The Curse of Fatal Death ( TV story ) The Curse of Fatal Death was a Comic Relief segment created for part of 1999 ' s Red Nose Day Celebration . While discussing the special in DWM 510 , Steven Moffat discussed how the intent of the special was to make a regular episode of " Doctor Who " which happened to also be funny rather than just a blatant spoof , meaning that extreme steps were taken to have it fit within the then - existing canon . An ab - lib by Jonathan Pryce calling Emma " Mrs . Who " was thus vetoed . Moffat went on to add that while it has since been disregarded , at the time it could have been seen as a legitimate continuation of the show . The special ' s original edit went out of circulation for a time , before being re - released on 24 March 2017 in honour of Comic Relief . Synopsis . The Master corners the Doctor and Emma on Tersurus , prepared to unleash the deadly vengeance of deadly revenge ! Plot . Part one . The Master pursues the Doctor in his TARDIS , maniacally bellowing that the Doctor ' s certain death awaits him on Zaston IV . The Doctor , from his own TARDIS , replies that the Master really ought to learn to turn off his speaker before he blabs his entire plan , and that he wants to meet him on the planet Tersurus to give him an important piece of news . The Doctor and his assistant , Emma , land in a vast , empty castle on Tersurus . He explains that the Tersurons were a kindly , peace - loving race , but shunned and abhorred due to their communicating solely through precisely modulated farting . They destroyed themselves after discovering fire . The Master pins them to the wall with energy pulses , and having arrived a century earlier to bribe the castle ' s architect , prepares to subject them to the Spikes of Doom . Instead they find themselves relaxing in the Sofa of Reasonable Comfort , the Doctor having anticipated this and bribing the architect first . However , the Master declares that he anticipated " this " , and bribed the architect even earlier , and drops a giant block on their heads . The Doctor and Emma emerge from a door in the ( hollow ) block , of course having arrived even " earlier " Emma interrupts to prompt the Doctor to announce what he has come to say : Emma and he are in love , and the Doctor plans to retire from travelling through time and space , having saved every planet in the Universe a minimum of twenty - seven times , and settle down in domestic bliss . Nauseated by this prospect , the Master announces that he will go back in time , buy the architect an expensive dinner and persuade him to place a lever next to where he is standing and a trap door where the Doctor and Emma are standing . He prepares to plunge them into the vast and disgusting sewers of Tersurus , warning them to prepare themselves for " five hundred miles of fear and faeces ! " Part two . However , when the Master pulls said lever , the trap door opens under his own feet , the Doctor having bought the architect an expensive dinner earlier . As they go to leave , the front doors burst open and the Master appears , significantly aged , having spent three hundred and twelve years climbing through the sewers , locating his TARDIS and travelling back in time to the current day . Accompanying him are the Dalek s , the only creatures not repulsed by the Master ' s smell , having no noses . The Master boasts that his body has been augmented by Dalek technology ; he now has a plunger in place of a right hand , though Emma points out that the Master doesn ' t know what it can do . The Daleks prepare to exterminate them , but the Master decides he will kill them himself . He charges forward , but the Doctor steps aside and the Master plunges straight through the trap door again . He comes in again , another three hundred and twelve years older . The Daleks pursue the Doctor and Emma through the numerous and very similar looking corridors , but one Dalek accidentally bumps into the Master , causing him to fall through the trap door yet again . An extremely old Master then walks into view , complaining about having spent a grand total of nine hundred and thirty six years in a sewer . The Doctor and Emma find what they believe to be the way out of the castle , but in fact turns out to be a room full of Daleks . Part three . The Daleks have captured the Doctor and Emma rather than exterminating them ( " Why ? " asks Emma , " I ' ll explain later , " replies the Doctor ) and tied them to chairs ( the presence of which on a Dalek ship is also questioned by Emma ; a Dalek replies " We will explain , later . " ) . They ' ve also restored the Master to his original age and augmented him further . . . Dalek sensor bumps on his chest . The Master insists that these are etheric beam locator s and they ' re very firm , but the Doctor mocks him over the sensors ' resemblance to breasts . The Master announces that in exchange he has given the Daleks the secret to controlling a Zectronic energy beam , which will give them power over the entire universe in only minutes ! " How ? " asks Emma , " I ' ll explain later , " replies the Doctor . The Master charges up the beam , but the Dalek Supreme whispers to the Doctor that they plan to exterminate the Master after the beam is active . The Doctor realises that both he and the Master speak fluent Tersuran , so he farts a warning to him . The Master speaks the message out loud as he receives it for the benefit of the audience , but Emma inadvertently ruins the plan by breaking wind , causing the Master to suddenly start shouting gibberish , which in turn alerts the Daleks as to what ' s going on . This gives the Daleks the excuse they need to get rid of the Master , but they accidentally end up shooting both the Doctor and the Zectronic generator instead . The overloading generator is beyond the Master ' s capabilities to repair ; only the Doctor can fix it . The Doctor tells Emma " I love you " in Tersuran , with the Master translating , before seemingly dying . Emma is distraught at his apparent death , but the Master reassures her that the Doctor is in his ninth body and has many more lives , as he begins to regenerate . Part four . The result of the Doctor ' s regeneration is a quite handsome , if a bit vain , persona . He confirms that Emma is still very much interested and prepares to leave with her , but the Daleks beg the Doctor to help deactivate the Zectronic beam generator in exchange for his life , to which he agrees as a perfect way to finish his " career . " However , an explosion causes him to regenerate again , this time into a shy persona , very nervous around girls and the Master with his oddly - placed etheric beam locators , and Emma is visibly disheartened by this new version , finding him nowhere near as attractive as his two predecessors . He goes to try again to deactivate the beam , when another burst of energy causes him to regenerate yet again . The new Doctor , very handsome and charming indeed , is rather embarrassed that he wasted three bodies in under a minute simply because he forgot to unplug the generator first . The crisis appears to be over , and Emma is quite looking forward to getting to know this new Doctor , when a residual burst of pure Zectronic energy knocks him down . With the Zectronic energy preventing his regeneration , the Doctor appears to die permanently . The Master and the Daleks , to honour the Doctor ' s supreme sacrifice , resolve to permanently forswear evil . Yet to everyone ' s amazement , the Doctor ' s features begin to change and he regenerates , this time into a very buxom woman . Emma , alas , doesn ' t swing that way , so the wedding is off . The new Doctor is quite excited to discover that her sonic screwdriver has three settings , but then she and the Master lock eyes . The two express their mutual attraction and go off together , the Master laughing maniacally again .