The Curse of Fenric

Notes

• The Curse of Fenric was originally to have been shot, as with most Doctor Who serials, as a mixture of studio interiors and location exteriors. However, after reading the script, director Nicholas Mallett persuaded producer John Nathan-Turner that given the settings involved, the serial could be made more effective and realistic by shooting the entire production on location, which Nathan-Turner eventually agreed to.
• This story was originally going to be titled The Wolves of Fenric (and before that, Wolf-Time). Fenric does refer to his servants as his "wolves" (and wolves have a strong link to Norse mythology). However, Nathan-Turner felt that as the "wolves" connection was not revealed until quite late in the story, the title would not initially make sense to the audience. See also Bad Wolf references in Doctor Who.
• Shooting on the serial went overlength to such a degree that consideration was briefly given to editing the story into five rather than four episodes. However, writer Ian Briggs strongly opposed this, feeling that the narrative flow would be badly disrupted.
• The 1991 video release in episodic format included about six minutes of the extra scenes. This story was released on DVD in the UK in October of 2003 in a two-disc set as part of the Doctor Who 40th Anniversary Celebration releases, representing the Sylvester McCoy years, with many extra features which included the episodic version as well as a movie-format director's cut version - assembled by incidental music composer Mark Ayres from notes left by Mallett and discussions he had previously held with the director, who had died some years previously — with ten minutes of additional footage, new CGI effects and a remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. This synopsis is based on the original episodic release.
• This serial features guest appearances from Dinsdale Landen as Dr Judson and Nicholas Parsons as Reverend Wainwright. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
• Two of the Haemovores in this story are played by Sylvester McCoy's sons: Sam and Joe Kent-Smith.