The peace and quiet of the garden of a manor house is disturbed by the sound of the TARDIS materializing. The Doctor steps out, followed by Donna. There's a loud buzz as they walk towards the house.
DOCTOR: Smell that air. Grass and lemonade... and a little bit of mint. A hint of mint, must be the 1920s.
DONNA: You can tell what year it is just by smelling?
DOCTOR: Oh yeah!
DONNA: Or maybe that big vintage car coming up the drive gave it away.
A vintage car pulls up at the entrance to the manor. The butler, Greeves and a young footman, Davenport come out of the house.
GREEVES: The Professor's baggage, Richard, step lively!
Davenport goes for the baggage, while Professor Peach steps out of the car and walks to the entrance.
GREEVES: Good afternoon, Professor Peach.
PROFESSOR PEACH: Hello, Greeves old man.
A vicar rides up the drive on his bike.
PROFESSOR PEACH: Ah, Reverend.
REVEREND: Professor Peach! Beautiful day. (he gets off the bike). The lord's in his heaven, all's right with the world.
GREEVES: Revered Golightly. Lady Eddison requests you make yourselves comfortable in your rooms. Cocktails will be served on the lawn from half past four.
PROFESSOR PEACH: You go on up, I have to check something in the library.
REVEREND: Oh?
PROFESSOR PEACH: Alone.
REVEREND: This is supposed to be a party! All this work will be the death of you.
During this, the Doctor and Donna have been hiding in a bush, listening in on the conversation.
DONNA: Never mind Planet Zog, a party in the 1920s, that's more like it!
DOCTOR: Problem is, we haven't been invited. (he gets the psychic paper out, grinning) Oh I forgot, yes we have!
[SCENE_BREAK]
In the library, Professor Peach is examining a piece of paper closely with his spectacles on.
PROFESSOR PEACH: I was right! Kept secret all these years, it's unbelievable. But why didn't they ask... Heavens! (He notices someone coming up to him, but then he relaxes) .Oh, it's you. I was just doing a little research. I say, what are you doing with that lead piping?
Buzzing, a giant wasp closes in on Professor Peach.
PROFESSOR PEACH: But that's impossible!
OPENING CREDITS
The Doctor taps on the TARDIS doors impatiently.
DOCTOR: We'll be late for cocktails!
Donna steps out of the TARDIS wearing a 1920s style brown dress.
DONNA: What d'you think? Flapper or slapper?
The Doctor looks her up and down enquiringly, but then smiles as he speaks, linking arms with her.
DOCTOR: Flapper. You look lovely!
In the garden of the manor, a footman adjusts the music player. Classical music plays as Miss Chandrakala claps impatiently at the staff, noticing the Doctor and Donna heading for them.
MISS CHANDRAKALA: Look sharp, we have guests!
DOCTOR (waving): Good afternoon!
Davenport walks over to serve them.
DAVENPORT: Drinks sir? Ma'am?
DONNA: Sidecar, please.
DOCTOR: And a lime and soda, thank you.
Davenport walks away while Greeves introduces Lady Eddison.
GREEVES: May I announce, Lady Clemency Eddison.
Lady Eddison walks over to greet the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor holds his hand out for a shake.
DOCTOR: Lady Eddison.
LADY EDDISON: Forgive me, but who exactly might you be... and what are you doing here?
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. And this is Miss Donna Noble... of the Chiswick Nobles.
DONNA (putting on a posh accent): Good afternoon, my lady. Topping day, what? Spiffing! Top hole!
DOCTOR (to Donna): No, no, no, no, no. Don't do that, don't.
He gets out the psychic paper and presents it to Lady Eddison.
DOCTOR: We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my lady. We met at the Ambassador's reception.
LADY EDDISON: Doctor, how could I forget you? But one must be sure with the Unicorn on the loose.
DOCTOR: A unicorn? Brilliant! Where?
LADY EDDISON: The Unicorn. The jewel thief. And nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again, snatched Lady Babbington's pearls right from under her nose.
DONNA (to the Doctor): Funny place to wear pearls.
Greeves introduces two newcomers, and elderly man in wheelchair and a young man pushing him.
GREEVES: May I announce, the Colonel Hugh Curbishley, the Honourable Roger Curbishley.
LADY EDDISON: My husband. And my son.
COLONEL: Forgive me for not rising. Never been the same ever since that flu epidemic back in '18.
ROGER (to Donna): My word, you are a super lady.
DONNA: Oh, I like the cut of your jib. Chin chin.
DOCTOR (shaking hands with Roger): Hello, I'm the Doctor.
ROGER: How do you do?
DOCTOR: Very well.
Davenport offers Roger a drink.
DAVENPORT: Your usual, sir?
ROGER: Ah, thank you Davenport. Just how I like it.
DONNA (to the Doctor): How come she's an Eddison but her husband and son are Curbishleys?
DOCTOR: The Eddison title descends through her. One day Roger will be a lord.
The butler introduces another woman walking into the garden.
GREEVES: Robina Redmond!
LADY EDDISON: She's the absolute hit of the social scene, a must. (she greets Robina as they shake hands). Miss Redmond!
ROBINA: Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady. What super fun!
The Reverend walks into the group Greeves introduces him.
GREEVES: Reverend Arnold Golightly.
LADY EDDISON (shaking hands): Ah, Reverend. How are you? I heard about the church last Thursday night. Those ruffians breaking in.
They have walked together over to where Colonel is sitting on his wheelchair.
COLONEL: You apprehended them, I hear.
REVEREND: As the Christian Fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses. Quite literally.
ROGER: Some of these young boys deserve a descent thrashing.
DAVENPORT (with a meaningful look): Couldn't agree more, sir.
DONNA (to the Doctor): Typical. All the decent men are on the other bus.
DOCTOR: Or Time Lords.
ROGER (to Lady Eddison): Now, my lady, what about this special guest you promised us?
