in which the Carrionites are trapped from "The Shakespeare Code
" (which he playfully shakes).
Early in the episode, the Doctor states his desire to meet Agatha Christie. This a reference to "The Last of the Timelords".
Donna remarks that meeting Agatha Christie during a murder mystery would be as preposterous as meeting "Charles Dickens
surrounded by ghosts at Christmas", unknowingly describing the events of "The Unquiet Dead
".
When Donna talks to Agatha about her cheating husband, she recalls her own engagement to Lance in which she found out he was using her, briefly mentioning the Empress of Racnoss as "a giant spider". This is a reference of the 2006 Christmas episode The Runaway Bride
.
The Doctor has a flashback scene when unravelling motives with Agatha Christie. He is shown in Belgium with a bow and quiver of arrows on his back. His voiceover explains that he was looking for Charlemagne
who was "kidnapped by an insane computer". Christie interrupts before he can paint a full picture; however the events are fully explored on Doctor Who's BBC website in the short story "The Lonely Computer."
, who previously wrote the pseudohistorical episode "The Shakespeare Code
". Roberts was given a fourth series episode to write after executive producer Russell T Davies reviewed Roberts' script for "The Shakespeare Code". Several months later, he received an email from the production team which said "Agatha Christie". The idea for a murder mystery featuring Agatha Christie came originally from producer Phil Collinson
.
Roberts, a self-confessed fan of Christie's works, made the episode into a comedy. Roberts based the episode on his favourite Christie works: Crooked House
, which focuses on secrets within an aristocratic society, and the 1982 film adaptation
of Evil Under the Sun
. Speaking of both works, Roberts noted that it was "quite strange writing a modern Doctor Who with posh people in it. We don't really see posh people on television anymore, except at Christmas", and "there's something funny about the veneer of upper class respectability and the truth of any family underneath". He also stated that "there's really nothing nicer than watching a lot of English actors hamming it up in a vaguely exotic location... and then somebody's murdered!" The episode's title was deliberately chosen to sound "vaguely Christie-ish", but Roberts admitted that "[Christie] never used 'the blank and the blank' construction".
In writing the episode, Roberts aimed to make the episode a "big, fun, all-star murder mystery romp". He was influenced by advice given by Davies, who wanted Roberts to "go funnier" with every draft, and former Doctor Who script editor Douglas Adams
' advice that "a danger one runs is that the moment you have anything in the script that's clearly meant to be funny in some way, everybody thinks 'oh well we can do silly voices and silly walks and so on', and I think that's exactly the wrong way to do it". Using this advice, he used the adage that in comedy, the characters do not realise the humour, and cited Basil Fawlty
's mishaps in Fawlty Towers
as an example.
In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine
, Roberts stated that "to a certain extent [there was less pressure]" in writing the episode. He was pleased with the success of "The Shakespeare Code" and the The Sarah Jane Adventures
two-parter Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
, but likened himself to Corporal Bell, a member of the administrative staff at the fictional Doctor Who organisation UNIT
, in saying that he did not wish to be "in the middle of things" or writing episodes "where big, pivotal things have happened to [the Doctor]".
Roberts and Davies held an unofficial contest to see how many references to Christie's works could be inserted. Titles that were noted were: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
; Why Didn't They Ask Evans; The Body in the Library
; The Secret Adversary
; N or M?
; Nemesis; Cat Among the Pigeons
; Dead Man's Folly
; They Do It With Mirrors
; Appointment with Death
; Cards on the Table
; Sparkling Cyanide
; Endless Night
; Crooked House
; The Moving Finger
; Taken at the Flood
; Death Comes as the End
; Murder on the Orient Express
and The Murder at the Vicarage
. A deleted scene referred to The Man in the Brown Suit
, referring to the Doctor's clothing. The narrative itself parallels several of Christie's novels: the jewel theft storyline parallels The Secret of Chimneys
; Miss Chandrakala's death was influenced by And Then There Were None
; and the Colonel's revelation that he was not disabled paralleled a key concept of The Pale Horse.
had a silent cameo as a footman in one of the early scenes, after being asked to act when visiting David on set.
