Doctor Who 4x7 Reaction!! "The Unicorn and the Wasp"

[@mollymaclachlan]

One of my favourite little details in this episode that I'm not even 100% sure is intentional is the word "spiffing". It's only used twice in the episode: when Donna is pretending to be posh she says "Topping day, what? Spiffing", and when "Miss Redmond" arrives at the party, she says "Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady". The only two people who say it are the two pretending to be posh.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

That has to be intentional! I noticed she said it, but I didn’t connect that she was also an imposter. Great catch.

[@channyh.221B]

Fun trivia: David Tennant's father Sandy came to visit the set one day (this happened a year after his wife and David's mum passed away) and they gave him a little non-speaking role as a Footman, serving drinks. As he passed a way 8 years later, this episode will always feel extra special.

[@fayesouthall6604]

Agatha Christie did show up with amnesia after being missing for 10 days. The writer had some fun with it!

[@ewan0801]

16:31 ah yes I remember in Portal 2 when Wheatley wrote silence in the library

[@lemonfreshrob]

It's also littered with Christie book titles: "N or M", "Endless Night", "Cards on the Table", "Sparkling Cyanide", "Why Didn't they ask...Evans" (although they say "heavens" to make a joke of it) the list goes on... I also like the footman's response to the Doctor yelling "Ginger Beer" at him! "I beg your pardon?" "Ginger Beer" is Cockney rhyming slang for "Queer" and whilst he undoutedly was, it wasn't something he'd want advertised in those days. It's kind of my go-to feel-good episode this one.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

This is an amazing go to feel good episode. I could see myself rewatching this one more than some of the "better" episodes just because of the vibe.

[@MsHorriblehistories]

Also 'the man in the brown suit' referenced by the doctor wearing a brown suit

[@user-sy6tg1ol9e]

"Next one is a two parter, written by Steven Moffat", Omg you have no idea how excited I am to hears those words

[@Sparx632]

A lot of people think this is the weakest episode of Series 4, but for me it’s such a fun and humorous episode and is definitely one of my favourites.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

This is probably my favorite “historical” episode. It was just a lot of fun.

[@fayesouthall6604]

I love it. The end of this series is the best

Because this episode is actually quite camp. I don't particularly mind, but compared to the rest of this series, it is a bit weak, yeah. That's not to say it's bad; it's still leagues ahead of _certain_ series 2 episodes, for example.

[@dumblebee9167]

It’s crazy to think that people say that when this is one of my all time favourite Doctor Who episodes

[@medafan53]

This episode is what's known as a breather, a light, quirky adventure used to help clense the audience's pallete and calm them dowwn after or before a big heavy one, in this case both after the emotional gut punch of the Doctor's Daughter, and ahead of a run of intense and/or dark episodes the honestly runs up to the finale (if not all the way to Planet of the Dead). Unfortunately often when looking back, these kind of episodes are regarded as "weak" or "filler" I suppose, when held against the Sontaran 2 parter, the above mentioned episodes, and the intense moral issues discussed in Pompei and on the Ood Sphere, either this episode or the opener probably _is_ the weakest of Series 4, but that's just a testiment to Series 4; saying it's the weakest episode isn't saying it was bad, just that everything else was so good that one episode has to sit at the bottom.

[@judithstrachan9399]

Don’t forget, the Doctor & Donna reunited in “Partners in Crime”, same name as AC’s first Tommy & Tuppence book.

[@knavehart]

Christopher Benjamin, the actor playing Colonel Hugh appeared in Talons of Weng Chiang, a story from the fourth Doctor era, a very popular from that time and he reprise that part for multiple stories in Audio of course The Unicorn went on to steal the Death Star plans...

