04x07 - Nemesis

[bunniefuu]

Action! This week, Doctor Who
becomes a Doctor Whodunnit.

Solving a m*rder mystery
with Agatha Christie. Brilliant.

It's probably the most unusual script
I've had on this show.

♪ Armchair detective... ♪

Oh, my goodness!

Bashed on the head, blunt
instrument.

Action. ♪ Armchair detective... ♪

Become an armchair detective and get
all clued up with Confidential

as we travel back behind the scenes
to Britain in the Roaring Twenties.

Never mind Planet Zog. A party in
the s, that's more like it.

It's a m*rder mystery, but not one
you've read before.

Morphine residue. Morphine?
Doesn't sound very s.

There's a party atmosphere
on location

in South Wales for the filming
of The Doctor's latest adventure.

With so many shady suspects on set,
it's m*rder for the director.

And...action.

Good afternoon, my lady.

Topping day, what?
Spiffing. Top hole.

And cut. Can I just do, erm...

The making of this was very
time consuming because

when you've got nine or ten people in
a scene, they all have to be covered.

You've got to do a developing sh*t,
then a close-up of that person,
then move round and do that person.

Maybe you want two
sh*ts and three sh*ts.

That all takes time. Every time you
set the camera up to do a new sh*t,
it's at least minutes each time.

Given the fact that
it's a whodunnit, it couldn't
be anything other than a big cast.

We kind of knew it was a traditional
Agatha Christie whodunnit.

We wanted to take the
essence of Agatha Christie.

OK, let's go then, please.

It's essential in a whodunnit, you
have to have an ensemble cast.

A big, large cast full of suspects.

And action.

Good afternoon, Professor Peach.

First, you've got Professor Peach...
I need to check something
in the library. Ooh? Alone.

..who doesn't make it
through the opening titles.

I say, what are you doing
with that lead piping?

But somebody's got
to be the first to go. No!

Then old Lady Eddison,
the lady of the house.

Forgive me, but who exactly might
you be and what are you doing here?

Charming, genteel,
mannered society lady,

but with a mysterious past.

Oh, my God!

Everyone's got a secret,
so everyone's got a motive.

That's traditional
in a m*rder mystery.

Action. My husband.

Then you have Colonel Hugh.

Forgive me for not rising.

Never been the same ever since
that flu epidemic back in ' .

Devoted, sociable, clubbable man.

Life and soul of the party.

Don't give my wife ideas.

Who is also harbouring
quite a major secret

in that he's been in a wheelchair for
odd years and doesn't need to be.

Confound it, Mrs Christie,
how did you discover the truth?

, take , B camera only.

Then you have their son Roger.

My word, you ARE a super lady.

'Handsome, charming, with a big
secret staring you in the face'

that The Doctor and Donna
pick up on straight away.

Typical. All the decent
men are on the other bus.

Then there's Davenport.
Your usual, sir.

Thank you, Davenport.
Just how I like it.

The handsome,
charming butler who might

be a little closer to one of the
family than he should be in .

Some of these young boys
deserve a decent thrashing.

Couldn't agree more, sir.

We had to have the flapper
character, in the s.

Miss Redmond. Spiffing to
meet you at last, my lady.

Miss Robina Edmond is there,
the charm of the London society.

Socialite, funny, wonderful, clever.

Also, strangely, hiding a secret.

So she looks like a suspect
early on, but actually is hiding

a completely different layer of
motives.

COCKNEY ACCENT:
Oh, all right then. It's a fair cop.

She's a scrubber from the East End
who's stealing everybody's jewellery.

Go on then, your nobs.

Arrest me.

Then Reverend Golightly, of course.

Ah, Reverend, how are you?

Charming and polite,
honourable and decent.

As the Christian Fathers
taught me, we must forgive
them their trespasses.

He has the biggest secret of them
all - he turns into an
alien wasp when nobody's looking.

What's to stop me k*lling you all?

That's probably the bit you wouldn't
necessarily find in a traditional
Agatha Christie novel.

OK, turning over then, please.

A camera only.

There is a mysterious footman
in disguise, creeping his way
through the garden party,

drawing attention to
himself beautifully,

but is in fact David Tennant's
father making a cameo appearance.

, take .

I was coming down to visit David

and I think they must have been
short of someone,

but they very kindly invited me to
play the part of a footman.

Sidecar, please.
And a lime and soda, thank you.

Which has been interesting and
I didn't have to learn any lines,
so that was good news.

Hello, I'm The Doctor. How do you do?

My lady, where's this
special guest you promised us?

Finally, the final guest you
bring in is Agatha Christie herself.

Here she is. A lady who
needs no introduction.

No, no, please, don't.

Miss Agatha Christie,
running away from her husband in
in terrible circumstances.

Thank you, Lady Eddison.
Honestly, there's no need.

Finding herself in a situation where
the patterns of her own books

are repeating around her,
so what's going on?

As two vintage vehicles
tootle onto set,

completing the sh**t looks likely
to be a bumpy ride for the cast.

David and Fenella have just a few
hours to get to grips with these
classic cars

before filming
the climactic chase sequence.

It's exciting just because
it's fun to drive these things.

At the same time, you are always
aware that the owner of the car is
usually there,

looking at you very beadily,

because these cars are by
their very nature quite rare
and therefore quite expensive.

It's a Morris Cowley, built in .

The accelerator is in the middle.

They didn't standardise until the
end of the ' s, so you need to...

When you jump in the car, you know
something's different,

but you need to concentrate on that
cos the brake is on the right.

It's a different sort of driving
experience, and if you're not
used to it,

you are aware that you don't want to
be blowing the engine or destroying
the gearbox.

So second is like third,
and third is like fourth.

OK, and reverse is like first.
It's all going so well!

It's very different. You're meant
to do this double-declutching thing.

We just changed our car
for an a*t*matic, so it's
even more stressful for me.

OK, so that's first. Where's second?
Reverse is straight up.

Reverse is straight up? Yes. Oh!

Accelerator's in the middle,
reverse is straight up! Easy peasy!

cars, doing a car chase
is not easy.

Can you make it, when
I say quick getaway,

quite a rapid getaway.

I'll show you what's possible.

As a director, you wanna go, "I just
want a sh*t, you start the engine,

"the next thing is we cut to
wheels spinning then they fly off."

Well, old vintage cars
don't have wheels spinning!

Lovely! That'll do.

Here we are with a d*ck Barton-type
of chase, with two cars that can't go

more than mph, so
it was hell of a chase!

SHE TOOTS HORN
Oh...

I mean, if you look at
it and dissect it, the music's
doing the pace for you.

The action, The Doctor's doing,

the fast action he's doing, running
to the car, getting in the car,

letting the brake go.

The tightness and fast cutting you do
gives you the pace.

The lake. She's
heading for the lake.

Cut!

I think you get away with it.

All right, it's a chase at
mph, that's what it is.

Right, now we're all OK , we're in
neutral. I just press that hard
and that's it, is that right?

I think so.

ENGINE STARTS
Oh, yes! Oh, yes!

Excellent. Right, what am I doing?

MUSIC: "Shut Up And Drive"
by Rihanna

We were slightly struggling to
keep up with Nelly, just because...
♪ Her car's faster than yours! ♪

I went faster than I realised,
we were heating. I did it in one
take, didn't I?

I did. I did it. One take wonder!
Way to go!

Maybe I can go up into third...

On the slope earlier, that's when it
d*ed, so I was trying to keep it
going. I'll slow it down a bit.

Hello!

I could get it going but it
didn't have much speed.

It didn't have
a lot of poke to it.

Of course, inevitably when you're
filming there's a camera car
somewhere as well

and you're trying to stay a certain
distance in front of them so
that they can get a sh*t.

That's difficult in a modern car
but when you're driving something

you don't have all the control you
wish for it can be a difficult,

especially when you're going up
hills and the engine just
doesn't want to know.

We're driving a sewing
machine behind you!

I'm sorry, David.
Am I showing you up a little bit?

It's not me, it's the engineering.

Are you sure?
The engineering of past ages.

You know what they say about
lady drivers, David. What?!

VOICE ON RADIO
What was that? "David's car goes on
the low loader, please." Ah!

Ah! You're obviously
not good enough, clearly.

You're on the low loader!

There's no more driving
for David, as the car is
secured to the camera truck.

Action! Time is in flux, Donna!

For all we know this is the night
Agatha Christie loses her life

and history gets changed.
Where's she going?

The lake.
She's heading for the lake.

LOUD BUZZING

I enjoyed it and I didn't blow it
up. I didn't break it
which is always a plus.