The casting of Fenella Woolgar
as Agatha Christie was made at the suggestion of David Tennant, who had previously worked with her on Bright Young Things
and He Knew He Was Right
. She later played Hellan Femor in the audio play The Company of Friends
and Morella Wendigo in Nevermore.
Fenella Woolgar and David Quilter
previously appeared in episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot
("Lord Edgware Dies" and "The Million Dollar Bond Robbery", respectively).
Christopher Benjamin, who plays Colonel Hugh, previously starred in two serials of the original Doctor Who series, playing Sir Keith Gold in Inferno
(1970) and Henry Gordon Jago
in The Talons of Weng-Chiang
(1977).
's 1931 play Cavalcade
. The recording used here, edited together with other period music, is a 1931 recording of 'Love is the Sweetest Thing' by Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra
, featuring vocalist Al Bowlly
.
featuring the aged Agatha Christie trying to recall the events that took place during her disappearance was deleted because the producers felt it diminished the story's urgency. The original ending featured the Doctor and Donna visiting the elderly Christie; a new ending in the TARDIS set was filmed after the producers decided to cut the framing sequence, much later than the filming for the rest of the story.
The framing sequence and another scene cut for time are present on the Doctor Who Series 4
DVD box set.
figures show that "The Unicorn and the Wasp", was watched by 8.41 million viewers, making it the second most popular programme of the day (behind ITV
's Britain's Got Talent
) and the seventh most watched programme the week. The episode received an Appreciation Index
score of 86 (considered "Excellent").
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was aired by BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the most successful episode in this series since "The Fires of Pompeii
The Fires of Pompeii
"The Fires of Pompeii" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008....
". The episode is a pseudohistorical story set in 1926, in a manor owned by a character named Lady Eddison, which crime fiction novelist Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
is visiting, and is a comedic episode with a murder-mystery storyline.
Synopsis
The DoctorTenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
(David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
) and Donna Noble
Donna Noble
Donna Noble is a fictional character played by Catherine Tate in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A secretary from Chiswick, London, she is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, appearing in one scene at the end of the final episode of the 2006 series,...
(Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
) arrive in 1926 and invite themselves to a dinner party hosted by Lady Eddison (Felicity Kendal
Felicity Kendal
Felicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
) and her husband, Colonel Hugh (Christopher Benjamin). They are thrilled to find one of the guests is Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
(Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar is an English actress. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1999 and has since appeared in several film, television and theatre productions. She also works as an audio book narrator and voice over artist...
), and realize that today is when she will inexplicably disappear for ten days. As the party ensues, some of the guests are found dead, following patterns from Agatha's books, though the Doctor finds traces of alien morphic residue at one of the scenes. Donna also encounters a giant wasp, which she is able to scare off. Donna, the Doctor, and Agatha Christie chase the creature, but it morphs into a humanoid shape and eludes them. The Doctor himself becomes poisoned with cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
but his Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
physiology allows him to detoxify himself with a combination of ingredients of protein, salt and a "shock" provided by Donna kissing him. This inspires him to add pepper to the dinner meal; while harmless to humans, it would act as an insecticide due to piperine
Piperine
Piperine is the alkaloid responsible for the pungency of black pepper and long pepper, along with chavicine . It has also been used in some forms of traditional medicine and as an insecticide. Piperine forms monoclinic needles, is slightly soluble in water and more so in alcohol, ether or...
. As they eat, the guests hear the wasp sound, but the lights in the room are blown out before they discover the identity of the alien. When the lights are restored, they have found that Lady Eddison's Firestone necklace has been stolen, and that Roger, Lady Eddison's son, was stabbed by a knife.
The Doctor assembles the remaining guests in the sitting room, and first Christie, then the Doctor himself, reveal several truths they've recognized about the guests, including the identity of the thief who stole the Firestone. Most importantly, he has determined that Lady Eddison's claim of suffering from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
years ago was due to her becoming impregnated by a Vespiform (played in human form by Damien Mantoulan), who had also given her the Firestone necklace as a means of linking her telepathically with their child. Eddison ultimately left the boy for adoption. The Doctor reveals that child is the Reverend Golightly (Tom Goodman-Hill), who recently became aware of his alien nature in a bout of anger and, through the telepathic link with his mother, absorbed the details of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, prompting him to kill in similar fashion.