[@amberandrews3905]

Agatha Christie is buried in my local village churchyard in Cholsey, Oxforshire, England! I have spent many a year going to her grave and having some (albeit one way) conversations with the genius about my life. Her presence, even after death, has always been a comfort to me in difficult times. Her (and her second husband's) grave is in a 12th century graveyard overlooking the fields of Oxfordshire, where there are beautiful sunsets that shine on her at the end of each day. I recommend a visit

[@HillProductions]

I was originally confused what you meant by "Clue", in the UK we call it Cluedo haha 😂

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Oh wow! I had no idea it was called something else. Glad you worked it out 😅

[@shadowphoenix1696]

​@CasualNerdReactions we also call "where's Waldo", "Where's Wally"

[@HuntingViolets]

Is it Dr. Black who gets killed instead of Mr. Boddy?

[@obiwankenobi687]

3:47 - this is Ten referencing Martha’s departure at the end of series 3. One of the last things he says to her before she departs the TARDIS when thinking about where they could go next, the Doctor says ‘I know, what about Agatha Christie, I bet she’s brilliant’

[@Verumex]

Just a fun, harmless adventure, this one. This will never enter many conversations about Doctor Who stories, but it's perfectly enjoyable story, with a lot of fun comedy moments.

[@coffinflop]

"how is harvey wallbanger one word!!!!!!!!" is SO iconic

[@CasualNerdReactions]

This is an ideal, fun stand along episode!

[@dylanamite]

A great episode! Not many fans are fond of this one, but I've always found it super fun! I cannot WAIT for the next one!

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I have a feeling it’s easy to dismiss the fun lighthearted episodes in favor of the most intense ones, but I love that Doctor who is a balance of both!

[@Verumex]

@CasualNerdReactions you are very much spot on here. The top rated episodes are, more often than not, the serious ones, with good horror and heavy themes. But as you say, there's a lot of great light-hearted stuff to enjoy that gets overlooked, that are just as good.

[@TLC62]

@@CasualNerdReactions It's just like how the funny movies never win Oscars, it's always the "deep, serious" ones made solely to impress professional critics than actually entertain regular people.

[@BeeWhistler]

This is one of my all time favorites. It’s packed with famous British actors and it’s such a fun mystery.

[@Venemofthe888]

Its theorized that Agatha Cristie went into a fugue state where you a temporary state where a person has memory loss (amnesia) and ends up in an unexpected place. Some cases have been documented in the modern day and the people were found near or in large bodies of water with no memory of how they got there. Whats even weirder is that people have interacted with people in that state and they seemed fine other than a little confusion

[@nathanthomas5133]

Nice early performance from Felicity jones who got an Oscar nomination a few years later for best actress & then joined the Star Wars universe in Rogue One

[@sallyatticum]

She and David Tennant have been in several projects together going way back...

[@sallyatticum]

OH... My brain is tired, I was talking about Fenella Woolgar, of course....

[@IslesYankeeLady]

@@sallyatticumI call her, Nina Sosanya (Mom in “Fear Her”), Laura Fraser (Kane in “Orphan 55”), and Jessica Hynes (Joan Redfern in “Human Nature/Family of Blood”), “David’s “actor wives.” I assume in reality, he’s probably just good friends with each of them. Other than Doctor Who: Fenella- People like us, Bright Young Things, He Knew He Was Right, and Spies of Warsaw. Nina- People Like Us, Casanova, Twenty-Twelve, 96 Ways to Say I Love You, W1A, You, Me and Him, Staged, and Good Omens Laura- He Knew He Was Right, Casanova and Single Father Jessica- People Like Us, Learners, Twenty Twelve, Nativity: Danger in the manger! He Knew He Was Right, W1A, Hang-Ups, and of course, There She Goes. And yep, I know Twenty-Twelve and W1A are connected.

[@IslesYankeeLady]

@@sallyatticumHeh, one wonders if Jyn Erso ever got to meet Huyang? Unfortunately I doubt it. 😝

[@sallyatticum]

@@IslesYankeeLady He also was on stage with Nina in Love's Labour's Lost.

[@Redfern42]

The Colonel was played by Christopher Benjamin who was no stranger to Doctor who, having guest starred twice years earlier, as Sir Keith Gold in "Inferno" (a Jon Pertwee story) and Henry Jordon Jago in "The Talons of Wang Chiang". That latter character proved so popular that Benjamin returned to that role in a series of audio adventures for "Big Finish"! And I was TOO STUPID to recognize him when I first saw this episode! It was only upon reading a forum discussion afterwards that I learned the truth. I felt like turning in my Doctor Who fan badge.

