The Curse of Fenric (TotT TV story)

The Curse of Fenric
Script release:	online here
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace
Main setting:	Memory TARDIS
Key crew
Writer:	Pete McTighe
Director:	Joshua M.G. Thomas
Producer:	Scott Handcock
Release details
Genre:	Science fiction
Story number:	6
Number of parts:	1
Premiere broadcast:	1 November 2023
Premiere network:	BBC iPlayer
Format:	1x111 minute episode
Tales of the TARDIS
← Previous	The Time Meddler
Next →	Pyramids of Mars

You may wish to consult The Curse of Fenric (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

The Curse of Fenric was the sixth episode in the Tales of the TARDIS series, released on BBC iPlayer on 1 November 2023 by the BBC, written by Pete McTighe and directed by Joshua M.G. Thomas.

This story consists of two newly recorded scenes bookending the omnibus version of the TV story The Curse of Fenric.

Synopsis

The Doctor and Ace meet again and remember their battle against an ancient evil in World War Two where a Viking curse is bringing the dead back to life.

Plot

Ace appears in the remembered TARDIS and looks around to find both the Seventh Doctor's hat and the baseball bat that she once used to damage an Imperial Dalek. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) After the Seventh Doctor says that she gave the Dalek quite a beating, Ace embraces him before he takes his hat from her.

Ace tells the Doctor that he was a hologram the last time she saw him and he has become older. (TV: The Power of the Doctor) The Doctor goes on to explain that time streams are funny things and there are some time streams where he doesn't regenerate. After Ace explains that she was in a meeting when she appeared in the TARDIS, the Doctor explains that they are standing in a memory TARDIS where old friends come together to remember certain events.

The Doctor sits in a chair and moves a chess piece across the board before telling Ace that he thought about her every day. Ace says that she wishes she never left the Doctor, prompting the Doctor to tell her that the remembered TARDIS is forever and they can return to it whenever they like with a wish.

Ace remembers that she wished she was somewhere else, and she soon got her wish when she was transported to Iceworld by Fenric as part of his game of traps. She then becomes reluctant to remember her encounter with Fenric, but the Doctor tells her that they both should remember as pain comes to define them along with the joy. As the Doctor decides to remember the day that both he and Ace met Fenric, he takes Ace's hand as the memories begin to flood back.

Cast

• Seventh Doctor- Sylvester McCoy
• Ace - Sophie Aldred

Crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson

Written by Pete McTighe	Produced by Scott Handcock	Directed by Joshua M.G. Thomas	Director of Photography Ryan Eddleston	Production Designer Phil Sims	Visual Effects Painting Practice
Make-up Designer Julie Kendrick	Casting Director Andy Pryor	Music Sam Watts	Costume Designer Pam Downe	Edited by Joseph Keirle
Original theme music by Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop  •  Titles by Painting Practice

General production staff Executive Producer for the BBC - Rebecca Ferguson Production Executive - Steffan Morris Line Producer - Medyr Llewelyn Location Assistant - Joe Coombes Production Co-ordinator - Florence Boyd-Gorst Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Jamie McKee Unit Driver - Paul Watkins Production Accountant - Sean Kenneally Script department Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Michael Williams 2nd Assistant Director - Lauren Pate 3rd Assistant Director - Micah Joshua Brown Floor Runner - Callum Gronert Script Supervisor - Ines Mayorga Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Camera Trainee - Ben Bellingham Focus Puller - Cai Thompson Key Grip - Ken Hodgson Clapper Loader - Josh Greenway Gaffer - Jon Down Best Boy - Matt Hutchings Electricians - Chris Hughes, Benji Hutchings	Art department Supervising Art Director - Robyn Paiba Set Decorator - Adrian Anscombe Standby Props - Phillip Bull Standby Carpenter - Phil Sharrocks Prop Hands - Atiff Tahir, Ingo Hans, Jason White, John Thomas, Mathew Shrimpton, Stuart Rankmore Standby Art Director - Nikki Joseph Standby Rigger - Elliot Williams Prop Master - Nick Thomas Graphics - Stephen Fielding Costume department Costume Supervisor - Laura Baker Assistant Costume Designer - Pandora Ellis Costume Assistant - Ellie Finch Costume Standby - Charlotte Woods	Make-up and prosthetics Casting Casting Associate - Becky Rossmaur Casting Assistant - Kristian Wall General post-production staff Post-production Producer - Ceres Doyle Post-production Supervisor - Liv Duffin On-line Editor - Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects Visual Effects Co-ordinator - Siân Reynish Colourists - Gareth Spensley, Christine Kelly Sound Re-recording Mixer - Emilie Thomson Audio Post-production - Bang Post Production

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

Worldbuilding

• When Ace asks why he looks so old, the Doctor cryptically replies how "time streams are funny things" and that his regenerating is "all a matter of perspective."
• The Doctor mentions the Rani, and suggests she may have played a role in his and Ace's falling out.
• After she left the Doctor, Ace visited Kathleen Dudman before she died in a care home, and believes she recognised her as the young woman who helped her flee Maiden's Point for London.
• The chess set set up between the two chairs is set up in the same way the Doctor set up the game for Fenric. The Doctor also plays the solution.

Notes

Official BBC iPlayer thumbnail for the episode.

to be added

Continuity

This section needs a cleanup.

As per Forum:Non-valid Continuity sections, categories, and prefixes#Continuity sections, this section needs to be written from an out-of-universe perspective.

• A Red Kang flag hangs from one of the consoles. (TV: Paradise Towers)
• Ace finds her baseball bat while searching the console room, and the Doctor reminds her how she used it to destroy a Dalek. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• The Doctor quotes himself when he retrieves his Panama hat from Ace, using the same words when he reclaimed it from her in Perivale. (TV: Survival)
• Ace says that the Seventh Doctor was a hologram the last time she saw him. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
• Ace recalls how she met the Doctor on Iceworld (TV: Dragonfire) after being transported there by Fenric, as part of one of Fenric's games. (TV: The Curse of Fenric) This alludes to her and Hex being part of another one of his games. (AUDIO: Gods and Monsters)
• Ace recalls the deaths of Sorin, (TV: The Curse of Fenric) Mike Smith, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) Karra, (TV: Survival) and Bellboy. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
• The Doctor learns that he once again dropped off a departing companion in the wrong place. (TV: The Hand of Fear)
• Ace keeps her old jacket on a hanger in her office. (WC: The Promise)
• The Doctor mentions an encounter with the Rani as one of his and Ace’s final adventures as it happened not long before they fell out. (TV: Dimensions in Time)
• As the Doctor and Ace prepare to take off, they take turns quoting the speech the Doctor gave as they left Perivale. (TV: Survival)