Doctor Who Celebrates Steve Moffat’s Very First Go At The Doctor for Red Nose Day

It’s Red Nose Day today on the BBC, and in honor of it, Doctor Who has shared retiring showrunner Steven Moffat’s very first episode.

For those who aren’t in the UK, today is what is known as Red Nose Day, one of a series of BBC telethons that happen throughout the calendar year in order to raise money for Children in Need. It’s sponsored by Comic Relief, which those who were alive in the 1980s will remember used to do the same for sort of special here in the US, which ran on HBO. Red Nose Day has, in the last year, attempted to make inroads into the US again with specials on NBC. Whether or not they will become yearly things is still to be seen.

Since this is a BBC charity telethon, all of the BBC staples get in on the act. There’s usually a dancing segment with the Strictly Come Dancing professionals. (That’s the UK version of Dancing With the Stars.) One of the biggest gets this year is the Love Actually reunion clip, which should be airing a little later today.

And of course, one of the BBC’s longest running staples, Doctor Who always participates. The Christmas time variation of the telethon usually has a clip from the upcoming Christmas special, when it doesn’t have a specially written short of the telethon to air. The springtime one has them less often. But this year, with Doctor Who only a month out from it’s premiere, the show made sure to have a presence to remind audiences it’s coming back.

This year there is no specially written clip, nor is there a sneak peek at what is to come. Instead Doctor Who dug back in their archives and posted to YouTube a 20 minute special from the 1999 iteration of Red Nose Day, written by none other than fledgling writer and one-day-to-be showrunner Steven Moffat. Called “The Curse of Fatal Death”, it stars

• Rowan Atkinson as The Doctor
• Richard E Grant as The Quite Handsome Doctor,
• Jim Broadbent as The Shy Doctor
• Hugh Grant as The Handsome Doctor)
• Joanna Lumley as The Female Doctor

It also stars Jonathan Pryce as the Master. And it’s fantastically funny. Watch below.

Yes, a Female Doctor. All the way back in 1999. So why is that such a revolutionary idea again?

Next: Here are 13 Actors We Think Can Play the Next Doctor on Doctor Who

“The Curse of the Fatal Death” has never been released on DVD, so (unless you’re like us with a working VHS machine), this is the only current way to watch it.