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NOTE
This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 14:38:40

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Hello, dear listener and welcome back to Flight for Entirety, the only Doctor Who podcast that did it in the library with Roger and the Footman.

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They were surprisingly disinhibited.

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I'm Nathan.

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I'm Brendan.

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I'm Peter.

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I'm Max.

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So, Lady Clemency Edison and the honourable Hugh Kirbishley requests the pleasure of your company for cocktails on the lawn, followed by a comedy vest perform killing spree in the form of an Agatha Christie mystery.

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Keep a close eye on your valuables, everyone.

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It's the unicorn and the wasp.

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So, Max, you're back with us this week.

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But we haven't heard what you have thought about series 4 so far.

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Yeah, I've, it's been, it's been delightful kind of going back and rewatching it because this was, I think I've spoken on the podcast before about these 3 years, particularly from series 2 to series 4, kind of the, the point in my sort of childhood adoration of the show that is sort of richest in my memory, I think.

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And it's sort of most coloured with like, like memories of sort of like acting out the episodes in the playground and all that kind of stuff.

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And I think, I think series 4 sort of rewatching it as sort of like refired all these memories that I had, which were just, I think, and I'm sure you've spoken about it too, but before, but, but the show at its sort of most popular and its sort of greater saturation point, um, and I, I've just sort of found that going back over the episodes, I've, I've just sort of had such a wonderful time going back and rewatching them and, and, and, refinding those, those memories of just, of just being So obsessed with the show with my friends and, um, Because I think they were airing on Sunday nights at

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this point in this series.

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And I remember then coming back at Monday or the start of the school week and it being all you would talk about for just the entirety of the day, um, and everyone getting excited about the next time trailers.

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And it was just, and this was also just then, I have a, I have a brother who's like 9 years older than me, and he would, he would occasionally pirate episodes onto like sort of DVDs in a really 2008 kind of way.

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So I would occasionally get sort of advanced copies of them.

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So I would occasionally know more than my friends and I would sort of laud it over them in a really like pretentious kind of annoying sort of 12 year old way.

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But I am...

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That's how you know that you're a true fan.

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So that's been, that's been, I, I, and so rewatching all the series four.

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I've had these sort of wonderful, wonderful, sort of personal memories come back and just the, I think the quality of the series, again, is just held up so, so wonderfully.

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I'm I'm just continually delighted by Donanoble and I just think it's, she's just, she's just spectacular.

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And that's sort of been my. yeah, yeah.

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So I've sort of, I'm going concurrently with these episodes, so I've just got up to Unicorn and the Wasp, and I'm just having such a wonderful time.

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Yeah.

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Brilliant.

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I think that this is going to be a theme of the rest of our series 4 run, but my hot take is that this is the 1st of a run of 7 episodes of Doctor Who that is probably unparallelled in quality in the history of the show.

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Or at the very least, it's, you know, my favourite run of Doctor Who stories.

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Yeah, they kind of all flapper, no slapper, aren't they?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Controversial.

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When this was 1st on this episode, I did not get it at all.

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Like, I came away from this the 1st time ago, and I sort of moaned and shook my head through the flashbacks and all the title drops and what have you.

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And for about 2 or 3 years afterwards, I'm like, this is a 6 out of 10.

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Wow.

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I'm like, no, I don't, I don't like.

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And then I rewatch.

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I think it was my big rewatch with Robert around like 2013 to 2015 where I watched this again and went, what was I thinking?

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This is genius.

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This is, you know, I don't know.

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I must have been through a rough breakup that week or something.

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But also, Brendan, I can understand that original reaction from you because the last time Doctor Who did drinks outside a manor house on a terrace.

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You loved it so much.

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Yeah, I mean at least it's a nice day in this one.

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At least she let her child go out into the world and, you know, rub them, lock him in the attic and admittedly both of them end up killing a bunch of people.

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So...

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Who's right and who's wrong?

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So this is our 4th celebrity historical, I guess, since it comes back.

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We've done one a year.

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And this is the 3rd celebrity historical with a famous ricer.

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So Gareth did the Shakespeare code, what, last year?

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And obviously we had Mark Gatis doing Charles Dickens in the very, what, 3rd episode?

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It does get Queen Victoria.

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Yes, although less of a literary figure than a sort of Augusta.

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Queen and Empress of India.

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Oh, wow, this werewolf can only murder me.

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Tarah.

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I wasn't a massive fan of the Shakespeare code.

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I liked it well enough, but I did think it had a very, very superficial take on Shakespeare.

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And, you know, that was really all it was intended to do.

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I do think that the comedy thing here just works tremendously well though, with Agatha Christie.

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These stories are kind of more superficial.

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They don't have the sort of historical weight that Shakespeare does.

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So you can afford to be a bit more fun with it.

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You know?

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It's not a smug either, I don't think.

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I think also like the kind of famish glee sort of comes across a lot more genuinely in this episode, maybe.

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And maybe that's also the construction of the episode and how Agatha fits into it, but it is such a sort of meta.

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It's such of a meta, um, episode in, in how Agatha Christie is a proponent in a, in a story that's surrounded by people who all know they're in a sort of Agatha Christie story they know Agatha Christie. been reading Agatha Christie.

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And everyone's kind of, everyone's kind of making jokes on this, on the same level, and then you've got the doctor and Donna that are sort of operating on another meta level on top of it, and it just sort of creates this.

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I think in comparison to the Shakespeare code, I think there's an excitement to be telling this story that really comes across and is sort of contagious as well.

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What do we think of the way that Gareth kind of justifies it?

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I mean, Mark Gators didn't have to, you know, lampshade the fact that we were meeting Charles Dickens in a situation near Christmas where there are a lot of ghosts around.

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Here, um, Gareth Roberts actually kind of pokes fun at the fact that Noah noticed how sort of weird that was in the unquiet dead and goes to sort of extraordinary hand wavy lengths in order to justify why Agatha Christie finds herself in an Agatha Christie mystery.

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I think that's the sort of thing where Buffy couldn't have got away with doing a musical episode in season one.

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Yeah, okay.

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So the Unquiet Dead has to be very po-faced and very serious about the fact that it's dickens and ghosts and Christmas and just have a couple of sly references to it without lampshading it massively.

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Whereas here, Gareth Roberts' original concept for the script was humourous, but nowhere near as broadly comic as it ends up being.

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It was actually Russell who said, no, no, no, we want this as an out and out comedy pastiche.

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Right.

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And it was Russell pushing him.

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So perhaps putting that comment in was kind of Garrett's way of saying, if this doesn't work, you know, we are aware.

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But it's also Doctor Who has that confidence.

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As you were saying earlier, Max, you know, this is when it was totally riding high and everyone was talking about it, even if they weren't watching it.

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They were talking about it.

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You know, of course, comparing ratings from 10 years ago to ratings now isn't particularly fair, but if we look at audience share, the tenant episodes were getting close to a 40% audience share, the Whittaker episodes and the Capaldi episodes get between 20 and 25, which is still respectable.

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But when you consider that's respectable, and then you look at this 40% audience share almost.