[@SpiderRiderKya]

The most common theory in regards to her going missing and amnesia is, essentially all the stress from everything caused a sort of mental break down and she entered a fugue state.

[@RubyMadigan]

This is a personal favourite of mine. Charming and funny and silly. And so many Agatha Christie book titles throughout. Agatha Christie actually lived relatively near where I do so there is a museum about her here. She really did disappear and it headline news at the time. Unlikely though that this was the reason 😅 Edit: imagine Doctor who being written by Stephen Merchant 😅 It's Moffat, which I know you know it was just a funny slip of the tongue

[@WolfHreda]

Stephen Merchant writing an episode would be absolutely absurd. And amazing.

[@torontomame]

YAY!!!! Was waiting for this reaction. This episode is a personal favourite of mine. Partly because it's the first full episode of Doctor Who that I'd watched. But mostly because I've been a huge Agatha Christie fan since high school (I'm now 58). It was SO much fun hearing so many of her book titles peppered throughout the dialogue. ❤

[@paulhammond6978]

This is the fun episode of Season 4. I really enjoyed when Donna was saying the wasp was enormous, but no-one else was getting exactly HOW enormous she meant. Also love the way that the whole thing feels like a Miss Marple story with all the suspects holed up in a country house.

[@katearcher8514]

Somewhere Stephen Merchant experienced a sudden burning in his ears and thought "Finally, someone's remembering me!" Poor guy... 😂

[@CasualNerdReactions]

🤣

[@debbielough7754]

My favourite thing about this episode is that it's littered with in-jokes for Agatha Christie fans (which I am). There are loads of reference to her books (my husband got really annoyed at me giggling my way through the episode). For example - 'why didn't they ask... Heavens!' for 'Why Didn't They Ask Evans?', 'is that n or m?' for 'N or M'. There are a load more too (apparently the writers were competing to get them in). There are also plot points lifted out of Agatha Christie books.

[@SkillsLoading]

5:32 or being around Shakespeare and there being witches...

[@marlasotherchannel9847]

Felicity Jones, star of "Rogue One" played Robina Redmond.

[@HuntingViolets]

You wanted a fun episode and they delivered. By the way, as one of the resident Martha fans, I can't help but mention the Doctor to Martha when he thinks (hopes?) she will continue to travel with him at the end of _Last of the Time Lords:_ *Right then! Off we go. The open road! There is a burst of starfire right over the coast of Sigma Metafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth? I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant. Okay."

[@station5045]

this is one of my favourite episodes. good ol funny episode

[@CrankyGrandma]

I loved this episode. It was plain fun. I loved its wink at this movie genre. My daughter is a massive Agatha Christie fan and picked up all sorts of things only a fan of the books would get. Hope you feel better soon!

[@hammerman199374]

I'm sure it's been mentioned by now, but just in case: The actress playing Robina Redmond (aka, The Unicorn) is Felicity Jones. She would go on to star as Jyn Erso in Star Wars: Rogue One.

[@MCouldhavebeen-lu4jx3bt4p]

I mean she’s not even playing Robina Redmond, she’s The Unicorn impersonating her, which the episode directly points out, (which means there was a Robina Redmond within the Doctor Who universe just like there was a ‘real’ Edwin Bracewell in series 5 which I’ll explain when we see casual nerd get to that episode.)

[@fibrown444]

Fun fact - Agatha Christie got married for a second time to her archaeologist husband here in Edinburgh. I met Steven Moffat today at a book festival, nice chap.

[@benmcgurrell1948]

i think this goes unsaid and i think you are deserving of this praise but you are so articulate and entertaining in your presenting style and analysis and i appreciate that so much as a huge doctor who fan :)

[@Corlwow]

I feel like the poison scene is prob one of the best examples of s4 doctor who fun in one go…

[@markbechtold7372]

This is my favorite David Tennant episode. Such fun.

