"Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death" is a British 20-minute short film from 1999, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary. The director is John Henderson and as it is Doctor Who, the writer is Steven Moffat. I read this actually consists of 4 episodes, which means each episode is extremely short, but to each their own. Early on, the Doctor is played by Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson. But the longer it goes, the more actors show up to play this prestigious character, all of them probably bigger stars back then than today. This is also a big problem here. It really just feels like a line-up of stars eventually. The story is uninspired and generic, the sets look cheap and yet it is embarrassing how the actors try to deliver the pseudo-intellectual and pseudo-funny script in a way that feels so self-aware and over the top that I had to cringe basically from start to finish. Here and there the line delivery isn't bad, but as a whole, it felt truly embarrassing. Then again, I never understood the hype around Doctor Who and this short film made clear once again that this is probably the one cult show that is unbeatable when it comes to bad character writing in terms of female characters. Literally, the assistant only exists to make Who even more spectacular and get him even more attention. Zero shades. 4 stars out of 10 is still pretty generous. Don't watch.
Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death
(1999 TV Movie)
I felt no comic relief
22 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers