0:00:02 > 0:00:05- Action!- This week, Doctor Who becomes a Doctor Whodunnit.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. Brilliant.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11It's probably the most unusual script I've had on this show.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15# Armchair detective... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Oh, my goodness!
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Bashed on the head, blunt instrument.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22- Action.- # Armchair detective... #
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Become an armchair detective and get all clued up with Confidential
0:00:25 > 0:00:29as we travel back behind the scenes to Britain in the Roaring Twenties.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Never mind Planet Zog. A party in the 1920s, that's more like it.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37It's a murder mystery, but not one you've read before.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40- Morphine residue.- Morphine? Doesn't sound very 1920s.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00There's a party atmosphere on location
0:01:00 > 0:01:04in South Wales for the filming of The Doctor's latest adventure.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12With so many shady suspects on set, it's murder for the director.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14And...action.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15Good afternoon, my lady.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Topping day, what? Spiffing. Top hole.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21And cut. Can I just do, erm...
0:01:21 > 0:01:24The making of this was very time consuming because
0:01:24 > 0:01:28when you've got nine or ten people in a scene, they all have to be covered.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35You've got to do a developing shot, then a close-up of that person, then move round and do that person.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Maybe you want two shots and three shots.
0:01:37 > 0:01:44That all takes time. Every time you set the camera up to do a new shot, it's at least 20 minutes each time.
0:01:46 > 0:01:52Given the fact that it's a whodunnit, it couldn't be anything other than a big cast.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55We kind of knew it was a traditional Agatha Christie whodunnit.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58We wanted to take the essence of Agatha Christie.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00OK, let's go then, please.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It's essential in a whodunnit, you have to have an ensemble cast.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05A big, large cast full of suspects.
0:02:06 > 0:02:07And action.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09Good afternoon, Professor Peach.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14- First, you've got Professor Peach... - I need to check something in the library.- Ooh?- Alone.
0:02:14 > 0:02:15..who doesn't make it through the opening titles.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18I say, what are you doing with that lead piping?
0:02:18 > 0:02:22- But somebody's got to be the first to go.- No!
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Then old Lady Eddison, the lady of the house.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29Forgive me, but who exactly might you be and what are you doing here?
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Charming, genteel, mannered society lady,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34but with a mysterious past.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Oh, my God!
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Everyone's got a secret, so everyone's got a motive.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42That's traditional in a murder mystery.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45- Action.- My husband.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Then you have Colonel Hugh.
0:02:47 > 0:02:48Forgive me for not rising.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Never been the same ever since that flu epidemic back in '18.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Devoted, sociable, clubbable man.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Life and soul of the party.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58Don't give my wife ideas.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Who is also harbouring quite a major secret
0:03:01 > 0:03:05in that he's been in a wheelchair for 20 odd years and doesn't need to be.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Confound it, Mrs Christie, how did you discover the truth?
0:03:08 > 0:03:1045, take 1, B camera only.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Then you have their son Roger.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15My word, you ARE a super lady.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18'Handsome, charming, with a big secret staring you in the face'
0:03:18 > 0:03:20that The Doctor and Donna pick up on straight away.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Typical. All the decent men are on the other bus.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26- Then there's Davenport. - Your usual, sir.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Thank you, Davenport. Just how I like it.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30The handsome, charming butler who might
0:03:30 > 0:03:34be a little closer to one of the family than he should be in 1926.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Some of these young boys deserve a decent thrashing.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Couldn't agree more, sir.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41We had to have the flapper character, in the 1920s.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44- Miss Redmond.- Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Miss Robina Edmond is there, the charm of the London society.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Socialite, funny, wonderful, clever.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Also, strangely, hiding a secret.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59So she looks like a suspect early on, but actually is hiding
0:03:59 > 0:04:01a completely different layer of motives.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05- COCKNEY ACCENT: - Oh, all right then. It's a fair cop.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08She's a scrubber from the East End who's stealing everybody's jewellery.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Go on then, your nobs.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Arrest me.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Then Reverend Golightly, of course.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Ah, Reverend, how are you?
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Charming and polite, honourable and decent.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25As the Christian Fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30He has the biggest secret of them all - he turns into an alien wasp when nobody's looking.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33What's to stop me killing you all?
0:04:35 > 0:04:40That's probably the bit you wouldn't necessarily find in a traditional Agatha Christie novel.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42OK, turning over then, please.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43A camera only.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48There is a mysterious footman in disguise, creeping his way through the garden party,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50drawing attention to himself beautifully,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53but is in fact David Tennant's father making a cameo appearance.
0:04:53 > 0:04:5549, take 1.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58I was coming down to visit David
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and I think they must have been short of someone,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04but they very kindly invited me to play the part of a footman.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- Sidecar, please. - And a lime and soda, thank you.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12Which has been interesting and I didn't have to learn any lines, so that was good news.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Hello, I'm The Doctor. How do you do?