[@chrisfraser5088]

Definitely a fan favourite episode! Now…on to the library! 😏

[@quintuscrinis]

Time to take that book back - imagine the fines. 😅

[@chrisfraser5088]

@@quintuscrinis 😂

[@reedrichards1961-F4]

This is such a brilliant episode in where it's strategically placed in the season. It's such a fun time, and it's like the last pure fun camp episode this entire season. So it's like, alright, these next few episodes are going to traumatize our viewers, so we'll throw them a real fun one beforehand.

[@robertwareham8466]

Absolutely love this episode, it's not talked about much in the context of the great episodes, but it's brilliantly written, extremely funny and wonderfully well acted. And it kicks of a run of episodes that are rightly legendary!

[@HuntingViolets]

Good thing Christie didn't remember any of this after, so it didn't change anything she wrote.

[@veeganboy]

Always a fun episode to revisit. The poison/charade scene cements The Doctor and Donna as THE comedic duo of the series 😂

[@PrinceofArfon]

A fun episode, and a reminder that you should also watch the series Agatha Christie's Poirot starring David Suchet as the titular detective. It's a fantastic series all through and incredibly long-running!

[@judithstrachan9399]

Yes! Brilliant.

[@MikeyFilms]

This episode also has an alternate ending that was filmed and edited but cut from the episode

[@WUStLBear82]

There is a 1979 Michael Apted movie called Agatha starring Vanessa Redgrave, Dustin Hoffman, and Timothy Dalton, which speculates about why Agatha Christie disappeared and what she did during that time.

[@Corlwow]

Omg the next episodes all the way to finale…. INCREDIBLE

[@HuntingViolets]

The movie, _Agatha,_ with Vanessa Redgrave, has a different theory of her disappearance. Interestingly, even Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was asked to comment on her disappearance.

[@fayesouthall6604]

Lovely episode. Bravo Donna, plucky young assistant!

[@ad0nisma]

Loved the reaction, this is such a treat to see Agatha here! But here I go nitpicking... it's a wasp, not a bee. Bees are mostly harmless, they do their lovely pollination and just go about their day. They need to protected!! Wasps on the other hand are pure evil and they thrive on stings and death and darkness and murder

[@pljdavies]

There is a deleted scene when they visit Agatha on her deathbed

[@Dularr]

Agatha 1979. A fictional account of the disapearance of Agatha Christie.

[@SarahH-ns6ly]

A fun episode before the amazing, but intense, last half of the series.

[@duvall5jd]

My FAVORITE episode. Absolutely love it

[@Marian70V3]

I just read a wiki article and IT´S TRUE!!! SHE DID DISAPPEARED!!!!

[@TheMess9898]

Agatha Christie is LEGEND!!! If you ever want to deep dive into her work...the ITV series POIROT is a great adaptation of her famous works and detective.

[@peeky44]

BBC or ITV? If you mean the David Suchet Poirot stories, they were commissioned for ITV. The BBC have done adaptations of a few Poirot stories but only Suchet (for ITV) has done the whole back catalogue.

[@tcshack701]

Catherine Tate played a maid in an episode of the 2004 Marple series. It is a good watch. A lot of other Doctor Who actors were in the series.

[@TheLordCrass]

Camptown Races! Love that scene!!

[@martstar1]

There's an alternative ending which is well worth a watch too

[@SkillsLoading]

I actually did a profile on Agatha Christie at university and despite the dramatic exageration I really like the detail they put into their research. First of all Clue was heavily inspired by Christie, so cudos there. Her disaperance isn't quite as mysterious as they make out here, but it was... odd. She checked into the hotel using the surname of her husbands mistress, which is definitely something that would happen in one of her books. Also the whole thing about the gay love affair in the 1920s, in the Marple books there are two (i believe elderly) ladies who are unrelated but live together. This along with other little details have made scholars wonder if she was sneaking gay characters in to her works as subtly as possible.