Golightly transforms back into a wasp and threatens the guests. Agatha grabs the Firestone necklace and lures the wasp away while driving towards the nearby Silent Pool
Silent Pool
Silent Pool is a spring-fed lake at the foot of the North Downs, approximately east of Guildford in Surrey. Together with the nearby Newlands Corner it forms part of the privately owned Albury Estate SSSI managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. The outflow from Silent Pool runs into a second lake...
, with the Doctor and Donna giving chase. When they catch up to Agatha, Donna grabs the necklace from Agatha and throws it into the water, prompting the wasp to dive in after it and drown. Due to her brief possession of the necklace, Agatha also suffers the wasp's death pangs but then merely falls down unconscious. The Doctor realizes this is the event that gave her the amnesia during her disappearance, and uses the TARDIS to quietly drop her near the Harrogate Hotel ten days later.
As the two return to the TARDIS, the Doctor shows Donna Agatha's novel Death in the Clouds
Death in the Clouds
Death in the Clouds is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company on March 10 1935 under the title of Death in the Air and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the July of the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition...
, in which wasps play a significant part, concluding that her amnesia was not complete. The Doctor's explains that his copy was printed in the year 5,000,000,000 and that Agatha Christie is the best-selling novellist of all time.
Continuity
The Doctor produces items from a chest of items beginning with C, including a CybermanCyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
chest-plate from "The Age of Steel
The Age of Steel
"The Age of Steel" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 20 May 2006 and is the second part of a two-part story that was the first to feature the Cybermen since Silver Nemesis in 1988. The first part, "Rise of the Cybermen", was...
", the head of a Greco-Roman
Classical sculpture
Classical sculpture refers to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500 BC to fall of Rome in AD 476. It also refers stylistically to modern sculptures done in a classical style....
statue (possibly depicting Caecilius from "The Fires of Pompeii
The Fires of Pompeii
"The Fires of Pompeii" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008....
"), and the crystal ball in which the Carrionites are trapped from "The Shakespeare Code
The Shakespeare Code
"The Shakespeare Code" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007, and is the second episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was...
" (which he playfully shakes).
Early in the episode, the Doctor states his desire to meet Agatha Christie. This a reference to "The Last of the Timelords".
Donna remarks that meeting Agatha Christie during a murder mystery would be as preposterous as meeting "Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
surrounded by ghosts at Christmas", unknowingly describing the events of "The Unquiet Dead
The Unquiet Dead
"The Unquiet Dead" is an episode in the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 9 April 2005 and is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past. In Victorian Cardiff, the dead are walking, and creatures made of gas are on the loose...
".
When Donna talks to Agatha about her cheating husband, she recalls her own engagement to Lance in which she found out he was using her, briefly mentioning the Empress of Racnoss as "a giant spider". This is a reference of the 2006 Christmas episode The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)
"The Runaway Bride" is a special episode of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
.
The Doctor has a flashback scene when unravelling motives with Agatha Christie. He is shown in Belgium with a bow and quiver of arrows on his back. His voiceover explains that he was looking for Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
who was "kidnapped by an insane computer". Christie interrupts before he can paint a full picture; however the events are fully explored on Doctor Who's BBC website in the short story "The Lonely Computer."
Writing
The episode is written by Gareth RobertsGareth Roberts (writer)
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
, who previously wrote the pseudohistorical episode "The Shakespeare Code
The Shakespeare Code
"The Shakespeare Code" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007, and is the second episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was...
". Roberts was given a fourth series episode to write after executive producer Russell T Davies reviewed Roberts' script for "The Shakespeare Code". Several months later, he received an email from the production team which said "Agatha Christie". The idea for a murder mystery featuring Agatha Christie came originally from producer Phil Collinson
Phil Collinson
Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...
.
Roberts, a self-confessed fan of Christie's works, made the episode into a comedy. Roberts based the episode on his favourite Christie works: Crooked House
Crooked House
Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 23 of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence .The action takes...
