Roger Curbishley (Doctor Who Series Four)

First Appearance: Doctor Who Series Four Episode Eight: "The Unicorn and the Wasp"

Played By: Adam Rayner

The son of Lady Clemency Eddison and Colonel Hugh Curbishley, Roger was secretly in a relationship with one of the Household footmen, Davenport. 

He was murdered by his Vespiform half-brother on the 8th of December, who stabbed him in the back with a knife.



"The Unicorn and the Wasp"

Roger wheeled his father through the gardens of his mother's garden party to join her in her conversation with the Doctor and Donna, where Lady Eddison introduces them properly. He comments that Donna was "a super lady," who sees him as flirting and replies by saying that she "liked the colour of his jib." He politely greets the Doctor before accepting "his usual" drink from Davenport, with a flirtatious comment of it being to his liking. Donna quietly asks the Doctor why he is a Cubishley when is mother is an Eddison, which he reveals that due to the Eddison title descending from her Roger would become a Lord.

After hearing how the Reverend Arnold Golightly had apprehended two youths breaking into the church, Roger comments that "some of these young boys deserve a decent thrashing." He has to remind Davenport with a "subtle" clearance of his throat they are being watched when the latter agrees with his point and shows slightly more obvious signs of their relationship. Although nobody picks up (or pretends not to), both the Doctor and Donna picked up the fact that the two were lovers
. Donna whispers that it was "typical. All the decent men on the other bus."  

Roger is among the guests who welcome Agatha Christie to the party and asks her why she chose a Belgian detective for her novels, whom replies jokingly that "Belgians make such lovely buns." He isn't sure how to take the comment at first but he laughs and comments about how Professor Peach would love to meet her and wonders where he could have gotten to.

After hearing of the Professor's murder, Roger pushed his father to the library and is visibly shocked by the dead body on the floor. He follows the Doctor's instructions and goes to sit in the sitting room to wait for his investigative interview. 

During his interview, Roger lies about what he had been doing at quater past four that afternoon (the time of death for the Professor), telling the Doctor that he had been doing a "constitutional in the fields behind the house" and had just walked. When questioned if he was alone, he answers in a very flustered manner that he had been alone and repeats it several time, reiterating the point with the statement of "I wandered lonely as the proverbial cloud." In reality he had met with Davenport and the two walked together holding hands in the woods.

After chasing the Vespiform through the house, the Doctor demands that it shows itself when he reaches a long corridor with all the guest rooms. Among the confused people who leave their rooms were Roger and Davenport, who emerged from the same room with Davenport looking a lot untidier than he had been earlier that day. 

Returning to the sitting room, he comforts his mother who is grieving over the loss of her "most faithful companion" and one of the most senior members in the household staff. When the Doctor asks if Chandrakala's final words meant anything to Lady Eddison- "the poor little child"- Hugh bluntly tells him that their were no children in "this house for years. Highly unlikely that there will be any" looking directly and disapprovingly at Roger as he said this (suggesting that he knew of his son's relationship and orientation). When Agatha tells them that she "had nothing" on what was going on, the gathered group all look to the Doctor for answers about what was happening. 

Roger sat next to Donna at the dinner later that evening, looking slightly unnerved whilst eating his soup and hearing that the Doctor had been poisoned. His nervousness turns to cinfusion where the Doctor explains that the soup had been spiked with pepper and reveals that it was to use the piperine ("traditionally used as an insecticide") to reveal the Vespiform. 

Roger looks terrified when the lightning knocks out the power in the room and the wind snuffs out the candels. In the confusion the Vesperform kills him with a knife in the back and he is left with his face lying in his soup.