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It is riding height.

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So it's not exactly an apology to bring up, oh yeah, this is a bit silly, but it's saying to the audience, look, we respect you enough to know that you've seen Joan Hickson.

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You've seen Geraldine McEwan.

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You've seen David Soucher.

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We know that you know that we know that this is a bit weird.

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But as you were saying, Brendan, there's also a sense that the series is so confident now, it can kind of get away with anything that they can sort of, they can put anything on the screen and people would watch.

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And so they just go for it.

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A drowning fish.

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And I think that confidence, like, speaking to your point, Nathan, about the upcoming run of episodes.

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I think that confidence, like, it's kind of, it exudes out in sort of almost every aspect of this episode.

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And I think just like even, like, I remember in the writer's tale, Russell, you can read Russell's like initial series 4 document that he sent out to, I think, all the production, or maybe just sort of the production heads, I think.

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And this episode is sort of like, and it kind of changes a little bit as it goes along, but there are these tent pulse throughout, um, the series that sort of stay sort of remarkably, remarkably close to what, um, what eventuates like on screen.

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And if I'm remembering correctly, I think this one's always episode seven.

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Gareth Roberts and it's sort of just like, yeah, it's just Agatha Christie, we're just going to go nuts.

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And I remember there's also an email, there's an email maybe 2 months later, which is just him sort of stressing, stressing about another script, but he's saying, I'm putting it off by just cramming more Agatha Christie puns into this one.

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So.

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Isn't it interesting that the one pun that they don't make is the man in the brown suit because, you know, who is the man in the brown suit?

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I actually have to confess that I'm not much of a sort of Christy file, and I've read a couple of her books and I've seen a couple of movies based on them and things.

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There was a reasonably recent run of 3 or 4 adaptations of Agatha Christie books on television by sort of female writers and directors, which I thought was really quite extraordinary, and I'll fling them in the show notes if I can somehow find them again.

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And so I'd seen those.

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But so a lot of this kind of, for me, the effect of it just relies on the fact that Agatha Christie has been pastiched over and over again.

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And perhaps never more in Doctor Who than in Robots of Death, which is, I think, um, El Xander points out, that Asimov's robot detective was in the sort of hard-boiled kind of film noir sort of genre.

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And so robots of death was kind of, well, we can do that only with an Agatha Christie sensibility.

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Hence the design of the sand miner and everything.

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And don't forget, Pip and Jane, we can do that with plant creatures.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah And everyone has a secret, you know.

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And I think that's what's really wonderful about this, the secrets that everyone has.

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And perhaps that wonderful, wonderful comedy scene, perhaps the most deliberate sort of comedy scene where the doctor and Christy are interviewing everyone and we discovered their secrets, you know, Lady Edison's, you know, are drunk and and the colonel is leafing through pornography and and, you know, even the thing where the flashbacks, are kind of interacted with by the characters, you know, Dave flashbacks in Flash.

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Yeah, yeah, David Tennant calls the colonel out of the inset flashback and then again out of the other flashback or Lady Edison narrating a previous scene that the doctor was in.

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And you see, the flashback which the doctor has to Charlemagne was actually a flashback to a text story that was on the BBC website in 2008 called The Lonely Computer, written by my lovely old pal, Rupert Late, who's sadly no longer with us.

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Wow.

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And so it's actually a flashback to something, which was never seen on screen and was now made canon.

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That's brilliant.

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It's so perfect too, as a sort of silly Doctor Who premise.

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You know, Charlemagne gets kidnapped by a computer. because of course he does.

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At this point, you know, we had a long-running Marple series.

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We had a long-running Poirot series.

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Agatha Christie's other main characters who hadn't really had their own series a little bit.

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They had a little bit of a series.

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Tommy and Tuppence.

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Right.

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And then they would get made about 8 years later with David Williams and Jessica Rain, who was Verity Lambert.

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And do you know who Jessica Rain is married to?

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Reverend Golightly.

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Oh my goodness.

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I did not know that.

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Do you know who Sasha Dawan is dating?

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Me?

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Angeli Mohindra.

139
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Really?

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Oh, wow, what a pretty couple.

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What a pretty couple.

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Yeah, I thought it was me too.

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That's a shame.

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What?

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We need to get back to him and talk to him about.

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Somebody posted a shirtless picture of him the other day and well, look, my baby is due in about 9 months.

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While we're on that subject.

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Actually, Brandon.

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Topless Sasha to one?

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Well, let's say representation.

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We, um, we, weirdly, and I'm going to open the kimono for a second.

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We're recording this while series 12 is still airing.

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So we're from a recent past where we have no idea what the timeless child is.

154
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But we have just had what I think is the best gay male representation in Doctor Who Today in Praxis.

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And I think at the time I said that everyone sort of assumes there are a lot of gay men in Doctor Who because Russell and Gareth and all of that, but there aren't really.

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And here we get Roger and the footman, Davenport.

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You're saying the footman was being Roger.

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Are you here?

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I don't think the explicit tag counts for 1920 swang.

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Sorry.

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What do we think of it?

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I mean, it is just kind of played for laughs, I think.

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Or is it?

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Um, look, there is a bit of commentary there because the family clearly no, because there's that little quip, you know, there's no children in this house and there's not bloody likely to be.

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Oh, I love how quickly Donna spots it as well.

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Yeah, yeah.

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I mean, who'd have guessed that Donald would be a massive fag hagger?

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But it's also Donna who then gives us that bit of commentary when Roger is killed and Donna walks in the room and she says, oh, that poor footman.

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So you know she's been off talking to the footman and you know that no one else is.

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And she says, he can't even mourn Roger.

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This is more like the Middle Ages.

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And yeah, it's it's a very clever succinct way of kind of raising, oh, you know, yeah, we're having this jolly hockey 6 time, but there is there is prejudice in this age as well.

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And we've played this relationship for laughs, but there is this serious side to it.

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And of course, the idea of silent mourning in the queer community, especially in the 80s and 90s with the AIDS HIV epidemic and governments saying basically, well, these people shouldn't be mourned why you mourning.

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They, you know, they deserve this horrible disease.

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And I think certainly for Russell. you know, looking back at his stuff with Queera's folk and him talking about his clubbing days in the 90s, I don't think that is a coincidence.

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I think that is not necessarily a reference, but just the kind of thing of the, you know, the more times change.

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The more they stay the same.

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I think it serves a narrative purpose as well because it foreshadows the disgrace of Lady Edison.

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So her alcoholism is played for laughs in the flashback scene, but it becomes clear that the reason that she drinks is because she she got pregnant before she was married.

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She was forced to carry the child to term and then give it up and never, ever see it again.

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All through her life, she's carried on.

183
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

184
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And so you have Roberts critiquing the kind of sexual morality of the 1920s.

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And like, I don't want to go into great detail about Roberts over the last few years, but here at least he is, you know, he's contemplative.

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Well, yeah, yeah, he's being thoughtful and and thinking about the the way that, you know, queer people and women were harmed by sort of traditional sexual morality.

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Yeah.

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And even when Agatha Christie turns up at the party and Lady Edison's 1st question to her is, where's your husband?

189
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Yeah.

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Where she's the, you know, Agatha Christie's a guest of honour and it still wears your husband.

191
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And of course, he's off having a wonderful time. with this new woman he's just met.

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Whereas Agatha has to go to this party while she is in rage and especially enraged by arrogant men.

193
00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:53.460
Like the 2nd the doctor's like, oh, isn't this wonderful?

194
00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:54.839
She like, no, it's not bloody wonderful.

195
00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:55.619
Someone's dead.

196
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.220
That's great.

197
00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:57.000
Yes, it is.

198
00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.460
And he's properly counted.

199
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.960
Agatha is carrying on.

200
00:19:01.019 --> 00:19:01.259
Exactly.

201
00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:06.420
The thing is, I love how cowed he is because he does immediately rein it in.

202
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:12.240
You know, it's not trying to make Queen Victoria say whether she's amused or not.

203
00:19:12.299 --> 00:19:19.140
He kind of goes, okay, no, I'm not gonna going to push this and I'm not going to treat her like an amusement park kind of thing.

204
00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:23.039
He's probably embarrassed, I think, by being called out.

205
00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:27.720
The doctor is always in awe of kind of great creative figures, isn't he?

206
00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:28.980
They always put him in his place.

207
00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:31.440
Well, because he's being written by writers.

208
00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:39.359
Just to tell back to what we were saying about sort of the gay relationship in this episode as well.

209
00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:45.359
I think it's slightly problematic, I think, that Roger dies in the narrative.

210
00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:49.680
I mean, obviously that is a well-worn trope and it's not being lampshaded here.

211
00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:50.940
It's just because everyone is dying.

212
00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:51.900
They're being picked off.

213
00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:56.519
But Lady Edison's reaction to that is far too muted, I think.

214
00:19:56.579 --> 00:20:01.619
It takes away credibility from the character in that she just does carry on and you don't really see her grieving.

215
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:03.240
She sort of sits in a corner looking a bit sad.

216
00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:04.380
Oh, she does.

217
00:20:04.380 --> 00:20:10.259
Her initial reaction is, you know, is very good. comes away 2 seconds later.

218
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:10.920
Yeah, yeah.

219
00:20:10.980 --> 00:20:12.660
It's kind of a Doctor Who thing.

220
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:22.980
Like deaths, you know, should land more in Doctor Who than they do, but since there are so many deaths in a given Doctor Who episode, you know, it would be the morning show, wouldn't it?

221
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.019
Like everyone would just be grieving all the time.

222
00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:26.160
It'd be series nine.

223
00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:34.680
I think maybe it should have been Davenport who died, but then that brings up its own problems of kind, you know, classism and things like that.

224
00:20:34.740 --> 00:20:35.339
Yeah.

225
00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:36.779
And you wouldn't have gone.

226
00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:43.920
I mean, the death is played for very broad comedy with the face in the soup and the big knife in the back and stuff and it's very silly.

227
00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:56.039
I actually think there's, I think it might almost be a problem of just, because I think the script is, like, impressively nuanced in terms of how much it packs into a 45 minute episode.

228
00:20:56.099 --> 00:21:11.640
Like, like, like we were all saying, like it functions as this pretty, a sort of a properly detailed kind of murder mystery and and, and giving, giving sort of a cast of abouts of 8, 9 characters all this, a secret and then, and then sort of largely sort of balancing all their interactions really skilfully.

229
00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:32.039
I think, I think occasionally there is, you just get that, the outcome of that kind of squeeze to just, and most of the times I think it's successful, and, um, and I think maybe just, yeah, sometimes those, like, emotional beats maybe don't line with the strength that you'd want just because there's just so much, they'll sort of, there's so much machinery going on underneath it, I think.

230
00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:33.480
You're right.

231
00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:34.619
And it's not the tone of the episode.

232
00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:35.819
It's not what the episode is going for.

233
00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:36.900
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

234
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:37.319
Yeah.

235
00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:41.099
So, do you know what really happened with Agatha Christie?

236
00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:42.359
No.

237
00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.660
So it's not as big a mystery as Gareth says.

238
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:54.359
Apparently she was discovered in that Harrogate hotel partying, having checked in under the name of her husband's mistress.

239
00:21:55.980 --> 00:21:58.500
Shaded by Agatha Chris.

240
00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:01.559
I wish we'd seen that.

241
00:22:02.339 --> 00:22:21.660
I was a little bit disappointed to see sort of Fenella Woolgar with a sort of stunned look on her face standing next to the sign of the sort of unimaginatively named Harrogate Hotel. you know, whereas really she was just sort of partying on. which I just think is so superb.

242
00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:34.319
Do you know, there's those, in the deleted scenes, you can see the original, I think, I think there was like a sort of abridging narrative of Agatha, like old Agatha in on her deathbed.

243
00:22:34.380 --> 00:22:35.220
Yeah.

244
00:22:35.220 --> 00:22:37.319
I'm so glad they dropped that.

245
00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:39.480
Yeah, they're pretty weird.

246
00:22:39.539 --> 00:22:48.900
But, but it's, what I wish, I wish we'd had the bridging, uh, the bridging narrative of her just checking into the, uh, checking into the party would have been fantastic.

247
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:50.160
That was...

248
00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:55.859
So did they have Fanella Woolgar in ageing makeup or did they have someone else playing all day?

249
00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:57.480
They had someone else, right?

250
00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:10.619
It was another actress and so the pre-titles was going to be Agatha Christie in this aged care home in the 70s. tossing and turning in a nightmare and screaming, doctor.

251
00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:12.000
And that would go into the titles.

252
00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:18.480
And then the original last scene was the doctor and Donna coming to visit her and Agatha saying, I've just remembered.

253
00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:21.960
And the doctor showing her the book from the year 5 billion.

254
00:23:22.019 --> 00:23:23.039
Oh, okay.

255
00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:27.539
But to be honest, the actress playing old Agatha is really bad.

256
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.380
I hear they got it back for Orphan 55.

257
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.960
Shout out for you, Todd.

258
00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:36.779
And also friend of the podcast, Pete.

259
00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:48.480
You know, we were talking earlier about the fact that Russell had some input into this.

260
00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:52.380
What strikes me about this script is how unfiltered Gareth it is.

261
00:23:52.440 --> 00:24:01.319
I mean, it's so, it's so charming and kind of fun, which Gareth is, like I've known Gareth for many years and he's charming and witty and urbane.

262
00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:04.500
And this script is just very him.

263
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.319
I don't see Russell's voice in the script much at all.

264
00:24:07.380 --> 00:24:09.539
Do you know what it reminds me of?

265
00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:39.000
You know, when Paul Cornell talks about human nature and sending scripts back to Russell and Russell saying, actually, no, put more of the novel in, make it more like what you wrote originally, um, you know, I think that that given the subject matter and given the tone that Gareth is exactly the right person to do it, he was always the one who wrote the sort of witty, uh, kind of trope aware, new adventures novels.

