Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death

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Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Doctor	Rowan Atkinson (The Doctor) Richard E. Grant (The Quite Handsome Doctor) Jim Broadbent (The Shy Doctor) Hugh Grant (The Handsome Doctor) Joanna Lumley (Female Doctor)
Writer	Steven Moffat
Director	John Henderson
Script editor	None
Producer	Sue Vertue
Executive producer(s)	None
Production code	N/A
Series	N/A
Length	23 mins total
Transmission date	12 March 1999
Preceded by	N/A
Followed by	N/A

Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death was a two-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.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 2.1 Cast notes 3 Continuity 4 Production 5 Outside references 6 Broadcast and releases 7 External links

[edit] Synopsis

A parody of the original series, it starts off with the the Master gloating over his latest scheme to destroy his arch-nemesis. However, it turns out instead of simply spying on the Doctor and his assistant Emma, he's actually in communication with them. So they now know his plans. But the Doctor invites his old foe to meet him on the planet Tersurus. The planet is a ruin, the home of a now-vanished race of supremely enlightened beings shunned by all because of their method of communication: they farted at each other. They all died when someone discovered fire.

The Master appears, again gloating because he travelled a century back in time and persuaded the architect of the building where they now stand to put in a secret death trap. However, the Doctor had anticipated this and travelled further back, persuading the same architect to sabotage the trap. Which, naturally, the Master had also anticipated and hence the presence of a second death-trap, with identical results (because, of course, the Doctor had likewise anticipated his move). It turns out the Doctor is now retiring, having found a Companion--Emma--with whom he has fallen in love. The Master springs yet another trap, this one resulting in a trap door where he himself is standing opening up (again, the Doctor anticipated this) and letting him fall into the vast sewers of Tersurus.

It takes the Master three centuries to crawl out, and he emerges as an old man covered in sewage. Using his TARDIS, he's brought allies--the Daleks (who alone will have anything to do with him, lacking noses).

Soon Emma and the Doctor, rather than being exterminated immediately, are bound on chairs aboard the Dalek ship (although why the legless Daleks would have chairs is something they "will explain later"). The Master, rejuvenated via Dalek technology, intends to give them in payment a weapon of vast power. The Doctor overhears the Daleks planning on killing the Master once he is through, so he uses the Tersuran language (farting) to warn his fellow Time Lord. At this, the Master helps them escape their bonds, but not before the Doctor is fatally injured. He tells Emma he loves her, then dies. He then regenerates into a Quite Handsome (and rather sexually eager) new Doctor. Forced to fix the Dalek weapon, he's electrocuted and becomes a Shy (as well as middle-aged and overweight) Doctor. Another accident in repair results in a very Handsome (as well as smooth) Doctor. But it is this Doctor who is accidentally killed.

Time Lords can regenerate only 12 times, but circumstances have interfered with the Doctor's 12th regeneration, so this seems to be the end. The Master vows to live a life of heroism in honor of his fallen foe's memory. So too do the Daleks.

But then the Doctor regenerates him yet again--only this time as a woman. Emma is deeply disappointed, pointing out the most literal use of this phrase ever: "You are not the man I fell in love with." The Master, however, is quite smitten with this new Doctor. The show ends with them walking off together.

[edit] Cast

• The Doctor — Rowan Atkinson
• The Quite Handsome Doctor — Richard E. Grant
• The Shy Doctor — Jim Broadbent
• The Handsome Doctor — Hugh Grant
• The Female Doctor — Joanna Lumley
• Emma — Julia Sawalha
• The Master — Jonathan Pryce
• Dalek voices — Roy Skelton

[edit] Cast notes

• 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.
• 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. According to several crew members who worked on the twenty-sixth and final season of the original series, she was being considered for the role of a new companion, a "cat burglar" who would have been introduced in the twenty-seventh season. Building on this, a "what if" article in Doctor Who Magazine #255 featured her in this role along with a hypothetical Eighth Doctor, played by Richard Griffiths, who was also being considered^{[citation needed]} when the series ceased production.
• Hugh Grant was offered the role of the Doctor again ahead of Christopher Eccleston, and later said publicly that he regretted dismissing it without much thought when he saw how good the series was – and that he was hoping to play a villain in the ongoing programme instead.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Continuity

• 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.
• The final Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, suggests that the Doctor has three different ninth incarnations. These are generally understood^{[citation needed]} to refer to the canonical television Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston), the Shalka Doctor (Richard E. Grant) and the Ninth Doctor portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in this story.

[edit] Production

• Steven Moffat is a famous fan of Doctor Who, and included many small continuity references in the script. He has subsequently written several highly praised episodes for the series proper following its 2005 revival.
• 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 TARDIS set and three of the Daleks used in the production were sourced from the people who made the Doctor Who fan production Devious. The console motor performed perfectly during rehearsal but gave a few problems during the final takes. A copy of the Doctor's 500-Year Diary was placed on the console and red or green lights were used to illuminate the walls when the set was used for, respectively, the Doctor or the Master.^{[citation needed]}
• Other specially made episodes of Doctor Who include Dimensions in Time (1993) and the 2005 special mini-episode, both produced for Children in Need.

[edit] Outside references

• 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.
• As the Twelfth (Handsome) Doctor dies, he is described post-mortem by Emma as being "too nice", "too brave", "too kind" and "far, far too silly." She then compares him to "Father Christmas", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Scooby Doo" (the former two being characters to whom First Doctor actor William Hartnell famously compared the role).

[edit] Broadcast and releases

• When originally broadcast, the title of the story was Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. The four episodes were later re-edited into a two-part story that was released to home video a few months following broadcast, with the proceeds again donated to Comic Relief. In the VHS release, the title was simply reduced to The Curse of Fatal Death.
• The Curse of Fatal Death was also available worldwide via the Internet in four episodes.

[edit] External links

• Details of the sound effects for "The Curse of Fatal Death"

• Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Television stories dealing with Regeneration
First Doctor:	The Tenth Planet
Second Doctor:	The Power of the Daleks • The War Games
Third Doctor:	Spearhead from Space • Planet of the Spiders
Fourth Doctor:	Robot • Logopolis
Fifth Doctor:	Castrovalva • The Caves of Androzani
Sixth Doctor:	The Twin Dilemma
Seventh Doctor:	Time and the Rani
Eighth Doctor:	Doctor Who (1996)
Ninth Doctor:	The Parting of the Ways
Tenth Doctor:	Children in Need special • The Christmas Invasion
See also:	Destiny of the Daleks • The Ultimate Foe • The Curse of Fatal Death