The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)

The Unicorn and the Wasp was the seventh episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who. It saw Doctor Who's take on the disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926.

Synopsis
In 1926, Agatha Christie mysteriously disappeared, only to be found ten days later, with no memory of what had happened. Was it a nervous breakdown? A cry for help? Or perhaps a giant alien wasp..?

Plot
The Doctor and Donna Noble materialise the TARDIS outside a country estate in the 1920s with a vintage car coming up the driveway. The car's driver, Professor Peach, parks and meets the local reverend, Arnold Golightly. They exchange a few words, and Peach goes to the library to do some research. Golightly tells Peach that this work will lead to his death.

In the library, Professor Peach discovers a secret amongst the papers. Suddenly, a shadowy person comes in, and Peach quickly hides his papers. He asks the mysterious person what he is doing with a lead pipe, and the mysterious person bludgeons the luckless professor to death.

The Doctor and Donna head to the front lawn, and meet the guests, first, the hosts, Lady Eddison and her wheelchair-handicapped husband, Colonel Hugh Curbishley, and their son Roger. Roger secretly flirts with Davenport, the male servant. The Doctor bluffs his way in by using the psychic paper. Lady Eddison tells the Doctor about the Unicorn, a jewel thief on the loose and who has just struck again. Next to arrive is Reverend Golightly, followed by fashion model Robina Redmond. Last to come is British mystery writer, Agatha Christie. Still a young writer, she has recently published her sixth novel. The Doctor and Donna are both impressed. Lady Eddison tells Miss Chandrakala to go into the house and find Professor Peach.

The Doctor acquires a newspaper. He shows Donna the date - 8 December 1926, the day Agatha Christie disappeared. He explains that Agatha had just discovered that her husband is having an affair. Being British, these people would normally just carry on, but this time, that didn't happen. Tomorrow morning, her car will be found abandoned by the side of a lake. In ten days, Agatha will turn up in a hotel in Harrogate with no memory of what happened.

Miss Chandrakala comes back, having found Professor Peach's body. The Doctor and Donna race to the library. The Doctor determines that blunt force trauma was the likely cause of death, and notes that the watch broke as the victim fell - pinpointing the exact time of death to 4:15 PM. The Doctor uses his psychic paper to identify himself as a Scotland Yard inspector and has everyone leave.

Donna comments on the similarity to the board game Cluedo as the Doctor finds "morphic residue" on the floor while examining the scene - a by-product of shapeshifting. One of the guests isn't really human. Agatha discreetly removes a fragment of paper from the fireplace with the word "maiden" on it. The Doctor notices but says nothing. He gives Donna a magnifying glass to investigate, and suggests that Agatha work for him. She reluctantly agrees, unhappy at the Doctor's casual attitude toward the murder.

During the interviews, while the guests recount their stories of what they were doing at 4:15 PM, flashbacks reveal that each is hiding something, except for Reverend Golightly (who claims to have been unpacking in his room): Lady Eddison claims to having been taking tea, though she was surreptitiously consuming liquor. Robina Redmond claims to have been using the toilet, but was in the bathroom loading a tiny pistol. Roger Curbishley, Lady Eddison's son, claims to have been walking, alone, when he was attending a tryst with his lover, Davenport, one of the servants. Colonel Hugh claims he was reading military memoirs in the study, though he was viewing erotica while fantasising about can-can dancers. He has trouble distinguishing between both the modern era and the past.

Agatha produces the paper she removed earlier with the letters "a-i-d-e-n", preceded by one illegible letter. It obviously spells the word "Maiden", although neither she nor the Doctor is able to divine its significance.

Meanwhile, Donna investigates a locked door and the older butler, Greeves, tells her that Lady Eddison recovered from malaria in it and it has been undisturbed in forty years. He lets Donna in. She dismisses him, but as she investigates she hears a buzzing noise. Finding a giant wasp outside the window, she uses the magnifying glass to focus the sun's rays on it, injuring it and allowing her to flee. The insect chases her, impaling its stinger in a door. The Doctor and Agatha arrive, and the Doctor collects a sample of fluid from the stinger.

