The Lion King

The Lion King was a film and a musical stage show based off of it, produced by Walt Disney Animation. A London bus advertising this production once passed by Rose Tyler, possibly in March of that year. (TV: Rose)

On Christmas Day, 2006, the Tenth Doctor tried to impress upon the Sycorax leader his own belief in the potential of human beings by remarking, "From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than..." Abruptly, the Doctor stopped talking, realising that his speech was in fact a quote from "Circle of Life", a song from the production. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) The Tenth Doctor had a disc copy of The Lion King on the TARDIS. He apparently emotionally binge-watched the film (among others) after loosing Rose Tyler. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)

Behind the scenes

 * Though the stage production definitely exists within the Doctor Who universe, via the set decoration in Rose, it is unclear whether the movie does, as well. The stage version was based on the film in real life.
 * Another song that featured in both Doctor Who and The Lion King is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", which can be heard in Rise of the Cybermen, when it is played to mask the screams of homeless humans being converted into Cybermen. However, the song predates The Lion King and its link to The Lion King has never been established in the DWU.
 * RTD also intentionally dropped a line from The Lion King — centring around the word "fixer-upper" — into Voyage of the Damned. It was apparently so "American" a word that producer Phil Collinson didn't know what it meant. (PCOM: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Elton John wrote the music for the songs in the film as well as several songs in the theatrical adaptation.
 * In terms of cast and crew overlap, Rowan Atkinson played Zazu and Hans Zimmer wrote the score for the film. Rob Edwards originated the role of Scar on the West End London theatrical adaption.
 * Whoopi Goldberg, who played Shenzi the Hyena in the film, was someone whom Russell T Davies wanted in the show desperately.