10.38: The Unicorn and the Wasp

In which “harvey wallbanger” is more than one word.

Broadcast: May 2008

Watched: October 2021

“Tell me there’s no Noddy.”

Also thin, but loads more fun.

This is an episode I’ve forgotten so completely that I always forget Felicity Kendall has been in Doctor Who, or that Christopher Benjamin came back. But there’s loads of great stuff in here. Professor Peach, some lead piping, the hilariously obviously gay son, 22 different gratuitous Christie title references... The flashback jokes are all brilliant - Charlemagne and the insane computer, the military memories/can can dancers, the flashback to the Doctor actually arriving...

In some ways it’s a shame there’s a monster, a real murder mystery one would be quite fun. Also the giant wasp is my actual nightmare. But RTD is a big believer that every story needs a monster, so.

Anyway, it’s great. To steal a meme from the young people on Twitter - it’s a shame we have no idea who wrote it!!!

Other things:

• It’s a bit hazy on the dates: Christie actually disappeared in December, not mid summer, and didn’t become an expert on poisons until WW2 I think. (Update: I was utterly wrong about this, it was WW1.) But it doesn’t really matter.

• The firestone gem which gives the vicar his identity back is a maguffin very similar to the fob watches.

• The unicorn gives in a bit easy for a master criminal. Hilariously, my beloved can’t say the word toilet either.

• The Doctor declines to drink and almost dies of a lime and soda. There’s a lesson there.