The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)

"The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture"

- Agatha Christie

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

Plot
The Tardis arrives and the Doctor and Donna Noble arrive at a dinner party hosted by Lady Eddison and her husband, Colonel Hugh. One of the guests is none other than Agatha Christie. Looking at a newspaper, the Doctor finds that it is December 8, 1926, the day of Agatha Christie's disappearance. Just as this revelation is made, another guest, Professor Peach, is murdered and later found by Eddison's friend and companion Miss Chandrakala in the library, murdered with a lead pipe; Donna comments on the similarity to Cluedo. The Doctor finds morphic residue on the floor while examining the scene, meaning that one of the guests isn't human.

Aided by Agatha, the Doctor interviews the guests while Donna goes looking for clues. When she investigates a locked room in which Lady Eddison had sequestered herself while dealing with malaria, She saw a giant wasp out side the window. It chases Donna but escapes and goes to the roof, knocking a gargoyle off of it and killing Miss Chandrakala. Her last words are "The poor little child." At this point it becomes clear that the murder is being played out like one of Agatha's novels.

While the three mull over the evidence they've gathered thus far, the Doctor is poisoned with cyanide; however, it is not as fatal for him as it is for humans, and an odd combination of ingredients (ginger beer, walnuts, salt (anchovies) and a shock (a kiss from Donna)) allow him to detoxify himself. In return, the Doctor "poisons" the guests' dinner with pepper; naturally this is not harmful to humans, but it acts as an insecticide to wasps. A buzzing sound can be heard moments later, to which 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, Lady Eddison's son, is murdered in the confusion, and Lady Eddison's necklace, 'The Firestone,' is stolen.

In the sitting room, the Doctor and Agatha reveal several secrets about the guests and hosts. Robina Redmond, one of the guests, is a thief called the 'The Unicorn' who coveted the Firestone and stole it in the confusion; however, she is not the killer. The truth of Lady Eddison's bout of malaria is also revealed; she was actually pregnant, and not by another human being. The alien was a Vespiform, and gave her the Firestone necklace. The necklace is psychically linked to her son, whom she had given up for adoption and never seen again. Her son is actually the Reverend Golightly, who had come to associate Agatha Christie's novels with the way the world must work because Lady Eddison had been reading one when his alien biology was awakened in a moment of anger.

Golightly, now enraged once more at being discovered, transforms into his wasp form. Agatha snatches the Firestone, and Golightly pursues her since she is now linked to it. The Doctor and Donna follow after her. Agatha leads the creature to the lake, as shown in the picture above, where Donna throws the necklace into the water and thus drowns it. Still linked to the necklace, Agatha nearly dies, but Golightly chooses to release her as his last act. The trauma causes amnesia, and the Doctor deposits her at the Harrogate Hotel ten days later, fulfilling the conditions of her unexplained disappearance.

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.

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 - 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

Production crew
To be added

Story Notes

 * Professor Peach is a reference to Professor Plum of the popular Cluedo murder mystery game.
 * David Tennant's father makes a cameo as a footman.
 * There are a lot of references to titles of the books of Agatha Christie.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The teddy bear is claimed to be 40 years old in 1926. Teddy bears were introduced around 1906.
 * The car by the lake abandoned by Agatha Christy does not look anything like the car she really left at the lake.
 * The day Agatha Christy disapeared was december 8. Yet the garden is a nice summer setting and almost completely blooming.
 * The Vespiform is "big enough to grow another stinger" yet one dip in water and it has drowned.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentioned to Martha Jones in DW: Last of the Time Lords, that they could take a trip to see Agatha Christie, but was unable due to Martha leaving at the time. Ironically, Martha leaves in the episode preceding this one.


 * This is the third time a famous author has appeared in the revived series. The first being Charles Dickens (DW: The Unquiet Dead), the second being William Shakespeare (DW: The Shakespeare Code) and now Agatha Christie.


 * The Doctor and Donna are (again) mistaken by Agatha Christie to be a couple, this has previously occured in DW: The Fires of Pompeii, Planet of the Ood and The Doctor's Daughter. However, unlike the other occasions, Christie does deduce that they are not married, noting the lack of wedding rings.


 * This is the third time that the Doctor has told a companion not to imitate an accent/dialect of certain time/place on Earth. The first was Rose doing a (poor) Scottish accent in DW: Tooth and Claw and the second was Martha imitating Elizabethan English in The Shakespeare Code.


 * Donna says it's like seeing Charles Dickens with ghosts on Christmas day which occured in DW: The Unquiet Dead.
 * This is not the only instance of human alien intercourse, Bernice Summerfield (whilst her body was taken over) had an encounter with a Kiloran in BFBS: The Squire's Crystal.
 * In BFA: Terror Firma the Doctor claims that Agatha Christie travelled with him.

DVD and Other Releases

 * Planned release of the Series 4 box set DVD in November 2008.
 * Following the broadcast this story was available via the BBC's website to watch on the BBC iPlayer, for UK residents only.