[@storageheater]

as an alibi in the 1920s, a gay person would be fairly aware of Oscar Wilde's trial, where he was sentenced to three years of hard labour and died shortly after. while there *were* other fairly recognisably gay people in the era, it's still worth bearing in mind you've got another 50 years before it would be decriminalised to an extent (and in fact some claim that once the laws began to change, the remaining aspects were enforced harder than ever. Given how things are right now it's hard to argue with that.) to act on homosexuality was a *grossly indecent* crime, not just some moral choice or a private thing people disapproved of. Alan Turing's forced sterilisation and suicide is another shining example of how your actions and heroism couldn't save you from it more than 20 years later. granted, you'd likely just be hanged for murder if you didn't use it as your alibi, so I guess it depends on how soon you want it all to be over!

[@4partharmony208]

I love this episode, and it's a bit of a pity that it gets overshadowed by what comes next... Buckle up, everyone. I know he's already watched them, but we're headed for probably the best 6-episode run in all of NuWho

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Is something happening next week? 👀

[@4partharmony208]

@@CasualNerdReactions shhh, spoilers

[@RealAJYoung]

Slapper is British slang for a woman who has many.... relationships. :)

[@10thdoctor15]

This is certainly one of the fun episodes

[@DuncanEvans-t7q]

It's an episode that probably makes more sense if seen British crime dramas, especially Agatha Christie adaptations. There's a great game to be played with it of getting the titles of Christie novels mentioned in it. As for "flapper or slapper"... no don't, just don't lol

[@carolineskipper6976]

To totally appreciate this episode, one needs to arm oneself with a list of Agatha Christie's novels, and check each one off as it's name-dropped in the script.....they got a hell of a lot of them in! It's why the dialogue occasionally seems a little clunky.

[@Stuart_Cox1969]

Looking forward to next week.

[@AmyElnah]

I've always liked this episode, especially with the camp being turned to 11, but never put it anywhere near my top list. It doesn't help that I've somewhat soured on it because of the writer in recent years.

[@majkus]

Alternate ending at kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGfYlYN7oKiaZ80si=7Z_j4F4OG8kGzaa4

[@RightTurnClyde]

I think you'll find it's called Cluedo. *tsk* Americans! ;)

[@Luzarioth]

*about next episode:* "I think it's a 2 parter" F*CK !

[@chris...9497]

So, humas are still reading Agatha Christie on New Earth! It's not that she lives that long, it's that her works continue to be (re)published in new editions. You lost an opportunity to make a poetic statement: Mystery History Christie Is it me or is there a nod to the Father Brown Mysteries or Grantchester?

[@geetee4459]

A fun episode. The rest of the series is not so funny. But brilliant...

[@annaschwirian7548]

Like this episode

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I did too! It is a fun one in the midst of an emotional season.

[@mysteronix]

🐝

[@StephanieMaireFaith]

Clue aka UK version Cluedo

[@10thdoctor15]

Cluedo, not Clue

[@judithstrachan9399]

USA, Clue. UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand … pretty much everywhere else in the world - Cluedo. I wonder whether anywhere else calls it Clue & also uses imperial measurements……..

[@IslesYankeeLady]

A simple Wikipedia search tells us Ludo as a game name was not widely known in America at the time, so the name Cluedo would have been confusing. So we were never actually taught “Cluedo.” As annoying as the rest of the world might find American terms, consider its far more annoying to be constantly assumed to have terms wrong when it’s something that was intentionally switched on us in the first place, many years before we were born. The 1985 movie that we would have grown up with isn’t called “Cluedo” either. For once, you all can consider we’re not stupid, and give us the benefit of the doubt. Look it up. We didn’t do it to spite the world or show off. It was just marketing. It’s not like they had the internet in WWII.

[@10thdoctor15]

@@IslesYankeeLady Consider that the show is British and set in Britain (this week). Donna said 'library, lead piping', the Doctor might have said she's thinking of Cluedo. I've nothing against The Big Bang Theory making Where's Waldo references, even though it confused me at first.

[@Chris-bv1bk]

Fun fact! First time I saw this episode, I had recently purchased a copy of "Murder on the Orient Express" to read for the first time.. Until Donna SPOILED IT 😢

[@CasualNerdReactions]

OH NO! That's such unfortunate timing. You ever read it anyway?