, which focuses on secrets within an aristocratic society, and the 1982 film adaptation
Evil Under the Sun (1982 film)
Evil Under the Sun is a 1982 British mystery film based on the 1941 novel Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.-Production:The screenplay was written by Anthony Shaffer and an uncredited Barry Sandler...
of Evil Under the Sun
Evil Under the Sun
Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year...
. Speaking of both works, Roberts noted that it was "quite strange writing a modern Doctor Who with posh people in it. We don't really see posh people on television anymore, except at Christmas", and "there's something funny about the veneer of upper class respectability and the truth of any family underneath". He also stated that "there's really nothing nicer than watching a lot of English actors hamming it up in a vaguely exotic location... and then somebody's murdered!" The episode's title was deliberately chosen to sound "vaguely Christie-ish", but Roberts admitted that "[Christie] never used 'the blank and the blank' construction".
In writing the episode, Roberts aimed to make the episode a "big, fun, all-star murder mystery romp". He was influenced by advice given by Davies, who wanted Roberts to "go funnier" with every draft, and former Doctor Who script editor Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
' advice that "a danger one runs is that the moment you have anything in the script that's clearly meant to be funny in some way, everybody thinks 'oh well we can do silly voices and silly walks and so on', and I think that's exactly the wrong way to do it". Using this advice, he used the adage that in comedy, the characters do not realise the humour, and cited Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by John Cleese. The character is often thought of as an iconic British comedy character, and has been deemed unforgettable despite only a dozen half-hour episodes ever being made....
's mishaps in Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
as an example.
In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, Roberts stated that "to a certain extent [there was less pressure]" in writing the episode. He was pleased with the success of "The Shakespeare Code" and the The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
two-parter Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? is the fifth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the seventh and eighth episodes of the show's first series...
, but likened himself to Corporal Bell, a member of the administrative staff at the fictional Doctor Who organisation UNIT
UNIT
UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
, in saying that he did not wish to be "in the middle of things" or writing episodes "where big, pivotal things have happened to [the Doctor]".
Roberts and Davies held an unofficial contest to see how many references to Christie's works could be inserted. Titles that were noted were: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons in June 1926 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company on the 19th of the same month. It features Hercule Poirot as the lead detective...
; Why Didn't They Ask Evans; The Body in the Library
The Body in the Library
The Body in the Library is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in May of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...
; The Secret Adversary
The Secret Adversary
The Secret Adversary is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head in January 1922 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in that same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition...
; N or M?
N or M?
N or M? is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1941 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November of the same year...
; Nemesis; Cat Among the Pigeons
Cat Among the Pigeons
Cat Among the Pigeons is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2, 1959, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1960 with a copyright date of 1959...
; Dead Man's Folly
Dead Man's Folly
Dead Man's Folly is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 5 of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence ....
; They Do It With Mirrors
They Do It with Mirrors
They Do It With Mirrors is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1952 under the title of Murder with Mirrors and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 17 in the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition...
; Appointment with Death
Appointment with Death
Appointment with Death is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 2, 1938 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
; Cards on the Table
Cards on the Table
Cards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
; Sparkling Cyanide
Sparkling Cyanide
Sparkling Cyanide is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1945 under the title of Remembered Death and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the December of the same year under Christie's original title...
; Endless Night
Endless Night
Endless Night is a work of crime fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on October 30, 1967 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at eighteen shillings and the US edition at $4.95...
; Crooked House
Crooked House
Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 23 of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence .The action takes...
; The Moving Finger
The Moving Finger
The Moving Finger is detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...
; Taken at the Flood
Taken at the Flood
Taken at the Flood is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1948 under the title of There is a Tide... and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the November of the same year under Christie's original title...
; Death Comes as the End
Death Comes as the End
Death Comes as the End is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1944 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March of the following year...
; Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of...
and The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
. A deleted scene referred to The Man in the Brown Suit
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Man in the Brown Suit is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and was first published in the UK by The Bodley Head on August 22 1924 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
, referring to the Doctor's clothing. The narrative itself parallels several of Christie's novels: the jewel theft storyline parallels The Secret of Chimneys
The Secret of Chimneys
The Secret of Chimneys is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It introduces the characters of, among others, Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent...