LADY EDDISON (pointing to Agatha Christie, who is entering the group): Here she is, a lady who needs no introduction!
Everyone starts clapping.
AGATHA: No, no, please. Don't. Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need.
She holds out her hand to the Doctor.
AGATHA: Agatha Christie.
DONNA: What about her?
AGATHA: That's me.
DONNA: Nooo. (Agatha laughs) You're kidding.
DOCTOR (shaking her hand) : Agatha Christie! I was just talking about you the other day. I said, "I bet she's brilliant". I'm the Doctor and this is Donna. Ohhh, I love your stuff. What a mind! You fool me every time. Well, almost every time. Well, once or twice. Well, once. But it was a good once!
AGATHA: You make a rather unusual couple.
DOCTOR: Oh, no, no, no, no, we're not married.
DONNA: We're not a couple.
AGATHA: Well obviously not. No wedding ring.
Donna looks at her fingers.
DOCTOR: Oh, oh, you don't miss a trick.
AGATHA: I'd stay that way if I were you. The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture.
Lady Eddison comes over.
LADY EDDISON: Mrs Christie, I'm so glad you could come. I'm one of your greatest followers. I've read all six of your books. Is, ah, Mr Christie not joining us?
AGATHA: Is he needed? Can't a woman make her own way in the world?
COLONEL (laughing) : Don't give my wife ideas.
ROGER: Now Mrs Christie, I have a question. Why a Belgian detective?
The Doctor goes and snatches the Colonel's newspaper.
DOCTOR: 'Scuse me.
AGATHA: Belgians make such lovely buns.
Everyone laughs.
ROGER: I say, where on earth is Professor Peach? He'd love to meet Mrs Christie.
REVEREND: Said he was going to the library.
The Doctor beckons to Donna and she walks over.
LADY EDDISON: Miss Chandrakala, would you go and collect the professor?
MISS CHANDRAKALA: At once, milady.
DOCTOR: The date on this newspaper.
DONNA: What about it?
DOCTOR: It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared.
Miss Chandrakala knocks on the library door.
MISS CHANDRAKALA: Professor Peach!
She opens the door.
MISS CHANDRAKALA: Professor?
Her mouth opens in horror.
DOCTOR: She'd just discovered her husband was having an affair.
DONNA: You'd never think to look at her. Smiling away.
DOCTOR: Well, she's British and moneyed. That's what they do. They carry on. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened, she just vanished.
Newspapers spin to show headlines like "Mystery Writer Disappears". Then we see flashes of what the Doctor is talking about: a vintage car by a lake...
DOCTOR (VO): Her car will be found tomorrow morning by the side of a lake. Ten days later, Agatha Christie turns up in a hotel in Harrogate.
...and Agatha standing in front of "The Harrogate Hotel", looking confused.
DOCTOR: Said she'd lost her memory. She never spoke about the disappearance till the day she died, but whatever it was...
DONNA: It's about to happen.
DOCTOR: Right here, right now.
Miss Chandrakala comes out of the house running.
MISS CHANDRAKALA: Professor! The library! Murder! Murder!
The Doctor, Donna and Agatha enter the library. The Doctor runs to the body, he bends down and takes his glasses out. Greeves arrives next.
GREEVES : Oh my goodness.
DOCTOR: Bashed on the head. Blunt instrument. Watch broke as he fell, (he checks the watch on Professor Peach's hand) time of death was quarter past four.
He gets up and starts searching the papers on the desk.
DONNA: Bit of pipe. (she lifts up a pipe lying next to the body). Call me Hercule Poirot, but I reckon that's blunt enough.
Agatha Christie picks something out of the grate.
DOCTOR: Nothing worth killing for in that lot, dry as dust.
DONNA: Hold on. The body in the library? I mean, Professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?
The voices of the other members of the party drift in to the room. They gather in to the room, look down in horror and disgust, and all talk simultaneously.
LADY EDDISON: Let me see.
COLONEL: Out of my way!
LADY EDDISON: Gerald!
REVEREND: Saints preserve us!
ROBINA: Oh, how awful...
AGATHA: Someone should call the police.
DOCTOR: You don't have to. (he flashes the psychic paper around). Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard. Known as the Doctor. Miss Noble is the plucky young girl who helps me out.
LADY EDDISON: I say.
DOCTOR: Mrs Christie was right. Go into the sitting room. I will question each of you in turn.
AGATHA: Come along, do as the Doctor says. Leave the room undisturbed.
Everyone but the Doctor and Donna leave.
DONNA: "The plucky young girl who helps me out"?
The Doctor gets down on the ground.
DOCTOR: No policewomen in 1926.
DONNA: I'll pluck you in a minute. Why don't we phone the real police?
DOCTOR: Well the last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in.
He scrapes some slime off the floor with a stick.
DOCTOR: Especially now I've found this! Morphic residue.
DONNA: Morphic? Doesn't sound very 1926.
DOCTOR: It's left behind when certain species genetically re-encode.
DONNA: The murderer is an alien.
DOCTOR: Which means, one of that lot is an alien in human form.
DONNA: Yeah, but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie.
DOCTOR: So? Happens to me all the time.
He smells the slime then puts in under Donna's nose.
DONNA: No, but isn't that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean that's like meeting Charles Dickens, and he's surrounded by ghosts. At Christmas.
DOCTOR: Well...
DONNA: Oh, come on! It's not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy. Could we? Noddy's not real. Is he? Tell me there's no Noddy!
DOCTOR: There's no Noddy.
DONNA: Next thing you know, you'll be telling me it's like Murder On The Orient Express, and they all did it!
While she speaks they exit the library and meet Agatha at the bottom of the staircase.
AGATHA: Murder on the Orient Express?
DONNA: Oh, yeah. One of your best!
DOCTOR: But not yet.
AGATHA: Marvellous idea though.
DONNA: Yeah. Tell you what, copyright Donna Noble, okay?