Davenport is in the kitchen, speculating about the murder. Miss Chandrakala is also there, and dismisses it until she suddenly realises exactly what Professor Peach was doing. Rushing off, she is killed when an unseen figure hurls a gargoyle from a ledge--and hits her head.

Hearing her scream, the Doctor, Agatha, and Donna rush outside; Miss Chandrakala dies, cryptically saying "The poor little child..." Seeing the wasp hovering above the building, the Doctor gives chase, but loses the creature in a hall. When the Doctor shouts "show yourself," all of the doors open and every suspect appears.

The guests pile pressure on Agatha to solve the murder. She retreats to the garden. Donna goes out with her and compares her similar trouble with men. Agatha discovers a box filled with thief's tools, possibly the Unicorn.

The three mull over the evidence they've gathered. The Doctor notes that his sample apparently is that of a Vespiform, a type of creature from a distant galaxy. Donna accidentally gives Agatha the idea for Miss Marple. Suddenly, the Doctor starts to have convulsions, and he realises someone has poisoned him with cyanide. While cyanide is always fatal to humans, Time Lords can neutralise the poison and expel it--if they ingest a most odd combination of ingredients (in this case, ginger beer, proteins (in walnuts), salt (contained in anchovies; pure salt is apparently "too salty") followed by a big shock (a kiss from Donna).

Recovered, the Doctor "poisons" the guests' dinner with pepper; this is not harmful to humans, but is poisonous to wasps. He comments that he must be making someone nervous. A buzzing is heard. Lady Eddison exclaims, "It can't be!" The lights are blown out by a sudden wind and they again fail to ascertain the identity of the alien. Roger, is fatally stabbed in the back in the commotion, and Lady Eddison's necklace, 'The Firestone', is stolen.

In the sitting room, the Doctor and Agatha reveal secrets about the guests and hosts. Agatha exposes Robina Redmond as the Unicorn, who stole the Firestone in the confusion; however, she is not the killer. The thief's tools were found beneath her bedroom window. Agatha points out Robina must have thrown them out when she heard that Donna was searching the rooms.

Agatha picks up the Firestone and asks Lady Eddison to explain how she brought it back from India, then suffered from malaria and kept herself confined in her room. Agatha concludes that Lady Eddison came back from India pregnant and concealed it with the aid of Miss Chandrakala. The Doctor realises what is happening, and with his expertise on extraterrestrial matters, he has Lady Eddison explain: during her stay in India, she met a man named Christopher, and they had an affair. Christopher revealed he was a Vespiform who took human form to study Earth. He died during a monsoon but he left her the Firestone. Lady Eddison's baby was placed in an orphanage, but Professor Peach must have discovered the truth, which is why he was killed. Agatha notes that Lady Eddison is innocent of murder and turns it back over to the Doctor, who notes that Donna was right and that whoever is the Vespiform in disguise is acting this all out like the plots of Agatha's murder mysteries.

The Doctor notes that Lady Eddison was reading a murder mystery (specifically, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) last Thursday night, the same night that two thieves broke into Golightly's church. Golightly couldn't have defeated two strong men, and it has been forty years since Lady Eddison gave birth… and Golightly is celebrating his 40th birthday. Also, Golightly said earlier that he was taught by the Christian fathers, meaning that he was raised in an orphanage. The Doctor notes that Golightly got angry (a proper deep anger for the first time in his life), and he transformed for the first time in his life. His alien biology was awakened. Also,he Firestone is not a jewel at all, but a Vespiform telepathic recorder, part of Golightly's very essence. When Golightly activated, the Firestone beamed his identity directly into his brain. He also accidentally received the works of Agatha Christie as his template for how the world should work: hence the style of the murders.

Golightly killed Professor Peach after he learned that the Professor had discovered his adoption paperwork. After killing him, he attempted to burn the paperwork: the word "Maiden" on the paper Agatha plucked from the grate had in fact said "Maiden Name".

Golightly, enraged at being discovered, assumes his wasp form. Agatha snatches the Firestone, screaming that her mind--that which had taught the Vespiform to kill--will find a way to destroy him. Golightly pursues her, as her thought patterns are linked to him through the Firestone. She takes a car and drives away, hysterically repeating "It's all my fault." The Doctor and Donna follow her in the late Professor Peach's car, with the Doctor ominously warning that "time is in flux" - that there is no guarantee that Agatha will survive, which could leave history severely damaged.

Agatha leads the creature to a lake. The Doctor tries to persuade Golightly that he was not meant to kill, but he does not listen. Donna seizes the opportunity to snatch the Firestone and hurl it into the water. Golightly pursues it and drowns, as his father had, in the Indian monsoons forty years before.

Still linked to the necklace, Agatha nearly dies, but Golightly unaccountably chooses to release her as his last act. The psychic trauma causes retrograde amnesia, and the Doctor deposits her at the Harrogate Hotel ten days later, fulfilling the demands of history.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor produces one of Agatha's novels, and points to the copyright page in the front. The publication date is listed as the year five billion; Agatha Christie is quite literally the most popular writer of all time. The novel in question is Death in the Clouds, a novel which features a gigantic wasp on the cover. Agatha Christie had somehow remembered bits of her adventure with the Doctor and Donna.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * Agatha Christie - Fenella Woolgar
 * Lady Clemency Eddison - Felicity Kendal
 * Reverend Golightly - Tom Goodman-Hill
 * Colonel Hugh Curbishley - Christopher Benjamin
 * Robina Redmond/The Unicorn - Felicity Jones
 * The Hon. Roger Curbishley - Adam Rayner
 * Greeves - David Quilter
 * Davenport - Daniel King
 * Professor Peach - Ian Barritt
 * Miss Chandrakala - Leena Dhingra
 * Mrs Hart - Charlotte Eaton

Locations

 * The Doctor and Donna drop Agatha off at the Harrogate Hotel.

Species

 * The Doctor brings out the Carrionite sphere and a Cyberman logo from a chest of things beginning with C.

Individuals

 * With this episode, Donna became the most recent companion to kiss the Doctor (or be kissed by him) on the lips. By this time, on-screen kisses included: Dr. Grace Holloway, shortly after his seventh regeneration; Jack Harkness, who kissed the Doctor (and Rose) farewell whilst on the Gamestation; the Doctor kissing Rose Tyler later in the same episode; Cassandra kissing the Doctor while possessing Rose Tyler's body; Jackie Tyler kissing the Doctor three times when he and Rose returned home in the middle of the ghost crisis; the Doctor kissing Martha Jones to confuse the Judoon's scanners; and Astrid Peth kissing the Doctor twice whilst on the Titanic. Unlike the other kisses, Donna's kiss is not a romantic gesture, but intended to induce a shock in him as part of his antidote to cyanide poisoning.
 * Donna compares Agatha's marital troubles to her own fiance's conspiracy with the Empress of the Racnoss. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * Donna sarcastically comments on the likelihood of meeting Charles Dickens and "ghosts" on Christmas day - not realising the Doctor had done just that back in Christmas week 1869. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)

Technology

 * The Doctor has a flashback to saving Charlemagne from "an insane computer" in Belgium. This adventure is later explored in the short story "The Lonely Computer".

Food and beverages

 * Donna orders a sidecar and the Doctor orders a lime soda.
 * Donna and Agatha Christie drink orange juice and Golightly tries to poison the Doctor by slipping cyanide into his lemonade.
 * The Doctor consumes ginger beer, walnuts and anchovies to cure himself of the cyanide poisoning.
 * The Doctor laced the soup with pepper.
 * Donna mentions the Harvey Wallbanger cocktail at one point when the Doctor is being poisoned.

Real world

 * The Firestone is a reference to the Wilkie Collins book The Moonstone (1868), one of the earliest works of detective fiction.

