The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who
- Publication: The Times
- Date: 2008-05-19
- Author: Andrew Billen
- Page: Times2, p. 19
- Language: English
The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who (BBC One). He managed to conjoin an Agatha Christie mystery featuring Agatha Christie herself (the reliable period knob Fenella Woolgar) with some not particularly distinguished CGI of a giant wasp. The episode "solved" the mystery of Christie's The-Lady-Vanishes weekend and, in the ultimate triumphant tying of loose ends, unveiled a Fontana paperback of Christie's novel, Death in the Clouds, which featured a giant wasp. The plot really needed to breathe more than Doctor Who's 45 minutes allowed, however, especially since Roberts was determined to get in everything, including the obligatory discussion of sexuality ("Ginger beer?" "I beg your pardon!") and the moment when the doctor gets kissed. Felicity Kendal was wasted. Roberts's Shakespeare episode of Doctor Who last year was a triumph. The Unicorn and the Wasp (it should surely have been called Who-dunnit?) fell a touch short.
One of the programme's jokes was that Christie thought her work was forgettable and the Doctor and Donna knew it was imperishable.
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- APA 6th ed.: Billen, Andrew (2008-05-19). The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who. The Times p. Times2, p. 19.
- MLA 7th ed.: Billen, Andrew. "The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who." The Times [add city] 2008-05-19, Times2, p. 19. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Billen, Andrew. "The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who." The Times, edition, sec., 2008-05-19
- Turabian: Billen, Andrew. "The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who." The Times, 2008-05-19, section, Times2, p. 19 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_writer_Gareth_Roberts_was_having_fun_on_Saturday%27s_Doctor_Who | work=The Times | pages=Times2, p. 19 | date=2008-05-19 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=The writer Gareth Roberts was having fun on Saturday's Doctor Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_writer_Gareth_Roberts_was_having_fun_on_Saturday%27s_Doctor_Who | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 April 2025}}</ref>