DOCTOR: Anyway! Agatha and I will question the suspects, Donna, you search the bedrooms. Look for clues. (whispering) Any more residue. (He gives her a magnifying glass). You'll need this.
DONNA: Is that for rea l?
DOCTOR: Go on. You're ever so plucky.
Not too pleased, Donna heads upstairs, while the Doctor beams at Agatha.
DOCTOR: Right then! Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie, brilliant!
AGATHA: How like a man to have fun, while there's disaster all around him.
DOCTOR: Sorry, yeah.
AGATHA: I'll work with you, gladly. But for the sake of justice. Not your own amusement.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
DOCTOR: Now then, Reverend. Where were you at a quarter past four?
REVEREND: Let me think. Oh yes, I remember.
Flashback scene begins: we see him hanging clothes in the wardrobe.
REVEREND (VO): I was unpacking in my room.
DOCTOR (VO): No alibi then.
AGATHA (VO): You were alone?
The flashback ends.
REVEREND: With the Lord, one is never truly alone. Doctor?
DOCTOR: And where were you?
ROGER: Let me think... I was, um... Oh, yes, I was taking a constitutional, in the fields behind the house.
Flashback begins.
ROGER (VO): Just taking a stroll, that's all.
DOCTOR (VO): Alone?
ROGER (VO): Oh, yes, all alone. Totally alone! Absolutely alone. Completely, all of the time.
In the flashback, we see him meeting Davenport and the pair of them walking off hand in hand.
ROGER (VO): I wandered lonely as the proverbial cloud, there was no-one else with me, not at all.
Flashback ends.
ROGER: Not ever!
DOCTOR: And where were you?
ROBINA: At a quarter past four? Well, I went to the toilet when I arrived, and then, um...
Flashback starts.
ROBINA (VO): Oh, yes, I remember.
She is indeed in the bathroom, but we see her pulling out a small revolver from her handbag.
ROBINA (VO): I was preparing myself, positively buzzing with excitement about the party... and the super fun of meeting Lady Eddy.
Flashback ends.
DOCTOR: We've only got your word for it.
ROBINA: That's your problem, not mine.
DOCTOR: And where were you, sir?
COLONEL: Quarter past four? Dear me, let me think... Ah, yes, I remember.
Flashback starts.
COLONEL (VO): I was in my study, reading through some military memoirs. Fascinating stuff.
We see that he was actually watching some erotic pictures.
COLONEL (VO): Took me back to my days in the army. Started reminiscing...
Flashback within the flashback: the Colonel remembers a revue with cancan dancers.
COLONEL (VO): Mafeking, you know... Terrible war.
DOCTOR (VO): Colonel, snap out of it!
The Colonel gets out of the revue flashback, but is still in the first one of watching pictures in his study.
COLONEL (VO): I was in my study...
DOCTOR: No, no, no. Right out of it!
The flashback ends.
COLONEL: Oh, sorry. Got a bit carried away there.
DOCTOR: And where were you at a quarter past four, my lady?
LADY EDDISON: Now let me see...
Flashback begins.
LADY EDDISON (VO): Yes, I remember. I was sitting in the Blue Room, taking my afternoon tea.
We see her drinking spirits from a bottle.
LADY EDDISON (VO): It's a ritual of mine, I needed to gather strength for the duty of hostess. I then proceeded to the lawn where I met you, Doctor. And I said, "And who exactly might you be and what are you doing here?" And you said, "I am the Doctor and this is Miss Donna Noble".
DOCTOR (VO): Yes, yes, you can stop now.
Flashback ends.
DOCTOR: I was there for that bit.
LADY EDDISON: Of course. (she burps) Excuse me.
All suspects questioned, the Doctor and Agatha are walking up and down the room, trying to solve the mystery.
AGATHA: No alibis for any of them. The secret adversary remains hidden. We must look for a motive, use "the little grey cells".
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, little grey cells, good old Poirot.
He sits down to the chair the suspects were using.
DOCTOR: Do you know, I've been to Belgium, yeah.
Flashback begins.
DOCTOR (VO): I remember...
We see him in a forest, cutting way with a machete, armed with bow and arrows.
DOCTOR (VO): I was deep in the Ardennes, trying to find Charlemagne. He'd been kidnapped by an insane computer.
AGATHA (VO): Doctor!
Flashback ends.
DOCTOR: Sorry.
AGATHA: Charlemagne lived centuries ago!
DOCTOR: I've got a very good memory.
AGATHA: For such an experienced detective, you missed a big clue.
DOCTOR: What, that bit of paper you nicked out the fire?
AGATHA: You were looking the other way!
DOCTOR: Yeah, but I saw you reflected in the glass of the bookcase.
AGATHA: You crafty man.
They smile at each other.
AGATHA: This is all that was left.
The Doctor rushes to her and they try to decipher the writing
DOCTOR: What's that first letter? N or M?
AGATHA: It's an M. The word is maiden.
DOCTOR: Maiden! What does that mean?
AGATHA: We're still no further forward. Our nemesis remains at large. Unless Miss Noble's found something.
Upstairs, Donna tries to open a door but it is locked. Greeves appears suddenly and she lets out a surprised little scream.
GREEVES: You won't find anything in there.
DONNA: How come it's locked?
GREEVES: Lady Eddison commands it to be so.
DONNA: And I command it to be otherwise. Scotland Yard, pip-pip.
Reluctant, he moves forward to unlock the door.
DONNA: Why's it locked in the first place?
GREEVES: Many years ago, when my father was butler to the family, Lady Eddison returned from India with malaria. She locked herself in this room for six months until she recovered. Since then, the room has remained undisturbed.
He opens the door and Donna steps in.
GREEVES: There's nothing in here.
DONNA: How long's it been empty?
GREEVES: Forty years.
DONNA: Why would she seal it off? All right, I need to investigate, you just... butle off.