0:05:14 > 0:05:16My lady, where's this special guest you promised us?
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Finally, the final guest you bring in is Agatha Christie herself.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Here she is. A lady who needs no introduction.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27No, no, please, don't.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Miss Agatha Christie, running away from her husband in 1926 in terrible circumstances.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Finding herself in a situation where the patterns of her own books
0:05:38 > 0:05:41are repeating around her, so what's going on?
0:05:47 > 0:05:51As two vintage vehicles tootle onto set,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55completing the shoot looks likely to be a bumpy ride for the cast.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00David and Fenella have just a few hours to get to grips with these classic cars
0:06:00 > 0:06:02before filming the climactic chase sequence.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07It's exciting just because it's fun to drive these things.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11At the same time, you are always aware that the owner of the car is usually there,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13looking at you very beadily,
0:06:13 > 0:06:18because these cars are by their very nature quite rare and therefore quite expensive.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22It's a Morris Cowley, built in 1926.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26The accelerator is in the middle.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31They didn't standardise until the end of the '20s, so you need to...
0:06:31 > 0:06:33When you jump in the car, you know something's different,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37but you need to concentrate on that cos the brake is on the right.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41It's a different sort of driving experience, and if you're not used to it,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45you are aware that you don't want to be blowing the engine or destroying the gearbox.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49So second is like third, and third is like fourth.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52OK, and reverse is like first. It's all going so well!
0:06:52 > 0:06:56It's very different. You're meant to do this double-declutching thing.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00We just changed our car for an automatic, so it's even more stressful for me.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- OK, so that's first. Where's second? - Reverse is straight up.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05- Reverse is straight up?- Yes.- Oh!
0:07:05 > 0:07:09- Accelerator's in the middle, reverse is straight up!- Easy peasy!
0:07:09 > 0:07:141926 cars, doing a car chase is not easy.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Can you make it, when I say quick getaway,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20quite a rapid getaway.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22I'll show you what's possible.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25As a director, you wanna go, "I just want a shot, you start the engine,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29"the next thing is we cut to wheels spinning then they fly off."
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Well, old vintage cars don't have wheels spinning!
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Lovely! That'll do.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Here we are with a Dick Barton-type of chase, with two cars that can't go
0:07:52 > 0:07:55more than 20 mph, so it was hell of a chase!
0:07:55 > 0:07:58SHE TOOTS HORN Oh...
0:07:58 > 0:08:02I mean, if you look at it and dissect it, the music's doing the pace for you.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04The action, The Doctor's doing,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08the fast action he's doing, running to the car, getting in the car,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10letting the brake go.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The tightness and fast cutting you do gives you the pace.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23The lake. She's heading for the lake.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Cut!
0:08:27 > 0:08:28I think you get away with it.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31All right, it's a chase at 20 mph, that's what it is.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Right, now we're all OK , we're in neutral. I just press that hard and that's it, is that right?
0:08:36 > 0:08:38I think so.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44- ENGINE STARTS - Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Excellent. Right, what am I doing?
0:08:46 > 0:08:50MUSIC: "Shut Up And Drive" by Rihanna
0:09:09 > 0:09:14- We were slightly struggling to keep up with Nelly, just because... - # Her car's faster than yours! #
0:09:14 > 0:09:18- I went faster than I realised, we were heating.- I did it in one take, didn't I?
0:09:18 > 0:09:21I did. I did it. One take wonder! Way to go!
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Maybe I can go up into third...
0:09:23 > 0:09:29- On the slope earlier, that's when it died, so I was trying to keep it going.- I'll slow it down a bit.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Hello!
0:09:41 > 0:09:44I could get it going but it didn't have much speed.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46It didn't have a lot of poke to it.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Of course, inevitably when you're filming there's a camera car somewhere as well
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and you're trying to stay a certain distance in front of them so that they can get a shot.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59That's difficult in a modern car but when you're driving something
0:09:59 > 0:10:02you don't have all the control you wish for it can be a difficult,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06especially when you're going up hills and the engine just doesn't want to know.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11We're driving a sewing machine behind you!
0:10:11 > 0:10:14I'm sorry, David. Am I showing you up a little bit?
0:10:14 > 0:10:16It's not me, it's the engineering.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18- Are you sure? - The engineering of past ages.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21You know what they say about lady drivers, David. What?!
0:10:21 > 0:10:25- VOICE ON RADIO - What was that?- "David's car goes on the low loader, please."- Ah!
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Ah! You're obviously not good enough, clearly.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30You're on the low loader!
0:10:31 > 0:10:36There's no more driving for David, as the car is secured to the camera truck.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01- Action!- Time is in flux, Donna!
0:11:01 > 0:11:04For all we know this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- and history gets changed. - Where's she going?
0:11:09 > 0:11:11The lake. She's heading for the lake.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13LOUD BUZZING
0:11:14 > 0:11:22I enjoyed it and I didn't blow it up. I didn't break it which is always a plus.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk