He later took over as Doctor Who’s showrunner.
As Comic Relief 2024 rolls around, Doctor Who fans will no doubt be revisiting some of the show’s most iconic specials and sketches, with one of the very best now turning 25 – The Curse of Fatal Death.
The special, which was released for the charity programme in March 1999, was written by Steven Moffat, who would go on to become Doctor Who’s showrunner from 2010 to 2017.
It starred a whole host of famous faces, including Rowan Atkinson, Joanna Lumley, Richard E Grant, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant as the Doctor, and has gone down in history as one of the best ever Doctor Who charity specials.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com earlier this year at the Radio Times Covers Party, Moffat reflected: “The irony of that show is I honestly thought it would be my only chance to write Doctor Who and I loved it.
“I loved doing it and I thought, ‘I’ll never get another chance to do this,’ which might turn out to be the least reliable prediction in human history.”
While Doctor Who’s charity specials are always a bonus for fans, The Curse of Fatal Death holds a special status, being the only live-action Doctor Who production between the TV movie, starring Paul McGann, in 1996, and the reboot in 2005, starring Christopher Eccleston.
In fact, the special even foreshadowed various moments in actual seasons of Doctor Who – from Lumley technically being the first ever woman to play the Doctor (preceding Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the Thirteenth Doctor in 2017), to the phrase “never cruel or cowardly” being revisited by David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor.
The special also marked the final performance of Roy Skelton as the voice of the Daleks, and was executive produced by Richard Curtis, who would go on to direct one of the best-loved episodes of Doctor Who of all time, Vincent and the Doctor.
Plus, Richard E Grant, who appeared in The Curse of Fatal Death as The Quite Handsome Doctor, later voiced an alternative version of the Ninth Doctor in the webcast Scream of the Shalka – before finally appearing on-screen in actual Doctor Who in season 7 as the Great Intelligence.
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Of course, Doctor Who has boasted many charity specials since, including that iconic moment when Catherine Tate’s Lauren Cooper met David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor (as her English teacher, no less), and showrunner Russell T Davies re-writing Julian Bleach’s Davros in last year’s Children in Need special.
However, as it turns 25, it’s clear that The Curse of Fatal Death will always have a special place in Who history.
You can donate to Comic Relief at comicrelief.com/radiotimes. Red Nose Day 2024 airs at 7pm on Friday 15th March on BBC One and iPlayer.
Doctor Who will return in May. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.