She closes the door behind herself and starts to look around. She finds a big teddy bear on the bed, then hears a buzz.
DONNA: 1926, they've still got bees. Oh, what a noise! All right, busy bee, I'll let you out. Hold on, I shall find you with my amazing powers of detection.
Lifting up the magnifying glass, she walks to the window. She pulls aside the heavy curtains hiding the view, and sees a giant wasp. She screams as the wasp breaks through the glass.
DONNA: That's impossible! (Threatened by the wasp, she backs to the window). Doctor!
The wasp is about to attack, but she holds out the magnifying glass and focuses the sunlight on it's body, stopping it for a moment.
DONNA: DOCTOR!
She runs out of the room and shuts the door. The wasp stings through the wood and she screams. The Doctor and Agatha arrive running.
DONNA: It's a giant wasp!
DOCTOR: What d'you mean, a giant wasp?
DONNA: I mean, a wasp that's giant!
AGATHA: It's only a silly little insect.
DONNA: When I say giant, I don't mean big, I mean flippin' enormous! Look at its sting!
They look down at the huge sting, stuck into the door.
DOCTOR: Let me see.
He gets into the room but it's empty.
DOCTOR: It's gone. Buzzed off.
Agatha bows to examine the sting.
AGATHA: But that's fascinating...
DOCTOR: D-D-D-Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Let me... (He collects some slime from the sting into a test tub). Giant wasp... Well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic vector.
AGATHA: I think I understood some of those words. Enough to know that you're completely potty.
DONNA: Lost its sting though, that makes it defenceless.
DOCTOR: Oh, creature this size, got to be able to grow a new one.
AGATHA: Can we return to sanity? There are no such things as giant wasps!
DOCTOR: Exactly. So, question is, what's it doing here?
The household staff discuss the events in the kitchen.
MRS HART : A murder? That's put the cat among the pigeons and no mistake!
MISS CHANDRAKALA: It is not the stuff of gossip Mrs Hart, continue with your work.
DAVENPORT : But who'd want to do in the old professor? He was always asking questions about that book of his, what's all that about?
MISS CHANDRAKALA: A dead man's folly, nothing more. Though perhaps if he asked about... I must go and see milady.
She walks outside, a gargoyle falls off the roof and she screams as it heads towards her. The Doctor, Donna and Agatha hear the thud and run outside. They kneel beside Miss Chandrakala.
MISS CHANDRAKALA: The... poor... little... child...
She dies. There is a buzz, the Doctor looks up and sees the giant wasp.
DOCTOR: There!
The wasp flies off and they run into the house.
DOCTOR: Come on!
DONNA: Hey, this makes a change, there's a monster, and we're chasing it.
AGATHA: Can't be a monster, it's a trick, they do it with mirrors!
The Doctor, Donna and Agatha run up the stairs and find the wasp.
AGATHA: By all that's holy!
DOCTOR: Oh, but you are wonderful!
The wasp flies at them.
DOCTOR: Now, just stop, stop there!
DONNA: Oi, fly boy!
She points the magnifying glass at the wasp and it flies off.
DOCTOR: Don't let it get away! Quick! Before it reverts back to human form.
They run down the stairs and stop at the end of an empty corridor.
DOCTOR: Where are you? Come on! There's nowhere to run. Show yourself!
The doors along the corridor open and all the guests and family emerge from their rooms.
DOCTOR: Oh, that's just cheating.
Everyone gathers in the drawing room.
LADY EDDISON (in tears): My faithful companion, this is terrible!
DAVENPORT: Excuse me, my lady, but she was on her way to tell you something.
LADY EDDISON: She never found me. She had an appointment with death instead.
DOCTOR: She said "The poor little child". Does that mean anything to anyone?
COLONEL: No children in this house for years, (looking at his son and Davenport) highly unlikely there will be.
LADY EDDISON: Mrs Christie, you must have twigged something, you've written simply the best detective stories.
REVEREND: Tell us, what would Poirot do?
COLONEL: Heavens sake! Cards on the table, woman, you should be helping us.
AGATHA: But, I'm merely a writer.
ROBINA : But surely you can crack it, these events, they're exactly like one of your plots.
DONNA: That's what I've been saying! Agatha, that's gotta mean something.
AGATHA: But, what? I've no answers. None. I'm sorry, all of you, I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us then it's the Doctor, not me.
Donna sits outside with Agatha.
DONNA: D'you know what I think? Those books of yours, one day they could turn them into films, they could be talking pictures.
AGATHA: Talking pictures? Pictures that... talk? What do you mean?
DONNA: Oh, blimey, I've done it again.
AGATHA: I appreciate you trying to be kind, but you're right, these murders are like my own creations. It's as though someone's mocking me, and I've had enough scorn for one lifetime.
DONNA: Yeah... Thing is, I had this bloke once, I was engaged, and I loved him, I really did. Turns out he was lying through his teeth. But d'you know what? I moved on. I was lucky, I found the Doctor, it's changed my life. There's always someone else.
AGATHA: I see. Is my marriage the stuff of gossip now?
DONNA: No! I just... sorry.
AGATHA: No matter. The stories are true. I found my husband with another woman. A younger, prettier woman, isn't it always the way?
DONNA: Well, mine was with a giant spider, but, same difference.
AGATHA: You and the Doctor talk such wonderful nonsense.
DONNA: Agatha, people love your books, they really do, they're gonna be reading them for years to come.
AGATHA: If only! Try as I might it's hardly great literature, now that's beyond me. I'm afraid my books will be forgotten, like ephemera. (She spots something). Hello, what's that? Those flowerbeds were perfectly neat earlier, now some of the stalks are bent over.
She takes a small box out of the flowerbed.
DONNA: There you go, who'd ever notice that? You're brilliant!
[SCENE_BREAK]
Ins the room they were questioning the suspects, the Doctor opens the box. It's full of strange tools.
DOCTOR: Oh! Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use.
AGATHA: The Unicorn? He's here!
DOCTOR: The Unicorn and the wasp...
Greeves enters the room.
GREEVES: Your drinks, ladies. Doctor.
DOCTOR: Very good, Greeves.
They take the drinks and the butler leaves.
DONNA: How about the science stuff, what did you find?
The Doctor pulls out the test tube.
DOCTOR: Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy.
AGATHA: Again, you talk like Edward Lear.
DOCTOR: But for some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books.
He sips at his drink.
DONNA: Come on, Agatha, what would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard something vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady.
AGATHA: Clever idea. Miss Marple? Who writes those?
DONNA: Um, copyright Donna Noble, add it to the list.
DOCTOR: Donna...
DONNA: Okay, we could split the copyright.
DOCTOR: No. Something's inhibiting my enzymes. ARGH! (In agony). I've been poisoned!
DONNA: What do we do? What do we do?!
She crouches beside the Doctor, trying to find a way to help, while Agatha smells his drink.
AGATHA: Bitter almonds! It's cyanide! Sparkling cyanide!
The Doctor runs out of the room, stumbling. Donna and Agatha follow him.
They burst into the kitchen. The Doctor staggers to Davenport and grabs him.
DOCTOR: Ginger beer!
DAVENPORT (offended): I beg your pardon?
DOCTOR: I need ginger beer!
He struggles to a the kitchen shelf, sweeping off stuff while he searches for ginger beer.
MRS HART: The gentleman's gone mad!
The Doctor founds the bottle and drinks of it, then pours the rest on his head.
AGATHA: I'm an expert in poisons, Doctor. There's no cure! It's fatal!
He spits out the rest of the drink.
DOCTOR: Not for me! I can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal... Protein! I need protein!
He leans on the worktop, panting in agony, while Donna and Agatha search the kitchen supplies.
DONNA: Walnuts?
DOCTOR: Brilliant!
She hands him a jar of walnuts and he gobbles it down. Mouth full, he can only gesture to Donna, shaking his hand up and down.
DONNA: I can't understand you! How many words?
He shows up one finger.
DONNA: One! One word!
He keeps shaking his hand while Donna is guessing what he means.
DONNA: Shake, milk shake, milk? Milk? No, not milk? Hm, shake, shake, shake... Cocktail shaker! What do you want, a Harvey Wallbanger?
He finally manages to swallow the walnuts.
DOCTOR: Harvey Wallbanger?!
DONNA: Well, I don't know!
DOCTOR: How is Harvey Wallbanger one word?!
AGATHA: What do you need, Doctor?!
DOCTOR: Salt, I was miming salt! Salt! I need something salty!
DONNA: What about this?
She shows him a brown bag.
DOCTOR: What is it?
DONNA: Salt!
DOCTOR: That's too salty!
DONNA: Oh, that's too salty!
Agatha hands him a jar.
AGATHA: What about this?!
He opens the jar and gobbles the contents.
DONNA: What's that?
AGATHA: Anchovies!
The Doctor gestures again.
DONNA: What is it? What else? It's a song? Mammy? Um, I don't know, Camptown Races?
DOCTOR: Camptown Races?
DONNA: All right then, Towering Inferno!
DOCTOR: It's a shock! Look! Shock! I need a shock!
DONNA: Right then. Big shock, coming up!
She grabs him and kisses him. She lets him go, and the Doctor breathes out a cloud of grey smoke. Donna, Agatha and the kitchen staff stare at him, shocked.
DOCTOR: Detox! (he wipes his mouth). I must do that more often!
Donna gives him a nasty look.
DOCTOR: I mean, the, the detox.
AGATHA (in disbelief): Doctor, you are impossible! Who are you?
There is a clap of thunder and lightning. In the manor, the group is having dinner together in the dining room.
DOCTOR: A terrible day for all of us. (pause) The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us... and yet we still take dinner.
LADY EDDISON: We are British, Doctor. What else must we do?
DOCTOR: Then someone tried to poison me. Any one of you had the chance to put cyanide in my drink. But it rather gave me an idea.
REVEREND: And what would that be?
DOCTOR: Well... poison. Drink up! (he gets suspicious looks from everyone). I've laced the soup with pepper.
COLONEL: Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy.
DOCTOR: But the active ingredient of pepper is piperine. Traditionally used as an insecticide. (they all stare at each other, confused) So, anyone got the shivers?
There is a strike of lightning and the window is blown violently open, the candles blow out and the room goes all dark.
COLONEL: What the deuce is that!?
DOCTOR: Listen... listen, listen, listen!
Silence. They all listen and hear a waspy buzz.
LADY EDDISON (looking around): No, it can't be...
There's another strike of lightning.
AGATHA (rising): Show yourself, demon!
DOCTOR (as they all begin to move): Nobody move! No, don't, stay where you are!
The Vespiform shows itself.
DOCTOR: Out, out, out, out!
They spread out. The Doctor, pushing Agatha in front of him, ends up in a small room together with Donna and Greeves.
DOCTOR: Not you, Agatha. You've got a long, long life to live yet.
He takes a sword from a wall decoration.
DONNA: Well, we know the butler didn't do it!
DOCTOR (running back): Then who did?
They find that most of the people didn't leave the dining room: Robina is sitting in astonishment, gasping, the Colonel is topsy-turvy on his wheelchair, Lady Eddison is at the head of the table, Davenport is on the ground, and the Reverend is to the side of the room.
LADY EDDISON (feeling herself): My jewelry! The Firestone! It's gone! Stolen...
DAVENPORT (in horror): Roger...
Roger is lying with his head in a bowl, a knife in his back. Robina screams. Lady Eddison walks over to his son's body shaking her head in disbelief. She hugs him as she talks.
LADY EDDISON (crying): My son... my child!
In the drawing room, Agatha sits on the sofa and the Doctor stands in front of the fireplace, thinking. Donna walks in and sits next to Agatha.
DONNA: That poor footman. Roger's dead and he can't even mourn him. 1926, it's more like the dark ages.
AGATHA: Did you enquire after the necklace?
DONNA: Lady Eddison bought it back from India. It's worth thousands.
DOCTOR (pondering): It can sting, it can fly. It could wipe us all out in seconds, why is it playing this game?
AGATHA: Every murder is essentially the same. They are committed because somebody wants something.
DOCTOR: What does a Vespiform want?
AGATHA: Doctor, stop it. The murderer is as human as you or I.
DOCTOR (sudden realisation): You're right!
He walks over and kneels to Agatha.
DOCTOR: Ah, I've been so caught up with giant wasps that I've forgotten. You're the expert!
AGATHA: I'm not, I've told you! I'm just a... purveyor of nonsense.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no! Because plenty of people write detective stories, but yours are the best! And why? Why are you so good, Agatha Christie? Because you understand! You've lived... you've fought... you've had your heart broken. You know about people... their passions, their hope, and despair, and anger. All of those tiny, huge things, that can turn the most ordinary person into a killer. Just think, Agatha! If anyone can solve this... it's you!
Everyone has gathered in the drawing room. The Doctor is standing in front of the group.
DOCTOR: I've called you here on this endless night, because we have a murderer in our midst. And when it comes to detection, there's none finer. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Agatha Christie!
The Doctor takes a seat next to Donna as Agatha takes his spot.
AGATHA: This is a crooked house. A house of secrets. To understand the solution, we must examine them all. Starting with you...
Agatha pauses, looking in the direction of Lady Edison, but then turns to Robina.
AGATHA: ...Miss Redmond.
ROBINA: But I'm innocent, surely?
AGATHA: You've never met these people and these people have never met you. I think the real Robina Redmond never left London, you're impersonating her!
ROBINA: How silly! What proof do you have?
AGATHA: You said you went to the toilet...
DONNA: Oh, I know this. If she was really posh, she'd say "loo".
Agatha reaches down to the coffee table and lifts up the Unicorn's box.
AGATHA: Earlier today, Miss Noble and I found this on the lawn. Right beneath your bathroom window. You must have heard that Miss Noble was searching the bedrooms, so you panicked. You ran upstairs and disposed of the evidence.
A flashback shows exactly what Agatha had just explained.
ROBINA: I've never seen that thing before in my life.
LADY EDDISON: What's inside it?
Agatha opens the box to reveal its contents.
AGATHA: The tools of your trade, Miss Redmond. Or should I say... (showing the tools to everyone) the Unicorn!
Everyone stares at Rubina, shocked.
AGATHA: You came to this house with one sole intention. To steal the Firestone!
Robina looks Agatha closely in the eye, before getting up from her seat. Her voice, her accent, her whole attitude changes.
ROBINA: Oh, alright then. It's a fair cop. Yes, I'm the bleedin' Unicorn. Ever so nice to meet you, I don't think. I took my chance in the dark and napped it. Go on then, you knobs. Arrest me, sling me in jail!
She pulls out the Firestone from inside her dress and tosses it to the Doctor.
DONNA: So, is she the murderer?
ROBINA: Don't be so thick. I might be a thief, but I ain't no killer.
AGATHA: Quite. There are darker motives at work. And in examining this household, we come to you... (Agatha eyes Lady Edison again, but then turns away) Colonel!
COLONEL: Damn it, woman! You with your perspicacity! You've rumbled me.
He stands up from his wheelchair.
LADY EDDISON: Hugh, you can walk! But why!?
COLONEL: My darling, how else could I be certain of keeping you by my side?
LADY EDDISON: I don't understand...
COLONEL: You're still a beautiful woman, Clemency. Sooner or later some chap will turn your head. I couldn't bear that. Staying in the chair was the only way I could be certain of keeping you. (turning to Agatha) Confound it, Mrs Christie, how did you discover the truth?
AGATHA: Um, actually I had no idea. I was just going to say you're completely innocent.
COLONEL: Oh... ugh.
AGATHA: Sorry!
COLONEL: Well, well shall I sit down then?
AGATHA: Yeah, I think you better had.
He sits down and Lady Eddison holds his hand.
DONNA: So he's not the murderer?
AGATHA: Indeed, not. To find the truth let's return to this. (she takes the Firestone from the Doctor). Far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Eddison.
LADY EDDISON (shocked): I've done nothing!
AGATHA: You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. You came home with malaria, and confined yourself to this house for six month, in a room that has been kept locked ever since, which I rather think means...
LADY EDDISON: Stop, please.
AGATHA: I'm so sorry. But you had fallen pregnant in India. Unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidante, a young maid later to become housekeeper Miss Chandrakala.
COLONEL: Clemency, is this true?
LADY EDDISON: My poor baby. I had to give him away. The shame of it.
COLONEL: But you never said a word...
LADY EDDISON: I had no choice. Imagine the scandal. The family name! I'm British, I carry on.
DOCTOR: And it was no ordinary pregnancy.
LADY EDDISON: How can you know that?
DOCTOR: 'Scuse me Agatha, this is my territory. But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said "It can't be." Why did you say that?
LADY EDDISON (whispering): You'd never believe it.
AGATHA: The Doctor has opened my mind to believe many things.
Flashback starts, showing what Lady Eddison says.
LADY EDDISON (VO): It was forty years ago, in the heat of Delhi, late one night. I was alone. And that's when I saw it, a dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house. Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire. I held nothing back. And in return... he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He'd made himself human, to learn about us.
We see Christopher becoming a giant wasp.
LADY EDDISON (VO): This was his true shape.
Flashback ends.
LADY EDDISON: I loved him so much, it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the great monsoon. The river Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was taken at the flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift, (flashback shows him giving her the Firestone) a jewel like no other. I wore it always, part of me never forgot. I kept it close. Always.