266
00:24:39.059 --> 00:24:45.420
In fact, there were huge runs of the new adventures novels that were utterly unreadable but would have a Gareth, you know, one in the middle.

267
00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:47.880
That's right, they saw a lowbrow highbrow.

268
00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:49.680
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

269
00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:51.779
And so I mean, he's perfect for this.

270
00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:55.259
Thing about the scene, where the doctor's poisoned.

271
00:24:55.319 --> 00:25:01.680
So the scene where he's poisoned and he goes down to the kitchen for the antidote.

272
00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:02.579
Ginger beer.

273
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:03.839
Ginger...

274
00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:17.160
Harvey Wallbanger, you know, and like it's so urgent that he gets sold that when Donna sort of fails to do the mime, he actually spends a few lines criticising her rather than just saying the word salt.

275
00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:23.460
And that whole thing is just, like, it's not only funny, but it's perfectly tailored for the 2 actors as well.

276
00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:30.240
Which is extraordinary when you consider this is the 1st episode Catherine Tate filmed for this series.

277
00:25:30.299 --> 00:25:31.859
I forgot that.

278
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.980
And don't both of them just look overjoyed throughout the whole thing.

279
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:36.660
They both look so happy to be there.

280
00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:37.559
Yeah.

281
00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:43.740
I mean, later on in the season, tenant will start to look very freckly, like later on in the filming.

282
00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:56.160
Apparently, uh, I have heard that all the night shoots on partners in crime, David just, during the production period, never really recovered from, like he never recovered the tiredness and the sleep.

283
00:25:56.220 --> 00:25:59.339
And there is kind of a division in this series.

284
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:03.000
I'm a few episodes ahead in my watch at the moment.

285
00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:03.960
I'm watching midnight.

286
00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:05.400
Just his skin looks horrid.

287
00:26:05.460 --> 00:26:07.859
Whereas here he looks like fresh as a daisy.

288
00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:15.480
But yeah, so the 1st seeing Catherine filmed, obviously, after Runaway Bride is the scene where they actually walk out of the TARDIS.

289
00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:16.140
Wow.

290
00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.319
And I like to think that's why we never get this hair again.

291
00:26:19.380 --> 00:26:22.740
I'm thinking someone looked at the rushes and kind of went, oh, no.

292
00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.720
No we don't want that.

293
00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:26.880
Possibly Catherine herself.

294
00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:34.200
Like, apparently Catherine was very conscious of how she looked on screen and would communicate with the directors and the designers.

295
00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:39.779
Not in a demanding way, but just kind of, oh no, I think I would look better in this or I would think I would look.

296
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:43.140
It's also why we never got the Catherine Tate bride action figure.

297
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:44.640
Wow, okay.

298
00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:49.380
Because apparently Catherine thought she looked a bit big.

299
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.099
She looked at it and thought, is that an auton from Rose?

300
00:26:54.180 --> 00:27:01.619
It is kind of funny. because she is older than Tennant?

301
00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:02.700
Yes.

302
00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:08.579
And so the 1st regular companion to be older than the doctor?

303
00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:09.299
Yes.

304
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:19.799
And, I mean, she isn't cast necessarily as someone for the dads, you know, so you've got how do we dress this middle-aged female companion.

305
00:27:19.859 --> 00:27:23.579
We've never had, you know, a companion this age.

306
00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:25.259
And I think she looks fantastic.

307
00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:26.339
Do you know what I mean?

308
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:28.559
The clothes that they have are in...

309
00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:54.900
And you already see, that kind of makes sense because in early in the series, we've noticed just how incredibly compassionate she is, the big surprising thing is that you get Catherine Tate in and she is the most caring and compassionate companion, you know, and the one who is most angered by injustice and unfairness and things.

310
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:56.400
And you get that here.

311
00:27:56.460 --> 00:27:58.619
And so it turns out it's for the 1st time.

312
00:27:59.099 --> 00:28:07.319
I think it also explains the sort of some of the scenes where I think her broad performance doesn't pay off.

313
00:28:07.380 --> 00:28:12.180
And in particular, it's that very long scene in the accusing parlour.

314
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:14.460
Oh my god, I love that performance.

315
00:28:14.579 --> 00:28:16.380
Oh my god.

316
00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:19.559
She's stopping her face the entire time.

317
00:28:19.619 --> 00:28:24.180
It's fantastic That's us at home watching the last 10 minutes of Poirot.

318
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:27.059
I totally got, that's what that was.

319
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:28.140
Cohesia killer.

320
00:28:29.220 --> 00:28:43.140
I also, I love, I love this, and there's some little, there's some little, just, just cutaways to her reactions when I think, um, I think the doctor says towards the end, murder at vicars rage, and then her look of just disdain at him.

321
00:28:44.579 --> 00:28:46.740
Yeah, just fantastic.

322
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:51.900
And that utterly charming scene where she's exploring the bedroom by herself.

323
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:53.640
Oh, so good.

324
00:28:53.700 --> 00:28:54.059
Yeah.

325
00:28:54.119 --> 00:29:01.740
And it's always a challenge for any actor if you're in a scene by yourself to make the words work and make it not just, this is television.

326
00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:03.720
So I must continue to speak.

327
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:07.619
So you know that something is happening and nothing is wrong with your set.

328
00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:10.559
And she does it so very well.

329
00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:14.519
And she does the scared of monsters thing really well.

330
00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:15.539
Acting to nothing.

331
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:22.319
Well, you know, no one does a better walking down a corridor, looking into the middle distance performance than Catherine Tate.

332
00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:23.880
Just incredible.

333
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:35.339
I mean, in that scene, she does call out and she calls out for the doctor, but she actually escapes from the vest perform herself. without any help from him.

334
00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:37.259
And she does it by being clever.

335
00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:43.859
And it's another thing that they junk from the runaway bride, where you have Lance, you know, saying she couldn't find Germany on a map.

336
00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:46.920
She is clever as well.

337
00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:55.859
So there has been like a sort of careful rewriting of her character and it looks like that's right from the 1st episode they shoot.

338
00:29:56.579 --> 00:30:00.960
And on that topic of her intelligence and her compassion.

339
00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:05.099
When Agatha Christie is despairing that she can't solve this mystery.

340
00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:12.839
And Donna goes out to talk to her and brings up the fact that her husband has left her, which she's not meant to know about.

341
00:30:12.900 --> 00:30:22.680
It's kind of a parallel to that scene in Rise of the Cybermen, also directed by Graham Harper, where Rose is talking to Jackie.

342
00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:29.519
But the difference there is Rose, of course, has a personal stake in this and is basically saying take him back, take him back.

343
00:30:29.579 --> 00:30:32.880
Whereas Donna's just like, yeah, that's really horrid, you know?

344
00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:34.079
Oh, you poor thing.

345
00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:41.640
Yeah, that is, and it's more about just affirming what Agatha is saying and affirming Agatha rather than playing any of her own agenda.

346
00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:42.599
Yeah.

347
00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:46.259
I think she's on that exact point.

348
00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:52.380
I think she's what makes her so successful and and like we've been saying clearly from the 1st shooting block as well.

349
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.940
She's sort of, she's sort of the mate that you wanted to travel around in space and time with.

350
00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.039
She's sort of the person that she just seems like.

351
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:00.720
And her, and this is her.

352
00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:05.519
I think this is Catherine Tate, like just has sort of natural charm coming through as well a lot of the time.

353
00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:19.980
But it's just, yeah, her sort of compassion and then her ability to listen to Agatha and take on board what she's saying and sort of gently nudge her in an encouraging way, but in a way that you feel like she's being sort of a genuine friend to people and she's looking out for people.

354
00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:33.660
And I think when she, and that, and that, I think reaches a really interesting point when she, when she ultimately, um, so when she throws the Firestone into the lake and, and I think her line is, I couldn't help myself or I couldn't help myself either.

355
00:31:33.779 --> 00:32:07.859
And I just, I think there's, there's something really lovely and nuanced in, in the way she's written here, even in those scenes that she is sort of being the surrogant audience at home and, um, she's sort of doing a lot in the service of the narrative, but she's also just coming across as just such a, a sort of magnetic personality that you can see the doctor just sort of just travelling with for years because she's just, she's just such a great mate that sort of, and also like holds him accountable when he, you know, makes a terrible pun or when he, or when he, like earlier in the series, even

356
00:32:07.859 --> 00:32:11.579
when he sort of, at that end of the Fire of Pompeii, that scene as well.

357
00:32:11.640 --> 00:32:14.579
Like, she's just, she's just so magnetic in that way, I think.

358
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:14.880
Yeah.

359
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.200
This is my theory of why Donna is such a successful companion.

360
00:32:19.259 --> 00:32:20.640
Well, she's the archetype, really.

361
00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:26.099
She and Sarah Jane share the same thing in that they're an analogue of the show itself.

362
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:31.380
They're smart, they're compassionate, they're empathetic and witty.

363
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:33.240
They can be broad sometimes.

364
00:32:33.299 --> 00:32:34.859
They can be subtle sometimes.

365
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:41.579
And I think it's the reason she's so successful, is that she captures Russell's Doctor Who, you know, it's alchemy.

366
00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:43.440
She captures Russell's Doctor Who in one character.

367
00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:45.599
And of course, she's played by Catherine Tate.

368
00:32:45.660 --> 00:32:46.380
Yeah.

369
00:32:46.380 --> 00:32:47.099
Yeah.

370
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:50.940
The other companion, I would throw into that comparison as well.

371
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:52.500
I mean, actually, more than one.

372
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:56.099
But I would also say Clara, specifically in series eight.

373
00:32:56.160 --> 00:33:09.420
I think that's the only time Clara really works and it's because, again, she is keeping the doctor in check, just as we as the audience do, with early Capaldi, where he's being, you know, objectionable and rude.

374
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.599
Clara's the one who turns around and says, no, we don't act like that.

375
00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:14.579
That's not what we do.

376
00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:17.640
She's teaching him how to be the doctor again.

377
00:33:17.700 --> 00:33:25.200
She's also Moffatt's version of Doctor Who and a character that Moffatt's been writing ever since press gang, you know?

378
00:33:25.259 --> 00:33:32.220
So she is a sort of distilled version of that Moffatt who kind of energy, I think.

379
00:33:39.539 --> 00:33:43.920
Can we go back to something that I had completely forgotten about?

380
00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:46.500
Why is Graham Harper directing this?

381
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:59.099
I think it might have just been scheduled lottery, but I mean, Graham previously has had all of those kind of big budget kind of action stories because that plays to his strengths.

382
00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:07.140
But then he's given Planets of Theude, which is a character piece, and Unicorn and the Wasp, which is an historical comedy, and he does fabulously on both.

383
00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:08.760
He is just an amazing director.

384
00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:10.739
It's really perfect, isn't it?

385
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:17.940
And I've said before, I think that, you know, Harper stands out extraordinarily in the 80s because he's just streets ahead of everyone else.

386
00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:21.780
And then in the new series, he's a bit ahead of everyone else.

387
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:26.639
But I think I've probably undersold him because he just gets this completely right.

388
00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:38.760
Yeah, and there's just some amazing moments like the Dolly Zoom on Felicity Kendall when she realises that her son is the vicar and a wasp.

389
00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:40.199
Yeah.

390
00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:42.960
Hold on, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

391
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:50.340
Oh my God, that has to be a thing.

392
00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:51.719
Surely, surely.

393
00:34:53.039 --> 00:35:07.500
And things like the the view of the monster, like the segmented thing, so we know it's an insect even before we see it, that lovely high screen shot right at the start when the car's arriving outside.

394
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:08.340
Yeah.

395
00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:08.699
Yeah.

396
00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:12.480
Or even the shot of the shadow of the lead piping come down.

397
00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:28.380
I think he's so skilled at finding these moments that just stick in your head and there's like these little visuals from this episode that I just, I think I've just in my head permanently. makes me think, you know, if Arc of Infinity had been made as a deliberate comedy.

398
00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:31.500
The whole impulse laser line would now be a classic.

399
00:35:31.559 --> 00:35:32.159
Exactly.

400
00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:34.260
Still sort of a classic.

401
00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:35.940
What are you doing with that lead piping?

402
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:38.460
What do you think, I'm sure?

403
00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:42.000
That is my favourite line in the same time.

404
00:35:42.059 --> 00:35:46.619
I say, what are you doing with that lead piping is just, I think it's gold.

405
00:35:47.159 --> 00:35:49.739
I said that Sasha just the other day.

406
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:54.300
See, I think this is white.

407
00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:58.920
This episode looks so brilliant because it looks like it doesn't have the budget of some of the other episodes.

408
00:35:58.980 --> 00:35:59.880
It doesn't need the budget.

409
00:35:59.940 --> 00:36:04.079
And yet Graham brings such a visual flair to it.

410
00:36:04.139 --> 00:36:05.460
It looks a 1000000 bucks.

411
00:36:05.579 --> 00:36:19.260
Yeah, I mean, it's a, you know, it's a truism to talk about the BBC doing period staff, you know, but this is the thing that 100s and 100s of hours of this sort of TV come out every year, perhaps without a giant CG wasp in it.

412
00:36:19.380 --> 00:36:21.480
And it looks fantastic.

413
00:36:21.539 --> 00:36:27.119
Even just the fact that, you know, the opening scene is set at a cocktail party on the lawn.

414
00:36:27.179 --> 00:36:38.699
You know, like that is more expensive than setting it inside a room and stuff and it's sunny and great and we get introduced to just this incredible cast as well.

415
00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:40.619
And Donna drinks sidecars.

416
00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:43.139
I love a side.

417
00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:46.500
On the direction.

418
00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:53.639
I think something, Graham does, that's very clever, is obviously where cribbing left, right, and centre from Agatha Christie adaptations.

419
00:36:53.699 --> 00:36:57.239
But the Dolly Zoom, of course, made famous in Jaws.

420
00:36:57.960 --> 00:37:01.679
And the death of Miss Chandrakala is straight out of the omen.

