Christie on Screen
Doctor Who : The Unicorn and the Wasp
On 17th May 2008 The Unicorn and the Wasp, an episode of the cult Doctor Who series was broadcast on BBC 1. Over 7 million viewers watched the episode in which Doctor Who travelled back in time and met the Queen of Crime. Together they would foil a murder plot and explain Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance – apparently she was attacked by a killer wasp!
The idea for The Unicorn and the Wasp was first broached back in 2007. The good Doctor had already met William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens so perhaps the writers thought it was about time he met the biggest selling author of all time. Russell T Davies, the producer of Doctor Who said at the time: "Visiting Agatha Christie has been on my wish-list for ages now, and for the Doctor, it's a real meeting of minds!”
Mathew Prichard, Chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd and the author’s grandson, commented: "What a brilliant idea that Agatha Christie and Doctor Who should meet!" noted Matthew Prichard, Agatha Christie's grandson. "Two characters whose contribution to British entertainment is absolutely unrivalled. As far as I know my grandmother, Agatha Christie, never saw Doctor Who, but I am sure she would have been intrigued, excited and above all flattered by all this attention in 2007." Doctor Who, the cult programme, is the longest running Science fiction show in the world and stars David Tennant as Doctor Who. Appearing alongside him was Catherine Tate, Felicity Kendall and Fenella Woolgar as Agatha Christie. A number of Christie’s titles were mentioned in the script and viewers could also see Lady Clemency Eddison read a first edition of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. We also see that Doctor Who himself is a fan of the author – he keeps with him a copy of Death in the Clouds which is said to have inspired the episode.