ROBINA: Just like a man, flashes his family jewels, and you end up with a bun in the oven!
AGATHA: A "poor little child". Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn babe to an orphanage. But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate.
DONNA: Oh, that's maiden! Maiden name!
AGATHA: Precisely.
DONNA: So, she killed him?
LADY EDDISON: I did not!
AGATHA: Miss Chandrakala feared that the Professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you.
DONNA: So, she killed her?
LADY EDDISON: I did not!
AGATHA: Lady Eddison (pause) is innocent. Because at this point... Doctor!
The Doctor rises from his seat and takes Agatha's place.
DOCTOR: Thank you. At this point, when we consider the lies and the secrets, and the key to these events, then we have to consider... it was you, Donna Noble!
He points to Donna who is staring at him in shock.
DONNA: What!? Who did I kill?
DOCTOR: No, but you said it, all along. The vital clue. This whole thing is being acted out like a murder mystery. Which means... (he points to Agatha) it was you, Agatha Christie!
AGATHA (astounded): I beg your pardon, sir!
DONNA: So, she killed them?
DOCTOR: No! But she wrote! She wrote those brilliant, clever books. And who's her greatest admirer? The moving finger points at you... (he points at Lady Eddison) Lady Eddison!
LADY EDDISON: Don't, leave me alone!
DONNA: So, she did kill them?
DOCTOR: No! But just think, last Thursday night, what were you doing?
LADY EDDISON: I was... I was in the library. I was reading my favourite Agatha Christie (flashback shows Lady Eddison reading in the library) thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?
DOCTOR : Just think. What else happened on Thursday night?
The Doctor looks at Reverend Golightly who stares back, confused.
REVEREND: I'm sorry?
DOCTOR: You said on the lawn, this afternoon. Last Thursday night, those boys broke into your church.
REVEREND: That's correct.
Flashback of him walking into the church and finding a robbery.
REVEREND (VO): They did. I discovered the two of them. Thieves in the night, I was most perturbed.
REVEREND (in the flashback): What the blazes are you doing boys?
Flashback ends.
REVEREND: But, I apprehended them.
DOCTOR: Really? A man of God against two strong lads? A man in his forties? Or, should I say... forty years old, exactly?
LADY EDDISON: Oh my god!
DOCTOR: Lady Eddison, your child, how old would he be now?
LADY EDDISON: Forty, he's forty!
DOCTOR: Your child has come home.
REVEREND: This is poppycock!
DOCTOR: Oh? You said you were taught by the Christian Fathers. Meaning, you were raised in an orphanage.
LADY EDDISON: My son... can it be?
DOCTOR: You found those thieves, Reverend, and you got angry! A proper, deep anger, for the first time in your life, and it broke the genetic lock! You've changed!
Flashback to the night of the robbery, where we left off. The boys are heading away from the alter with the stolen items.
REVEREND: Put thozzzzze... thingzzzzz... back where you found them! It'zzzz...
Purple light engulfs him and he shakes violently. Flashback ends.
DOCTOR: You realized your inheritance! After all these years, you knew who you were.
He snatches the Firestone off Agatha.
DOCTOR: Oh, and then it all kicks off, cos this isn't just jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder! It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. When you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind. And, at the same time (flashback of Lady Eddison reading "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" in the library) it absorbed the works of Agatha Christie, directly from Lady Eddison. It all became part of you.
Flashes of the Reverend and random pages from the book.
DOCTOR: Mechanics of those novels formed a template in your brain. You've killed, in this pattern, because that's what you think the world is. Turns out, we are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha!
AGATHA: Dame?
DOCTOR: Oh, sorry, not yet.
DONNA: So he killed them? Yes? Definitely?
DOCTOR: Yes.
REVEREND: Well... this has certainly been a most entertaining evening.
Everyone stares at him.
REVEREND: Really, you can't believe any of this surely, Lady Edizzzz...
DOCTOR: Lady who?
REVEREND (struggling): Lady Edizzzzzon...
DOCTOR: Little bit of buzzing there, Vicar?
REVEREND: Don't make me angry!
He rises from his seat and stands up in front of the group.
DOCTOR: Why? What happens then?
REVEREND: Damn it! You humanzzzz! Worshipping your tribal sky godzzz! I am so much more! That night, the universe exploded in my mind! I wanted to take what wazzz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezzzzz... What'zzzzz to stop me killing you?
LADY EDDISON: Oh, my dear god. (reaching out towards him) My child!
Purple light surrounds the Reverend while he transforms into the Vespiform.
REVEREND: What'zzzz to stop me killing you all?
Fully transformed, he flies at the people.
LADY EDDISON: Forgive me!
COLONEL: No, no, Clemency, come bac k! Keep away, keep away my darling!
He pulls her away from the Vespiform. They back into a corner with Greeves and Robina.
AGATHA (holding up the Firestone): No! No more murder! If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature!
She runs out, the Doctor, Donna and the Vespiform following her.
DONNA: Wait! Now it's chasing us!
The two get out of the manor and shut the door behind them. Agatha drives up in one of the vintage cars and beeps a horns at them. The Vespiform breaks through the door.
AGATHA: Over here! Come and get me, Reverend!
DOCTOR: Agatha, what are you doing?
AGATHA: If I started this Doctor, then I must stop it!
She drives away. The Doctor and Donna run towards the other car. The Vespiform hesitates for a second, then flies off after Agatha.
DOCTOR: Come on!
AGATHA: It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault!
The Doctor and Donna follow her with the other car.
DONNA: You said this is the night Agatha Christie loses her memory.
DOCTOR: Time is in flux, Donna! For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed.
DONNA: But where's she going?
DOCTOR: The lake! She's heading for the lake. What's she doing?
The cars stop at the Silent Pool lake. Agatha gets out and holds up the Firestone, which is engulfed in purple glow.
AGATHA : Here I am! The honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform...
DONNA: She's controlling it!