421
00:37:01.739 --> 00:37:03.119
Oh, wow, okay.

422
00:37:03.179 --> 00:37:04.260
It's shot.

423
00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.699
It shot in exactly the same way as the spire killing Patrick Trouton.

424
00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:16.320
Even right down to, the actress playing this Chandra Khala does the same had gestures at the same kind of scream.

425
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:30.840
It's a very deliberate crib and, you know, if you've only seen those movies like once and you're not a big movie Afficionado, your subconscious will just go, oh, this comes from something of very high quality.

426
00:37:30.900 --> 00:37:31.380
Yeah.

427
00:37:31.860 --> 00:37:36.300
Whereas if you are a bit more of a film buff and you're able to pick out those antecedents.

428
00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:39.539
You go, oh, yeah, so I say I'm what you're doing, yeah.

429
00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:41.880
I'm going to enjoy my port and cigar.

430
00:37:41.940 --> 00:37:43.139
You're very clever Mr. Harper.

431
00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:49.619
It actually reminds me a bit of Edgar Wright's kind of style.

432
00:37:49.679 --> 00:38:11.699
Like, there's like a real, there's a real sort of, um, an enthusiasm on using sort of like, or embracing sort of tropes, but also sort of having a real, like, relish and glee with them and sort of, and them being sort of, like, obviously serving the script super well, but, but there is, like you said, there is that opportunity that if you recognise it, it just enhances your enjoyment of it further.

433
00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:17.099
Agatha says to the doctor at one point, um, you talk quite like Edward Lear.

434
00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:20.099
And I think that's Gareth as well.

435
00:38:20.219 --> 00:38:21.960
Yeah, his writing is like Edward Lear.

436
00:38:22.019 --> 00:38:23.340
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

437
00:38:30.179 --> 00:38:34.920
So we have finally got Felicity Kendall on Doctor Who.

438
00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:35.460
Hooray.

439
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:40.320
Yes, completely completing the goods.

440
00:38:40.380 --> 00:38:41.699
So we've had Richard Briars.

441
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:42.239
Yes.

442
00:38:42.300 --> 00:38:48.000
And Richard Briers will turn up in Torchwood as well or has just turned up in Torchwood season two before this.

443
00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:51.719
But yes, Felicity Goddamn Kendall.

444
00:38:51.780 --> 00:38:52.619
Yeah, yeah.

445
00:38:52.679 --> 00:38:56.940
It's really good too, to have her sort of playing against type in a way.

446
00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.659
Like the, she is so sort of wholesome as Barbara Good.

447
00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:11.400
So having her sort of secretly alcoholic and things, you know, like burping after her flashback because she's just been drinking and things, is sort of terribly, terribly funny.

448
00:39:11.460 --> 00:39:28.500
And then Christopher Benjamin, who, you know, he was such a large middle-aged man way back in, um, even in, inferno, that it's kind of surprising to see him still sort of up and about in 2008. fairly unchanged as well.

449
00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:31.139
He's looking he's looking pretty healthy there.

450
00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:37.139
The thing is, Felicity Kendall had just come off playing in Rosemary and time.

451
00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:41.099
Oh, which is a mystery solving gardener with Pantheras.

452
00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:41.880
Delightful.

453
00:39:41.940 --> 00:39:44.940
I can't remember if she's rosemary or time.

454
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:51.360
And then, of course, this bit of casting is more interesting in retrospect and it's Felicity Jones.

455
00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:54.059
Star Wars is Felicity Jones.

456
00:39:54.119 --> 00:39:58.199
Andy, we're going to take someone who's going to be very famous next year and cast them this year.

457
00:39:58.260 --> 00:40:00.179
It's amazing how he does that.

458
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:02.579
He's got an incredible track record of doing it.

459
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:14.460
But he makes a very clever decision, though, of not casting her as someone you would necessarily desperately want to see as a companion and whose name would be brought up again and again every time they would cast a companion, Carrie Mulligan.

460
00:40:14.519 --> 00:40:17.820
But now who is now far too big to do Doctor Who.

461
00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:24.179
Whereas Jenna Coleman, later on, would have the good sense to be in Captain America before she did Doctor Who.

462
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:26.639
So, is she in Captain America?

463
00:40:26.699 --> 00:40:31.320
She's Bucky Barnes' date in the 1940s.

464
00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:33.599
So Karen Gillan trajectory, but backwards.

465
00:40:33.659 --> 00:40:35.940
She has like 2 lights.

466
00:40:37.380 --> 00:40:41.039
I love Felicity Jones in this. she's fantastic.

467
00:40:41.099 --> 00:40:42.420
All right, then.

468
00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:48.900
That's such a wonderfully sort of, you know, mannered performance, isn't it?

469
00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:54.179
It's like, I'm completely dropping the accent and going all comedy working class.

470
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:58.139
Like it doesn't convince for a second, but it's absolutely not supposed to.

471
00:40:58.199 --> 00:40:59.820
It's so fun Yeah.

472
00:40:59.880 --> 00:41:04.619
And of course, as one of the footmen, Sandy McDonald, David Tennant's dad.

473
00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:05.940
Oh yeah.

474
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.219
I think he's serving drinks at the party at the start.

475
00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:11.099
He is, I think he's in the 1st like the 1st panning shot.

476
00:41:11.159 --> 00:41:12.360
I think it's him.

477
00:41:16.139 --> 00:41:18.480
Can we talk about David for a moment?

478
00:41:18.539 --> 00:41:19.440
Yeah.

479
00:41:19.500 --> 00:41:22.800
I think this is one of David's best performances.

480
00:41:22.860 --> 00:41:24.179
He's very light.

481
00:41:24.239 --> 00:41:24.960
He's very fun.

482
00:41:25.019 --> 00:41:31.320
He's channelling the 5th doctor with his kind of specs and with his over-the-top enthusiasm for things.

483
00:41:31.380 --> 00:41:36.480
And I think the doctor works really well at the heart of this story because he's Poirot.

484
00:41:36.539 --> 00:41:39.179
And if you think about Poirot's trait.

485
00:41:39.239 --> 00:41:41.760
He is kind of eccentric, but establishment.

486
00:41:41.820 --> 00:41:44.519
He's overly obsessed with his appearance.

487
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:47.099
I mean, who does that remind you of?

488
00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:47.940
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

489
00:41:48.420 --> 00:41:55.679
I think we've talked about it just briefly before, but in that sort of wonderful, like, physical comedy scene with the poison.

490
00:41:55.739 --> 00:42:09.719
I think I think he's, I think he's actually really often, I, I know we've talked a bit on the podcast before about him occasionally in sort of the Hammier moments, being a bit great, but I think that it's, I think he's fantastic in that scene.

491
00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:21.000
And I think he's just, and I think maybe there is that excitement about, um, Catherine and David working sort of for the, like, meeting again and working on this 1st episode again, but there's just such a, I think that's it.

492
00:42:21.059 --> 00:42:30.539
I think there's a nimbleness to his performance that, that, that maybe is, I think, is quite refreshing to see and and I think he's, um, yeah, just some of the delivery of that.

493
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:35.460
I think he's, yeah, what his delivery of the camptown races is just...

494
00:42:36.900 --> 00:42:39.599
I think that's his funniest moment of in Doctor Who.

495
00:42:39.659 --> 00:42:45.300
I think that just the, as he's getting eaten away by Sinai, he's just, oh, Countdown races.

496
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:45.960
You're kidding.

497
00:42:46.920 --> 00:43:00.719
It does make me wonder if our sort of occasional problem with Tenet mugging it a bit for the camera is possibly because his other 2 companions he's had up till this point.

498
00:43:00.780 --> 00:43:06.059
Billy and Freema play them quite naturalistically.

499
00:43:06.119 --> 00:43:16.739
Like no one ever gives a full naturalistic performance in Doctor Who, I would argue because of the heightened nature of it, but because they are as close to naturalistic as possible.

500
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:18.300
His performance looks so much bigger.

501
00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:23.579
Catherine comes in and is giving the same kind of performance as tenant.

502
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:40.619
And so, yeah, I don't know that he's necessarily changed all that much, but just, because you've got the 2 of them together, and particularly because she's so, she's a bit more effortless with the comedy than tenant is, because that's her background.

503
00:43:40.920 --> 00:43:50.460
Richard's not here today, of course, but he has always said about Catherine Tate, if you want someone to give good drama, hire a comedian.

504
00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:57.420
And I think she, perhaps she doesn't necessarily bring out the best intenant, but it's like a flavour pairing.

505
00:43:57.480 --> 00:43:58.920
Yeah, yeah.

506
00:43:58.980 --> 00:44:00.900
I think they work tremendously well together.

507
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:10.679
And I think the 10th doctor is suited to jolly japes like this because he doesn't have to be big and strong, you know, grandstanding and making sort of big speeches.

508
00:44:10.739 --> 00:44:12.900
He's just enjoying himself and so is David.

509
00:44:13.980 --> 00:44:21.239
You know how I said that this is uh, the beginning of a run of 7 episodes that I think uh, really amazing.

510
00:44:21.300 --> 00:44:33.719
One of the things that I think, is amazing about this particular run, is the different textures and different tones of all of the episodes as well.

511
00:44:33.780 --> 00:44:46.920
And we are going to go into something that is going to be very big, um, and we've got episodes like midnight and turn left and the finale coming up, which will be hugely emotional.

512
00:44:46.980 --> 00:44:56.280
And there'll be comedy, but it won't be the focus, and some of them will be, you know, quite upsetting and difficult.

513
00:44:56.340 --> 00:45:07.500
And so I think, as you said, Max, this is perfect at this point in the season to do something as fun and comic and enjoyable as this.

514
00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:09.059
I think it works tremendously well.

515
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:10.679
It's like a clearing of the palate.

516
00:45:10.739 --> 00:45:11.639
Yeah.

517
00:45:38.699 --> 00:45:43.380
Well, there listener, we've decided to slip away before Agatha Christie's wild party really kicks off.

518
00:45:43.440 --> 00:45:48.000
Instead, we might just curl up in a shady corner somewhere with a very good book.

519
00:45:48.119 --> 00:45:51.719
We'll see you next week for silence in the library.

520
00:45:51.780 --> 00:46:07.380
In the meantime, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts, and you can keep up with us at flights for entirety on Facebook, at FTE podcast on Twitter, and on our website, flightthroughentirety.com, where you'll find links to our other podcasts, Bondfinger and Jody into Terror.

521
00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:10.739
Until next time, don't touch the soup.

522
00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:14.519
It's full of pipperine and I think they might have found a dead body in it.

523
00:46:14.579 --> 00:46:16.980
Thank you very much for listening and good night.

524
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:18.059
Good night.

525
00:46:18.119 --> 00:46:18.659
Good night.

526
00:46:18.719 --> 00:46:19.440
Good night.

527
00:46:22.619 --> 00:46:28.679
That was Flight for Entirety, starring Nathan Bottomley, Peter Griffiths, Max Gel Barton, Brendan Jones.

528
00:46:28.739 --> 00:46:32.519
Theme arrangement by Cameron Lamb, Strings performance by Jane Allberg.

529
00:46:32.579 --> 00:46:38.820
This episode, Lowbrow Highbrow, was recorded on the 15th of February 2020 and released on the 26th of April.

530
00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:52.320
As is, of course, well known, Dame Agatha Christie passed away on the 12th of January 1976, which means that she died without ever finding out if Sarah Jane Smith would get her eyesight back.

531
00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:53.760
Makes you think.

532
00:46:54.780 --> 00:46:56.880
That's a good out I think.

533
00:46:56.940 --> 00:46:58.440
Yeah, I think that probably is a good hour.

534
00:46:58.500 --> 00:46:59.280
What do you think?

535
00:46:59.340 --> 00:47:02.219
Max, is there anything that you wanted to cover that we didn't get to?

536
00:47:04.440 --> 00:47:07.019
No, it's just sort of a vague.

537
00:47:07.079 --> 00:47:08.340
There was this...

538
00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:20.940
I have a point of I was just going to mention about like sort of how the shape of like where this falls in the shape of series 4 and how sort of the shape of each series is is been sort of identical to each other, but it was kind of a very vague ephemeral point that I don't think is actually that interesting.

539
00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:21.960
So forget that.

540
00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:33.960
I once admitted on when I was guessing on a podcast that RTD does make the same series 4 times in a row.

541
00:47:34.019 --> 00:47:35.219
Moffatt makes it once.

542
00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:40.380
No, Moffat kind of lurches from, God knows what, to God knows what.

543
00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:41.579
He doesn't know what he's doing.

544
00:47:41.639 --> 00:47:44.159
Each season he's reacting against the previous season, I think.

545
00:47:44.219 --> 00:47:45.360
With the previous one.

546
00:47:45.420 --> 00:47:48.119
Yeah, whereas Russell...

547
00:47:48.119 --> 00:48:15.000
Well, because I think what the unicorn, what I've noticed with watching the unicorn and wasp was that there's this sort of and I think it's what Moffin Moffat tries to correct in series 6 where of this sense of like a sort of mid-series kind of slump, but I was going to say that I think the unicorn and the wasp, particularly after last week is this is this beautiful like pop of champagne in the middle of the, in the middle of the series that I think is actually almost what he's been almost what each series.

548
00:48:15.059 --> 00:48:17.760
I mean, the 1st series kind of avoids it with Dalek a little bit.

549
00:48:17.820 --> 00:48:19.920
You've got like the midseries kind of tempole thing.

550
00:48:19.980 --> 00:48:30.119
But I think, um, but I think particularly reacted against last year, there's this real, I think the Unicorn the Wasp is exactly what they need in the middle of a series like this, if it's 13 episodes.

551
00:48:30.179 --> 00:48:46.980
I think it's something that is just, like sort of, I think, I think something that is just a, and I think Amy's choice does it again in series 5, like something that is just sort of really funny and witty, but kind of just an incredibly quality episode just in the middle of the run, I think is, I think that's what makes this also such a joy.

