This year will see the final episodes of Doctor Who with Steven Moffat at the helm for what will end up being six full series, nine Christmas specials, and seven years of human life. But, of course, those weren’t the first episodes of Doctor Who Moffat wrote for TV. Yes, he wrote episodes every year during the tenure of his predecessor Russell T. Davies, but even before all that, he penned a 22-minute half-hour comedy special to benefit the children’s charity telethon, Red Nose Day. That special, entitled “The Curse of Fatal Death,” has been uploaded to BBC’s official Doctor Who channel, and you can watch it above!
In 1999, three years after the backdoor pilot TV movie wasn’t picked up, there was no indication that the show would ever come back, and even less chance of Moffat himself getting to write and later run it. “The Curse of Fatal Death,” while a parody, represented the only live-action Doctor Who to be broadcast between the TV movie and the 2005 reboot, and not only that, but it effectively (if parodically) sped through the Doctor’s five remaining incarnations at the time.
In a fight with the Master (Jonathan Pryce), the Doctor (Rowan Atkinson) explains he doesn’t want to fight and instead wants to marry his companion (Julia Sawalha), but the Master and the Daleks (voiced by classic series voice actor Roy Skelton) won’t have it. The Doctor dies and regenerates into the randy Richard E. Grant, then into the shy and unassuming Jim Broadbent, then the uber-handsome Hugh Grant, and then finally into Joanna Lumley! See? Even in 1999 Moffat was laying the groundwork for a female Doctor. (Come on, Chibnall, don’t be a fool!)
This short is obviously very silly, but it’s done lovingly and tongue and cheek. We can only assume a parody of the Moffat era in the future would be as pointed.
Gotta love that Doctor Who! Steven Moffat (and Peter Capaldi)’s final series begins April 15th at 9/8c on BBC America! Share your thoughts on “The Curse of Fatal Death” in the comments below.
Images: BBC
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!