DOCTOR: Its mind is based on her thought processes. They're linked!
Donna and the Doctor stand beside Agatha.
AGATHA: Quite so, Doctor! If I die, then this creature might die with me.
The Doctor steps in front of Agatha and faces the Vespiform.
DOCTOR: Don't hurt her! You're not meant to be like this. You've got the wrong template in your mind.
DONNA: It's not listening.
Donna snatches the Firestone off Agatha and throws it into the lake, the Vespiform chasing after it, drowning in a purple glow. The three of them look down at the lake in sorrow.
DONNA (sadly): How d'you kill a wasp? Drown it. Just like his father.
DOCTOR: Donna, that thing couldn't help itself.
DONNA (defensively): Neither could I!
AGATHA: Death comes as the end... and justice is served.
DOCTOR: Murder at the Vicar's rage. (Donna stares at him) Needs a bit of work.
AGATHA: Just one mystery left, Doctor. Who exactly are you?
The Doctor takes a deep breath to answer, but Agatha suddenly collapses, yelling in pain.
DOCTOR: Oh, it's the Firestone! It's part of the Vespiform's mind. It's dying and it's connected to Agatha!
A purple glow engulfs Agatha, but then it stops and she rests silently with her eyes shut.
DOCTOR: He let her go. Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life.
DONNA: Is she alright, though?
DOCTOR: Oh, of course! The amnesia! Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp, the murders...
DONNA: And us! She'll forget about us.
DOCTOR: Yeah, but we've solved another riddle. The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning, her car gets found by the side of the lake.
We see repeat of the flashes from the beginning of the episode: the view of Agatha's car by the lake...
DOCTOR (VO): A few days later, she turns up in hotel at Harrogate, with no idea of what just happened.
...Agatha standing at the Harrogate Hotel entrance, looking at the Doctor and Donna in confusion...
DOCTOR (VO): No-one'll ever know.
...then she slowly walks into the hotel.
DONNA (VO): Lady Eddison, the Colonel, and all the staff... what about them?
Camera turns to the Doctor and Donna standing outside the TARDIS, near the hotel.
DOCTOR: Shameful story. They'd never talk of it. Too British. While the Unicorn does a bunk, back to London town. She could never even say she was there.
DONNA: But, what happens to Agatha?
DOCTOR: Oh, great life! Met another man, married again. Saw the world. Wrote and wrote and wrote.
DONNA: She never thought her books were any good, though. And she must have spent all those years wondering.
They get into the TARDIS, the Doctor puts his coat on one of the "trees" inside.
DOCTOR: Thing is, I don't think she ever quite forgot. Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use. Like, Miss Marple!
DONNA: I should have made her sign a contract.
DOCTOR: And, where is it, where is it, hold on... (He lifts up a piece of the TARDIS floor and gets out a chest). Here we go. C... (He opens the chest and rummages the contents). That is, C for Cybermen (he throws aside a Cyberman chest plate), C for Carrionites (he discards the Carrionite globe too, then does the same with the head of a stone statue), and... (he finds a book) Christie, Agatha!
He shows it to Donna. It is "Death in the Clouds", with a giant wasp on the cover.
DOCTOR: Look at that.
DONNA: She did remember!
DOCTOR: Somewhere in the back of her mind, it all lingered. And that's not all. Look at the copyright page.
He hands the book to Donna and she examines the copyright page.
DONNA: Facsimile edition, published in the year... five billion?!
DOCTOR: People never stop reading them. She is the best selling novelist, of all time.
DONNA (sighing): But she never knew.
DOCTOR: Well, no one knows how they're gonna be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that's what kept her writing. Same thing keeps me travelling. (smiling at Donna). Onwards?
DONNA (smiling back): Onwards!
They watch the TARDIS console happily as the engines start to work.
Source: twiztv
Plan: A: The Doctor; Q: Who realizes that they have arrived on the day Agatha Christie disappears? A: Donna; Q: Who throws the necklace into the Silent Pool? A: a dinner party; Q: What do the Doctor and Donna invite themselves to in 1926? A: human form; Q: What form does the Vespiform take? A: Vespiform; Q: What is the name of the giant shapeshifting alien wasp that kills three of the guests? A: Lady Eddison's illegitimate half-human son; Q: Who is Reverend Golightly? A: a telepathic link; Q: What does Golightly have with Lady Eddison? A: the details; Q: What did Golightly absorb from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? A: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; Q: What Agatha Christie murder mystery was Reverend Golightly reading? A: his mother; Q: Who was reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd when Reverend Golightly became aware of his alien nature? A: drowns; Q: What happens to the wasp when he dives after Donna's necklace? A: amnesia; Q: What does Agatha suffer from after she falls unconscious? A: the Doctor; Q: Who drops off Agatha at the Harrogate Hotel? A: the Harrogate Hotel; Q: Where does the Doctor drop off Agatha Christie after she suffers amnesia? Summary: The Doctor and Donna invite themselves to a dinner party in 1926, hosted by Lady Clemency Eddison and Hugh Curbishley, where one of the guests is Agatha Christie . The Doctor realises that they have arrived on the day Agatha inexplicably disappears. A giant shapeshifting alien wasp in human form called a Vespiform kills three of the guests with methods similar to the murders in Agatha's murder mysteries. The Vespiform is revealed to be Lady Eddison's illegitimate half-human son, Reverend Golightly. Golightly, who has a telepathic link with Lady Eddison through her necklace, became aware of his alien nature and absorbed the details of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , an Agatha Christie murder mystery his mother was reading at the time. He transforms into the Vespiform and threatens the guests. Agatha lures him towards the Silent Pool . Donna throws the necklace into the water, and the wasp dives after it and drowns. Due to her own connection with the necklace, Agatha falls unconscious and suffers from amnesia . This becomes the event that gave her the amnesia during her disappearance, and the Doctor drops her off at the Harrogate Hotel .