The Curse of Fatal Death
| Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cast | |||
Doctor
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | John Henderson | ||
| Written by | Steven Moffat | ||
| Script editor | None | ||
| Produced by | Sue Vertue | ||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||
| Production code | N/A | ||
| Series | N/A | ||
| Running time | 23 mins total | ||
| First broadcast | 12 March 1999 | ||
| Chronology | |||
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Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death was a four-episode special of Doctor Who made for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on BBC One on 12 March 1999. It follows in a long tradition of popular British television programmes producing short, light-hearted specials for such telethon events.
Synopsis
A parody of the original series, it starts off with the Doctor (played by Rowan Atkinson) and his assistant Emma (played by Julia Sawalha) meeting the Master (played by Jonathan Pryce) on the planet Tersurus and subsequently being captured by the Daleks. During the course of the story, the Doctor is forced to regenerate several times, turning into (in order) Richard E. Grant (the conceited Doctor), Jim Broadbent (the shy Doctor), Hugh Grant (the good-looking Doctor) and Joanna Lumley. The story ends with the Master and the (newly female) Doctor taking off together.
Notes
- Other specially made episodes of Doctor Who include Dimensions in Time (1993) and a 2005 special mini-episode, both produced for Children in Need.
- The Curse of Fatal Death was also available worldwide via the Internet in four episodes.
- The four episodes were later reedited into a two-part story that was released to home video a few months following broadcast, with the proceeds of the release going to Comic Relief.
- When originally broadcast, the title of the story was Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. In the VHS release, the title was simply reduced to The Curse of Fatal Death.
- The title "Curse of Fatal Death" is a tautology (it being impossible to have a death that is not fatal), which parodies the sometimes melodramatic and tautological titles of the original series (an example being the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin).
- The planet Tersurus was first mentioned in The Deadly Assassin, where a severely deteriorated Master, at the end of his last regeneration, was found. The spin-off novel Legacy of the Daleks by John Peel relates the events leading up to the Master's arrival there.
- All the actors playing the Doctor in the special had been previously rumoured to have been up for the regular role at some point or another, including Lumley. Atkinson was one of many actors considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie.
- Richard E. Grant was later cast as the Doctor in the animated 40th anniversary adventure Scream of the Shalka, though his Ninth Doctor was relegated to unofficial status following the announcement of a new series in September 2003.
- Jim Broadbent had previously played a spoof Doctor in a sketch on Victoria Wood, mocking the impenetrable continuity of 1980s Doctor Who.
- Steven Moffat is a famous fan of Doctor Who, and included many small continuity references in the script. He has subsequently written two episodes for the new 2005 series (The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances), and will pen a third for the 2006 series.
- Julia Sawalha's first major role was Lynda Day, editor of youth newspaper The Junior Gazette in the series Press Gang, created by Steven Moffat. She was considered for the role of the Doctor's companion during the series run, but turned it down. Prior to Fatal Death, a "what if" article in Doctor Who Magazine #255 featured her as companion to a hypothetical Eighth Doctor played by Richard Griffiths.