References to Agatha Christie novels & short stories

 * Donna mentioned Miss Marple and the story of the murder in the Orient Express before Agatha Christie has written about them, and may therefore have inadvertently caused the creation of them.
 * Another potential influence occurs when the Doctor is poisoned and Christie is heard to utter the words "sparkling cyanide", which happens to be the title of her well-known 1945 novel.
 * The Colonel faking his inability to walk and the Unicorn posing as Robina Redmond are ideas taken from the Christie novel After the Funeral.
 * Lady Eddison is depicted reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, an early Agatha Christie novel where the murderer is actually a doctor.
 * Novel titles referenced in the episode are:
 * Dead Man's Folly: Mrs. Chandrakala's description of the Professor's book (as in 'a dead man's folly'; not the actual name of the book).
 * The Body in the Library: Donna's remark about the professor's death
 * Cat Among the Pigeons: a servant's remark about the murder.
 * Nemesis: Agatha's nickname for the murderer;
 * The Secret Adversary: Agatha's nickname for the murderer;
 * N or M?: the Doctor's question to Agatha about the piece of paper she found;
 * Murder on the Orient Express: Donna mentions it to Agatha Christie, unaware that the book hasn't been written yet;
 * Why Didn't They Ask Evans?: the professor's remark before he dies is "Why didn't they ask... heavens" (the book's title refers to the murder victim's last words);
 * They Do It With Mirrors: Agatha's explanation about the giant wasp, believing it to be a hoax.
 * Appointment with Death: Lady Eddison says Chandrakala had "an appointment with death" when mourning over her death.
 * Cards on the Table: the phrase the Colonel used when he asked Agatha about what she knew about the mystery
 * Sparkling Cyanide: Agatha Christie says after detecting cyanide in the lemonade
 * Crooked House: How Agatha describes the history of Eddison Manner.
 * Endless Night: how the Doctor describes the current murder mystery
 * Taken at the Flood: Lady Eddison said "He was taken at the Flood", referring to her Vespiform lover
 * The Moving Finger: the Doctor phrases "the moving finger points" when interrogating the suspects
 * The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: the book Lady Eddison was reading when the Firestone activated
 * Death Comes as the End: Agatha says "Death comes as the end, and justice is served" after Golightly's death
 * The Murder at the Vicarage: the Doctor says "Murder at the Vicar's Rage" after Golightly's death, though he believes it could do with some work
 * Yellow Iris (a short story included in The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories): at the dinner where the Doctor spikes the soup with pepper, there is a vase of yellow iris as a table centrepiece. It was later expanded to novel length as Sparkling Cyanide.
 * In Russell T Davies' rewrite of the script, he inserted a reference to Ten Little Niggers (also known as Ten Little Indians and And Then There Were None), but deleted it

Games

 * Professor Peach is killed with a lead pipe in the study, a reference to the game Cluedo. (Known as Clue in North America)

Movies

 * After Donna has the sealed room unlocked, she tells the butler to "buttle off," possibly a reference to the Cluedo Play or Movie.

Story notes

 * This episode is the 50th episode of the revived series of Doctor Who.
 * In terms of principal photography, this is the second story shot in the fourth series.
 * A different opening and conclusion to the episode were filmed. The two scenes take place in the mid-1970s and feature another actress playing the aged Christie, who begins the episode by having flashbacks and dreams relating to her adventure of some 50 years earlier. The ending of the episode featured the Doctor and Donna visiting Christie, upon which she begins to remember what happened and is shown a copy of the facsimile edition of Death in the Clouds from the year 5 billion. When it was decided to abandon the framing sequence, this second scene was remounted in the TARDIS. Both scenes were presented to the public for the first time in the 2008 DVD box set of Series 4.
 * Some of these characters resemble Cluedo characters.
 * Clemency Eddison resembles Mrs Peacock
 * Robina Redmond resembles Miss Scarlet
 * Colonel Hugh Curshiby resembles Colonel Mustard
 * Professor Gerald Peach resembles Professor Plum
 * Miss Chandrakala resembles Miss White
 * Reverend Arnold Golightly resembles Reverend Green
 * In addition, some variations on the game include a 'Miss Peach' character, including the colour of the unfortunate professor from this episode.
 * David Tennant's father makes a cameo as a footman.
 * Graeme Harper's penchant for including a distorted image of a main character is present in this story. Though not included in every single story he's directed for BBC Wales, it's seen often enough to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Similar distortion is achieved through the use of other magnifying glasses in Army of Ghosts and Utopia, a curved window in Journey's End, and with mirrors in Turn Left. This time, it's Donna's face that gets "the Harper treatment".
 * The Agatha Christie book the Doctor produces from the trunk underneath the Tardis is a Fontana Paperback fascimile edition, published in 1987. Presumably the Year 5,000,000 copyright page was somehow transplanted in.
 * Felicity Kendall, who plays Lady Eddison, was one of the stars of the classic BBC situation comedy, The Good Life. Her co star, Richard Briers appeared in DW: Paradise Towers as the Chief Caretaker, and in the Torchwood episode A Day in the Death as dying millionaire Henry Parker.
 * Christopher Benjamin had previously appeared in DW: Inferno and The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
 * The Doctor's description of his cyanide poisoning as involving "inhibited enzymes" approximates the actual mechanism of cyanide toxicity. Cyanide inhibits the enzyme aa3 by binding to the iron that it contains, reducing the ability of the cell use oxygen to create the compound ATP, used for cellular energy transfer. Since 95% percent of ATP production in the human body (and presumably also Time Lords) is aerobic, mortality via energy starvation quickly follows. The Doctor's method of uninhibiting the enzymes, however, is not based on a real remedy (for humans, in any case).

Ratings
to be added

Myths and rumours

 * Due to actress Billie Piper being seen on set it was thought that the unicorn was in fact Rose Tyler. This was false.
 * Brief glimpses of the giant wasp in this episode were included in the first Series 4 trailer; leading to speculation (since the view is too short to definitively identify the species) that this was a reference to the ongoing theme of disappearing bees. This was also false
 * Similarly, the brief glimpse in the trailer of the actress who plays Clemency Eddison, who resembles the actress who played Lady Cassandra in Series 1 and 2, led to speculation that Cassandra would appear in this episode. This was also false
 * At the beginning of the episode, the phonograph plays a march and the first notes are reminiscent of the Master's theme. This was true

Studio

 * Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest

Location

 * Llansannor Court, Vale Of Glamorgan
 * Tredegar House, Newport
 * Pen Y Lan Road, Newport
 * Cefn Mably Lakes, Cefn Mably
 * Hensol Castle, Hensol

Production errors

 * According to this story, Agatha Christie went missing around summer. But in real life, she disappeared in December, making this story not completely canonical to our Universe's perspective.
 * When Donna Noble mentions "talking pictures," Agatha Christie reacts as if she has no idea what they are. This episode is set in 1926, the year before the first full length "talkie," The Jazz Singer, was released, but "talking picture" shorts had been exhibited for some time prior to that, and someone as knowlegeable as Agatha Christie would certainly have known they existed.

Continuity

 * The Doctor suggested to Martha Jones in DW: Last of the Time Lords, that they take a trip to see Agatha Christie, but was unable due to Martha leaving at the time. Ironically, this is not long after Martha has left again.
 * During the final scene, the Doctor produces a replica Agatha Christie paperback book printed in the far future. Although not an obvious cliffhanger on the order of the ending to many First, Second and Fifth Doctor stories, it does nevertheless establish the fact that traditionally bound books are still produced long after electronic editions would presumably have made them obsolete. In this sense, it may be seen as at least narratively linked to the next episode broadcast DW: Silence in the Library, which begins with the Doctor discussing how printed books continue on as a valuable resource into the far future.
 * This is the third time a famous author or playwright has appeared in the revived series: Charles Dickens (DW: The Unquiet Dead), William Shakespeare (DW: The Shakespeare Code) and now Agatha Christie.
 * The Doctor displays the ability to tell a time period by smell, (which may have been faked due to the vintage car in the driveway). However, he previously displayed this ability in WC: Scream of the Shalka. Such an ability is also referenced in BFA: The Eye of the Scorpion (although, in this, the Doctor admits to having seen ancient texts on the wall behind the TARDIS). Later, in DW: The Eleventh Hour, he demonstrates a similar ability to determine age by taste.
 * Donna stated that solving a mystery with Agatha Christie is like "...meeting Charles Dickens, and he’s surrounded by ghosts. At Christmas.", to which the Doctor replies "Well...", recalling his adventure involving those exact circumstances/ (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
 * The Doctor and Donna are once again mistaken for to be a couple. This has previously occurred in DW: The Fires of Pompeii, Planet of the Ood and The Doctor's Daughter.
 * When Doctor remembers being in Belgium, he is carrying a bow and quiver, as he was when he met Sally Sparrow. (DW: Blink) It is possible that the adventure to save Charlemagne from "an insane computer" happened at around the same time. (WC: The Lonely Computer) It is also possible that the bow and arrows were re-used in either incident (first obtained in one incident and re-used in the other) because when Sally Sparrow encounters the Doctor and Martha with the bow and arrows, Martha mentions 'hatching time' and 'migration' inferring that they need the bow and arrows to shoot (possibly) some sort of space-bird, so the two incidents couldn't have happened right next to each other.
 * Donna compares her fiancé Lance Bennett's conspiracy with the Empress of the Racnoss to Agatha's marital troubles. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * The Doctor brings out the Carrionite sphere and a Cyberman logo from a chest of things beginning with C. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel, The Shakespeare Code)
 * This is not the first occurrence of interspecies intercourse. There are many references throughout the series, including a reference in DW: The Doctor Dances to it being one way in which humans so quickly propagated themselves throughout the galaxy "So many species, so little time")
 * Agatha Christie is one of several people to demand to know who the Doctor is, only to receive no real reply. Charles Dickens, Solomon, Trish Webber, the passengers of the Crusader 50, and Metella Caecilius Iucundus are but a few of the others who have fruitlessly questioned the Doctor's identity.
 * This is the third time that the Doctor has told a companion not to imitate a period dialect. The first was Rose doing a (poor) Scottish accent in DW: Tooth and Claw and the second was Martha imitating Elizabethan English in DW: The Shakespeare Code. This time Donna attempts an over-exaggerated upper class accent. Though not exactly a period dialect the Doctor also tells Martha to stop when she tries to imitate a pirate voice in DW: The Infinite Quest
 * In BFA: Terror Firma the Eighth Doctor claimed that Agatha Christie travelled with him.
 * Donna gives Agatha ideas in a similar manner to how the Doctor did with William Shakespeare. (DW: The Shakespeare Code)
 * Lady Eddison calls Chandrakala her "faithful companion." The Master previously used the same two words for his wife Lucy Saxon. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
 * Though she is probably simply using the stereotypical name for an alien planet, Donna makes reference to the planet Zog, which is later seen in DW:The End of Time. There is also the chance that Zog was their original destination and the TARDIS took them to the wrong place, which is evident from the Doctor having to deduce what time they were in at the beginning of the episode, which would be unnecessary if he chose to visit Earth in said timeline.
 * What happens to Agatha Christie is not dissimilar to Donna's own ultimate fate. (DW: Journey's End)
 * When Donna was investigating the locked room, she heard the buzzing of the wasp before she saw him. She commented aloud that in 1926, there are still bumble bees. The disappearance of bees is frequently mentioned during Series 4. Its significance is eventually revealed in DW: The Stolen Earth. In the real world, both Bumble Bees and Honey Bees are disappearing from the globe, a major concern.
 * When Donna begins to remember her adventures with the Doctor, she asks Wilfred why she can see a giant wasp, a reference to the Vespiform. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Sir Hugh mentions the Relief of Mafeking during the Boer Wars, at which the First Doctor was present. (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, DW: The Invasion of Time)

Timeline

 * This story takes place after WC: The Lonely Computer
 * This story takes place before DW: Silence in the Library

Home video releases

 * Released in the Series 4 DVD box set in November 2008 along with the rest of the Series.
 * Released as Series 4 Volume 2 in a vanilla edition alongside The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky and The Doctor's Daughter.