The Curse of Fatal Death

The Master appears, gloating that he travelled a century back in time, and persuaded the architect of the castle to put in a secret death trap. The Doctor had anticipated this and travelled further back, persuading the same architect to sabotage the trap. The Master had also anticipated this, and arranged for an additional trap – with identical results because the Doctor had likewise anticipated his move. The Doctor informs the Master, having calculated that he "has saved every planet in the known universe a minimum of 27 times", and having grown tired of battles with aliens and "the endless gravel quarries", that he is retiring, having found a companion – Emma – with whom he has fallen in love. The Master springs yet another trap; a trap door under the Doctor's feet leading to the vast sewers of Tersurus, which he intends to suggest to the architect after going back in time again and buying him an expensive dinner. However, the Doctor had already bought the architect that dinner, so when the Master pulls the lever, a trap door opens beneath him instead.

Seconds later, as the Doctor and Emma start to leave, the Master bursts in. Having taken him 312 years to crawl out, he emerges as an old man covered in sewage. Using his TARDIS to return to the present, he has brought allies – the

Emma and the Doctor are captured when they run into a room full of Daleks. Rather than being exterminated immediately, they are tied to chairs aboard the Dalek ship, the Daleks promising Emma that they "will explain later" as to why they even possess chairs. The Master claims he has been enhanced again with Dalek technology – rejuvenating him and adding "Dalek bumps" to his chest, which also act as "etheric beam locators". The Doctor insults the Master, comparing the "bumps" to breasts. In return for his enhancements, the Master agreed to give the Daleks the Zektronic energy beam – a weapon that would "allow the Daleks to conquer the universe in a matter of minutes".

When the Doctor tells the Daleks they will have to share the universe "with the beard and the bosoms over there", they inform the Doctor that they plan to exterminate the Master after he has assisted them. The Doctor uses the Tersuran language (flatulence) to warn his fellow Time Lord. The Master helps the Doctor and Emma escape, but not before the Doctor is fatally injured by the Daleks. He tells Emma (in Tersuran, which the Master translates) that he loves her, then dies. The Doctor regenerates into a handsome and sexually eager new Doctor (Richard E. Grant). Forced to fix the Dalek weapon, he is also electrocuted and becomes a shy, middle-aged and overweight Doctor (Jim Broadbent). Another accident results in a handsome, smooth-mannered Doctor (Hugh Grant), but this Doctor is also accidentally killed while fixing the weapon. Due to the Zektronic energy beam's ability to disable the regenerative process, the Doctor permanently dies. The Master vows to live a life of heroism in honour of his fallen foe's memory, as do the Daleks.

Seemingly through the will of the universe itself, the Doctor does regenerate yet again, only this time as a woman (Joanna Lumley), who seems confused that her breasts are not etheric beam locators, despite each having an "on switch". Emma is deeply disappointed, pointing out that "You're just not the man I fell in love with." The Master, however, is quite smitten with this new Doctor, who notices the sonic screwdriver (which vibrates) has "three settings!" The story ends with them walking off together, the Master promising to explain later as to why he is called the Master.

Continuity

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This story is connected to a number of others by virtue of its narrative and its production elements. Many of the story's actors also have other connections to the programme, although most of these connections take the form of various actors almost getting a role in the main production.

Narrative

• 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.

Future references to this sketch

• The Doctor later married River Song in "The Wedding of River Song", also written by Moffat.
• The Dalek bumps worn by the Master are presumably a reference to the Time Lords' questioned ability at the time to regenerate across genders. Steven Moffat later created Missy, a female incarnation of the Master and the first Time Lord to regenerate from male to female, in "Dark Water". The same happened to the Doctor in "Twice Upon a Time", in which Jodie Whittaker became the first female Doctor, as foreshadowed here by Moffat casting Joanna Lumley. Coincidentally, both played the Thirteenth Doctor.
• "Never cruel or cowardly", as the Doctor is described here by Emma, was later revealed by Moffat in "The Day of the Doctor" to be the "promise" that is made by the taking of the name "The Doctor". It was used in a novel by Paul Cornell published shortly before this sketch aired, but originates from (and implicitly quotes) "The Making of Doctor Who" by Terrance Dicks in the 1970s. This was referenced again by the twelfth doctor, just before regeneration in "Twice Upon a Time".

Production

• The title sequence is the same as used during most of the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who, albeit edited to remove Tom Baker's face.
• The opening image of the TARDIS flying through space as the Master watches was taken from the beginning of the
  Doctor Who TV movie
  .
• Steven Moffat, best known at the time for the children's drama series Press Gang (which starred Julia Sawalha), was well known as a fan of Doctor Who and included many small continuity references in his script. He subsequently wrote several episodes for the series proper since its revival in 2005, starting with the two-part serial "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", and was the programme's head writer and executive producer between 2010 and 2017.
• 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
  ).
• This is the lone example of a BBC-only production prior to 2005 in which the TARDIS interior appears to be lit when viewed from the exterior. This continues a tradition begun in the 1996 television movie, and is common practice in the 2005 series. The visual effect was first seen in the film Dr. Who and the Daleks.
• The exterior TARDIS prop was the same Mark II fibreglass version used in the 1980s and in the 30th-anniversary story Dimensions in Time; Curse was the last time the prop was used.
• Other specially made episodes of Doctor Who include Dimensions in Time (1993), the officially untitled 2005 special mini-episode, and "Time Crash" (2007) — all produced for Children in Need — "Space" and "Time":, a two-part mini-story produced for Comic Relief in 2011 and "The Night of the Doctor" (2013). "Time Crash", "The Night of the Doctor" and "Space" and "Time" were written by Moffat.

Music

The production was deliberately based on the Fourth Doctor's era and a conscious effort was made to use cues taken directly from episodes of that era. However, the practical unavailability of these soundtracks forced the show's musical director, Mark Ayres, to use material mostly from the Fifth Doctor's era. Except for the reuse of the theme music, the majority of musical cues come from episodes between Meglos and The Caves of Androzani, with a brief excerpt also taken from the Third Doctor serial The Sea Devils as well as an excerpt from the Seventh Doctor serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (written by Ayres himself). The music during the episode's final scene, for example, is the same as that which played at the conclusion of the Fourth Doctor's regeneration into the Fifth in Logopolis. After each regeneration portrayed in the episode, music from Meglos is employed.^[5]

Actors