Trivia / Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death

• All-Star Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Jonathan Pryce, Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley. Additionally, Roy Skelton came out of retirement to supply the Dalek voices.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes
  • The special itself was released on VHS, but not DVD, so it's no longer available to buy. It can be found on YouTube though. Legally, even, thanks to it being available on both Comic Relief and Doctor Who's YouTube channels. The BBC haven't ruled out a future DVD release but won't even consider it until all the canon episodes get DVDs first, which, given the fact that 97 of them are still missing, may take a while (even if all of them get animated versions).
  • In addition, the tie-in letter "Who's After Your Cash" has been archived and is avaliable to view for free.
  • As originally broadcast, the credits were followed immediately by a short message from Rowan Atkinson still in character as the Ninth Doctor, appealing directly to the audience to ring the Comic Relief phone line. This clip, along with some minutes' worth of Curse-relevant links shown throughout the night, were not included on the home video release nor have they been released to YouTube. not officially that is.
    The Doctor: When I want to save the world, I use a phone box. But you can do it from home. 0345 460 460.
• Recycled Set: The TARDIS control room was borrowed from the fan film Devious, then redressed so it could also be used as the Master's TARDIS.
• Rereleased for Free: Both Comic Relief and the Doctor Who team made the short free to watch on their official YouTube channels.
• Stunt Double: Gabe Cronelly was the stunt double for Jonathan Pryce and stood in for him during the scene where the Master falls through the trapdoor.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Initially the producers intended to have the episode scored with music taken from several of Dudley Simpson's soundtracks from the Fourth Doctor's era, but Simpson hadn't kept any of the original tapes. They then looked to using parts of Geoffrey Burgon's scores from "Terror of the Zygons" and "The Seeds of Doom", and while Burgon actually did have his tapes, they had deteriorated in storage and there wasn't the time to get them up to broadcast quality (though they were eventually restored in time for a soundtrack release the following year). This eventually forced them into using bits of BBC Radiophonic Workshop-produced music from various stories produced in Seasons 18 to 21.
  • There would have been a running gag, in which the Doctor kept getting Emma's name wrong, and using the names of other companions. Traces of this running gag would still make it in to the Story with the "Only Companion I've Had" line.
  • Before the Master drops the Doctor & Emma through the trap door, he refers to them as "Mister & Missus Doctor". On set, Jonathan Pryce amended this to "Doctor & Missus Who", but Moffat insisted that the rule of the Doctor's name not being "Who" should still apply.
  • When the Master reveals his Dalek Sucker Hand, Emma asks him what he can actually do with it. A cut line would have had the Master ask the Daleks if they knew, with the Daleks awkwardly looking about at each other, suggesting they did not Know, either.
  • Instead of a room full of Daleks, Part One's Cliffhanger would have featured Emma opening a door, only to discover too late that it lead to the sky, and Emma beginning to fall on a freeze-frame. Part Two would have picked up with Emma landing on a section of flooring, an inch below her. This would have been a parody to the Cliffhanger in Part Two of "Genesis Of The Daleks", where Sarah Jane begins falling from a gantry, only for Part Three picking up with her landing on a lower level of the gantry. The Doctor would have then complimented Emma for not twisting her ankle, before the two realized they were surrounded by Daleks.
  • When the Doctor tries to warn the Master about the Daleks in Terseron, the Master initially had some difficulty picking it up (having spent Nine-Hundred Years in a Sewer), so he would have put on a "Gastric Gas Translator", with said translator being a Red Nose for Comic Relief. Years later, event merchandise would be incorporated into The Sarah Jane Adventures special in the form of "deadly deeley boppers".
  • The draft script did feature potential suggestions of who could have played the other Doctors. With Colin Firth instead of Richard E. Grant, Mel Smith instead of Jim Broadbent, A Lost Geeky Doctor played by Lee Evans, and Robson Green instead of Hugh Grant.

---