Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 7 - The Unicorn & The Wasp - Review

Starring: David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Fenella Woolgar & Felicity Kendall

Written By: Gareth Roberts

Directed By: Graeme Harper

In the closing moments of series finales, it's worth keeping an eye on what appear to be throwaway lines of dialogue. For instance, at the end of 'The Big Bang', the Doctor gets a telephone call about an Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express, and three series later, we get 'Mummy On The Orient Express'. It happened in 'Last Of The Time Lords' too - just before Martha leaves the TARDIS, the Doctor suggests visiting Agatha Christie, and here we are with Christie in 'The Unicorn & The Wasp'. Funny old world isn't it? 

The Doctor and Donna arrive in 1926, and make themselves guests at a dinner party hosted by Lord Curbishley and Lady Eddison. Among the guests is famous crime writer, Agatha Christie, but the Doctor deduces that they have arrived on the same date that Christie disappears for ten days. Stranger still, an alien, disguised as one of the guests, begins killing the other guests off one by one, using methods similar to those found in Christie's books. Together, the Doctor, Donna and Christie become embroiled in their own murder mystery investigation. 

Before I get any further into this review, it's worth throwing up a bit of a disclaimer. Rather like his episode last year, 'The Shakespeare Code', writer Gareth Roberts has centred the plot on a famous, acclaimed writer, and your personal enjoyment of the episode may vary depending on how much you enjoy said writer's work. As I said in my review of 'The Shakespeare Code', while I liked the episode, I will admit that I'm not the world's biggest fan of Shakespeare's plays … and unfortunately, Roberts has done the same thing again, as I'm not the biggest fan of Agatha Christie's work either. So I will put my hands in the air, hang my head in shame and openly admit that I am an uncultured swine, and I am very sorry. On the bright side, I would say my disinterest in most of Christie's work doesn't reach quite the same extent as that of Shakespeare. In fact, much of my ambivalence towards her work can be traced back to my mum watching endless repeats of 'Miss Marple' or 'Poirot' on ITV3 when I was a kid, and back then, old ladies, silly moustaches and 1920s posh people weren't my idea of fun. 

Thankfully, I can say pretty confidently that the worlds of Agatha Christie's novels assimilate into a 'Doctor Who' episode surprisingly well. With the Doctor and Donna running about, and a gigantic alien wasp killing everyone, Christie's works suddenly don't seem quite as dull to my inner child. Who'd have thought it? Something I can appreciate about any murder mystery is that they're not easy to write at all. More than usual, the require a writer to keep a tight check on a range of characters and their dialogue, while dropping just the right amount of hints and clues to keep viewers engaged, without giving away too soon who the murderer is. 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' succeeds not only as a love letter to Christie's work, but as its own intelligent murder mystery too. 

Of course, being a murder mystery, 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' boasts an entertaining ensemble of suspects alongside our regulars. This far into his third series, David Tennant's in full infallible flow. You'd also never guess that this is one of the first episodes Catherine Tate filmed for Series 4, as she's on her absolute A-game here. 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' is easily the most comedic episode so far, so not unexpectedly, it really suits Tate, with perhaps her best moment being the kitchen sequence and trying to help the poisoned Doctor. It's an absurd sequence, one that the cast and crew must have had so much fun filming, and I completely adore it. I also love Donna during the scene where all the surviving guests are gathered, and the Doctor and Agatha gradually reveal the killer's identity. The way she sits there eating grapes and impatiently assumes everyone who talks is the killer, is hilarious to watch. 

Heading the guest cast this week is Fenella Woolgar as perhaps the most popular crime novelist ever born. There's something very dignified yet humble about this rendition of Agatha Christie, and the performance makes her extremely likeable. I've also got to give credit to Gareth Roberts for making me aware of Christie's ten-day disappearance, something I hadn't previously known anything about. You could argue that most of the characters, such as Lady Eddison, Robina Redmond or the Reverend Golightly are pretty stock murder suspects, almost like something from a game of Cluedo (the first victim is called Professor Peach after all). But I'd tend to look past it as there's often something fun about them that comes largely through each performance. Felicity Jones as the duplicitous Ms Redmond, Tom Goodman-Hill as the soft-spoken vicar, or even Christopher Benjamin (a.k.a. Henry Gordon Jago himself) as the old-fashioned and fun Colonel Curbishley. 

This is the thing about 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' - it's one of those episodes I feel I have difficulty with in breaking it down and going into too much detail. But that's only because it's really really good, silly fun. It isn't particularly deep or groundbreaking, but it never aims to be. It's an episode much more concerned with being thoroughly entertaining, and it most definitely succeeds. Looking at the wider picture, it's place in the middle of Series 4 is pretty smart. Russell T Davies said he wanted some kind of draw for this series to avoid the typical mid-season ratings lull, and I think an episode like this centred around such a popular figure as Agatha Christie has done the job. Looking forward at what's to come in Series 4, this also works as a last opportunity for some fun before we get to much darker things. 

I'll admit I don't have too much to say on this episode as a whole. My only issue with it, my general ambivalence towards the famous writer it chooses to focus on, is solely my own fault rather than the episode's. But even with that to consider, 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' is still absolutely up there as one of the show's most entertaining tales, standing head and shoulders alongside many other greats. Series 4's high point? Nope. But the most fun and easy-going? Without question.

The Unicorn & The Wasp

8/10