552
00:48:47.039 --> 00:48:47.400
Yeah.

553
00:48:47.460 --> 00:48:48.539
Just wait a second.

554
00:48:48.599 --> 00:48:52.739
I think we can probably, Alfie's crying outside the door, but we just let him in.

555
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:54.719
Oh, okay.

556
00:48:54.780 --> 00:48:55.739
Just close it all.

557
00:48:55.800 --> 00:48:56.280
Good boy.

558
00:48:56.340 --> 00:48:57.780
Good boy.

559
00:48:57.840 --> 00:48:59.159
Sit down, mate.

560
00:48:59.219 --> 00:48:59.760
Sit.

561
00:48:59.820 --> 00:49:01.199
Okay.

562
00:49:01.739 --> 00:49:03.780
I actually think...

563
00:49:03.780 --> 00:49:05.340
What's up?

564
00:49:05.400 --> 00:49:06.059
I say one thing?

565
00:49:06.119 --> 00:49:06.539
Yep.

566
00:49:06.599 --> 00:49:07.920
So Agatha Christie.

567
00:49:07.980 --> 00:49:12.239
Just her work was known for its language.

568
00:49:12.300 --> 00:49:21.840
So kind of simple language and colourful descriptions which then gave way to kind of pace and lots of dialogue and her prolific quality.

569
00:49:21.900 --> 00:49:24.900
I mean, in the Doctor Who world, who do we know who resembles that?

570
00:49:25.380 --> 00:49:27.239
Terrence Sticks?

571
00:49:27.300 --> 00:49:28.619
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

572
00:49:28.679 --> 00:49:30.360
He's our Agatha Christie.

573
00:49:30.420 --> 00:49:31.739
Yeah, just sort of solid.

574
00:49:31.800 --> 00:49:32.519
Super.

575
00:49:32.579 --> 00:49:33.599
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

576
00:49:34.079 --> 00:49:40.679
And you absolutely don't have to include this, but the colour for monsters this season is purple.

577
00:49:40.739 --> 00:49:41.639
Yes.

578
00:49:41.699 --> 00:49:44.280
Because the Santarans have purple lights everywhere.

579
00:49:44.340 --> 00:49:45.119
They do.

580
00:49:45.119 --> 00:49:46.260
The Hatha purple.

581
00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:49.380
The best perform pink is purple.

582
00:49:49.440 --> 00:49:52.019
There's a bit of purple in the library.

583
00:49:53.699 --> 00:49:59.460
But yeah, I just, I just noticed watching this, it's like, oh, the colour, the colour for monsters is purple.

584
00:49:59.579 --> 00:50:02.400
Are you sure there are any Vince just you can get a job lot of gels?

585
00:50:02.460 --> 00:50:03.900
Yeah, almost.

586
00:50:03.900 --> 00:50:08.159
All right, let's try the outro.

587
00:50:08.219 --> 00:50:12.360
But, I mean, where I really noticed it was the vicars flashback scene.

588
00:50:12.420 --> 00:50:15.179
Yeah, he's going bizz.

589
00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:21.480
And yeah, you know, they just shine a purple light in his face, but also, like, those guys are robbing the church in the dead of night.

590
00:50:21.539 --> 00:50:25.920
It's streaming sunlight from the outside, Mr. Harper.

591
00:50:25.980 --> 00:50:27.119
Maybe it's summer.

592
00:50:27.179 --> 00:50:31.260
I always just assume that in Britain, you know, I've seen Carnival of Monsters.

593
00:50:32.400 --> 00:50:42.119
And when Agatha runs out of the room with the gem towards the end, sort of freeze frame it and go by frame by frame, there's a really weird jump cut.

594
00:50:42.179 --> 00:50:44.280
They've used 2 different takes of her running out the door.

595
00:50:44.340 --> 00:50:45.719
Really?

596
00:50:45.719 --> 00:50:46.679
Yeah, yeah.

597
00:50:46.739 --> 00:50:49.800
Or they've they've lost a few frames there somehow.

598
00:50:49.860 --> 00:50:54.840
I'm not, I'm not mentioning that as the main part of the podcast because that is just pedantry.

599
00:50:54.900 --> 00:50:56.159
Okay, Alfie.

600
00:50:56.400 --> 00:51:00.119
Alfie won't sexually molest you because he's not Coco.

601
00:51:00.179 --> 00:51:01.559
Oh, boy.

602
00:51:01.619 --> 00:51:02.940
And he has been on the podcast before.

603
00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:07.440
Yeah, I'll give him a hug so he doesn't he doesn't whinge and ruin you. a good boy.

604
00:51:07.500 --> 00:51:08.760
Oh, okay, let's see.

605
00:51:08.820 --> 00:51:09.480
Did we talk about?

606
00:51:09.539 --> 00:51:09.900
Oh, sorry.

607
00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:13.019
I was just, is it worth, um, just with, what's the name of it?

608
00:51:13.079 --> 00:51:13.380
Tom.

609
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:15.059
What's his Tom Goodman Hill?

610
00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:15.960
Is that the Reverend?

611
00:51:15.960 --> 00:51:16.800
Yes.

612
00:51:17.460 --> 00:51:18.420
Is that the reverend actor?

613
00:51:18.480 --> 00:51:18.659
Yeah.

614
00:51:18.719 --> 00:51:24.780
Oh, I was just going to say that his his his commitment to the to the reveal buzzing.

615
00:51:24.840 --> 00:51:31.739
I'm actually a monster moment, I think, sells what it must be a hard, a hard thing to say.

616
00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:33.659
I think is...

617
00:51:33.659 --> 00:51:36.659
I think that was a big ask of an actor.

618
00:51:36.780 --> 00:51:38.099
It's a big us.

619
00:51:38.159 --> 00:51:39.000
It's really funny.

620
00:51:39.059 --> 00:51:40.139
He's good.

621
00:51:40.199 --> 00:51:41.039
I think he's good.

622
00:51:41.280 --> 00:51:44.519
I think he's, I think he takes...

623
00:51:44.519 --> 00:51:46.739
So he also goes on to be a lead role in humans.

624
00:51:46.800 --> 00:51:47.519
Did you see humans?

625
00:51:47.579 --> 00:51:48.179
No, I didn't.

626
00:51:48.179 --> 00:51:48.360
No.

627
00:51:48.420 --> 00:51:49.199
No I didn't know that.

628
00:51:49.500 --> 00:51:53.340
And he is amazing in that and really kind of subtle.

629
00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:56.280
Yeah, it's entirely different performance, but yeah, it's great.

630
00:51:56.340 --> 00:51:58.260
I love that season 4 trailer.

631
00:51:58.320 --> 00:52:07.739
I remember the season 4 trailer coming up in season 4 and it's it ends with just a vicar sitting on a couch going, well, this really has been a most entertaining.

632
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:10.800
Go back to what we were saying earlier.

633
00:52:10.860 --> 00:52:12.719
This is a series that can get away with it.

634
00:52:12.780 --> 00:52:14.039
So great.

635
00:52:14.099 --> 00:52:15.420
So great.