Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp

And there it was. The Unicorn and the Wasp. The first classic episode of Series Four/Thirty of Doctor Who. It is difficult to imagine exactly what could represent better, and more suitable, Saturday evening entertainment than the Doctor meeting Agatha Christie whilst fighting a giant wasp who is disguised as a vicar.

This episode felt a massive amount of thinking had gone into it. Agatha Christie appearing in the series could so easily have been a disaster, but instead it was a triumph. Likewise, the comedic edge and the adherence to Christie cliches could have become extremely tedious, but instead were presented in a knowing yet entertaining way. The highlight for me came when the characters remembered their alibis and the camera showed what they were actually doing - topped off by the Doctor starting to remember an unseen adventure involving Charlemagne being kidnapped by an insane computer. There, just there in that allusion to an unknown adventure, was enough material for another complete episode. Such was the strength of last night's offering, that potential episode could be dismissed as an aside, and you just didn't care.

Even the in jokes were subtle yet rewarding. As someone who has read a lot of Agatha Christie, I enjoyed the constant dropping of the titles to her novels into the script but - crucially - it was unobtrusive, right up until the Doctor's appalling (yet great) pun about "The Murder In The Vicarage". If you knew about it all, it made sense. If you didn't, then it wouldn't matter.

Plus Donna has really come into her own, proving the existence of the adversary through the sting in the door at the same time as providing support and understanding to Christie when she most needed it. Donna has come a long way from the tedious Chiswick chav presented in her first adventure.

And in the midst of all this, there was a giant wasp. Magic!

Next week it is the Eurovision pissing Song Contest, so no Doctor Who, but in two weeks we have the return of Steven Moffat to the programme. And since Steven is arguably the best writer the series has ever had (he'd have to fight Robert Holmes for the title, but still) I reckon that - despite the strengths of last night's episode - the best is still to come.