; Miss Chandrakala's death was influenced by And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 because of the presence of a racial...
; and the Colonel's revelation that he was not disabled paralleled a key concept of The Pale Horse.
Cast notes
David Tennant's father Alexander McDonaldAlexander McDonald (Moderator)
Dr. Alexander "Sandy" McDonald is a retired minister of the Church of Scotland.Dr. McDonald was born in Bishopbriggs, Scotland in 1937, the son of Jessie Helen Low and Alexander M. McDonald. He worked in the timber industry in the 1950s, prior to National Service in the Royal Air Force...
had a silent cameo as a footman in one of the early scenes, after being asked to act when visiting David on set.
The casting of Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar is an English actress. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1999 and has since appeared in several film, television and theatre productions. She also works as an audio book narrator and voice over artist...
as Agatha Christie was made at the suggestion of David Tennant, who had previously worked with her on Bright Young Things
Bright Young Things
Bright Young Things is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by Stephen Fry. The screenplay, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, provides satirical social commentary about the Bright Young People: young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians, as well as society in...
and He Knew He Was Right
He Knew He Was Right (TV serial)
He Knew He Was Right was a 2004 BBC TV adaptation of the novel of the same name by Anthony Trollope. It was directed by Tom Vaughan.*Jenny Uglow consultant*Nigel Stafford-Clark producer-Cast:*Oliver Dimsdale - Louis Trevelyan...
. She later played Hellan Femor in the audio play The Company of Friends
The Company of Friends
The Company of Friends is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The play is made of four one-part stories, by different authors, rather than the usual multi-part serial...
and Morella Wendigo in Nevermore.
Fenella Woolgar and David Quilter
David Quilter
David Quilter is an English actor who has made numerous appearances in UK television plays and series since the mid 1960s.He was born in Northwood, London and attended Bryanston School, Dorset...
previously appeared in episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
("Lord Edgware Dies" and "The Million Dollar Bond Robbery", respectively).
Christopher Benjamin, who plays Colonel Hugh, previously starred in two serials of the original Doctor Who series, playing Sir Keith Gold in Inferno
Inferno (Doctor Who)
Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
(1970) and Henry Gordon Jago
Henry Gordon Jago
Henry Gordon Jago was a character who appeared in the 1977 Doctor Who television serial, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He was played by Christopher Benjamin. He worked so well with Trevor Baxter's character, Professor George Litefoot, the production team briefly considered giving them their own...
in The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 26 February to 2 April 1977.-Synopsis:...
(1977).
Music
The music playing at the garden party is the "Twentieth Century Blues", originally from Noël CowardNoël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's 1931 play Cavalcade
Cavalcade (musical)
Cavalcade is a musical spectacle written and composed by Noel Coward. It opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the London West End on 13 October 1931, running for 405 performances. A film of it, with the same title, was produced in 1933...
. The recording used here, edited together with other period music, is a 1931 recording of 'Love is the Sweetest Thing' by Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra
Ray Noble (musician)
Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
, featuring vocalist Al Bowlly
Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...
.
Editing
A framing deviceFraming device
The term framing device refers to the usage of the same single action, scene, event, setting, or any element of significance at both the beginning and end of an artistic, musical, or literary work. The repeated element thus creates a ‘frame’ within which the main body of work can develop.The...
featuring the aged Agatha Christie trying to recall the events that took place during her disappearance was deleted because the producers felt it diminished the story's urgency. The original ending featured the Doctor and Donna visiting the elderly Christie; a new ending in the TARDIS set was filmed after the producers decided to cut the framing sequence, much later than the filming for the rest of the story.
The framing sequence and another scene cut for time are present on the Doctor Who Series 4
Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...
DVD box set.
Broadcast and reception
BARBBarb
Barb may refer to:* A backward-facing point on a fish hook or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victim's flesh more difficult* Wind barbs for each station on a map of reported weather conditions...
figures show that "The Unicorn and the Wasp", was watched by 8.41 million viewers, making it the second most popular programme of the day (behind ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
) and the seventh most watched programme the week. The episode received an Appreciation Index
Appreciation Index
The Audience Appreciation Index is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television...
score of 86 (considered "Excellent").