❉ Back once again with the ill behaviour: Eight incarnations of the renegade Master unite!
“Doctor Who couldn’t be Doctor Who without the Master. He gives the Doctor purpose in his plight for goodness, and the Master’s always there, shining a light on the Doctor’s dark side. The Doctor is a reluctant hero really, constantly being forced to be good because he can’t help himself but try and clean up the world of evil. The Master basically gives the Doctor work to do because he’s constantly in the background, undoing things and sabotaging goodness.” – Michelle Gomez.
To mark a half century of the Master, Big Finish has created a special multi-disc release, in the form of Masterful. Eight incarnations of Doctor Who’s favourite other Time Lord unite!
Released today, exactly 50 years since Roger Delgado made his dastardly debut as the Master in Terror of the Autons, the Masterful box set is a full-cast audio drama celebration of the malevolent Time Lord in all his glorious regenerations.
The Master’s finally done it. He’s won. He summons his other selves to a celebration of his ultimate victory. And they come – from across time and dimensions. But he’s forgotten to invite someone. And Missy’s not happy.
Has the Master really conquered the universe? Or has something more awful been unleashed? Something that even all the Masters cannot stop?
Missy is determined to reveal the truth. Because one fact about the Master’s existence never changes.
No-one can trust the Master. Not even the Master.
Masterful stars Geoffrey Beevers, Mark Gatiss, Michelle Gomez, Derek Jacobi, Alex MacQueen, Milo Parker, Eric Roberts and John Simm, featuring guest appearances from Jon Culshaw as Kamelion, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, with Abigail McKern, Aurora Burghart and Zaqi Ismail.
Describing his own memories of the Master, Mark Gatiss said: “I have profoundly scary memories of Terror of the Autons because it affected me forever, still does! I remember the Master being such a huge part of everything I loved about the show, and it just clicked so completely perfectly.”
Alex Macqueen added: “I’m biased but the Master is frankly the most terrific character, so it’s totally right to have this commemoration. It’s a massive privilege and I love it because it’s an incredibly creative experience in the booth.”
Of the Masterful storyline, Geoffrey Beevers said: “It’s really different but it’s really good, because it explores who the Master might have been had he taken a different course in eternity. It’s beautifully written and it’s quite a challenge doing the transition into what that sort of person might have been – and back again – and what affect it has on him afterwards.”
Eric Roberts added: “As a character in the story, it’s what we all should fear – all of our worst everythings, all of our worst wants, all of our worst behaviours and, for an actor, he’s just plain fun! How often do we get to play the extreme in evil?”
Of the Master’s relationship to the Doctor, Michelle Gomez said: “Doctor Who couldn’t be Doctor Who without the Master. He gives the Doctor purpose in his plight for goodness, and the Master’s always there, shining a light on the Doctor’s dark side. The Doctor is a reluctant hero really, constantly being forced to be good because he can’t help himself but try and clean up the world of evil. The Master basically gives the Doctor work to do because he’s constantly in the background, undoing things and sabotaging goodness.”
Milo Parker added: “All the other characters I’ve done in the past have been relatively well-behaved, so playing the Master is an opportunity for me to broaden my horizons, to try something new, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Of playing the War Master, Derek Jacobi said: “He has a wonderfully wicked sense of humour which is lovely to indulge oneself in. The stories are very good, he usually comes out on top… heroic villains are the best things to play.”
John Simm added: “He’s an iconic character – he’s the nemesis of the Doctor, the evil Doctor, the baddie Doctor Who. He thinks he’s the equal to the Doctor; he’s a Time Lord, he’s everything the Doctor is, but evil. It’s a real honour to play him.”
Masterful is now available as a limited edition 8-CD box set (priced at £44.99), or on download (at £39.99), exclusively at the Big Finish website. The limited edition 8-CD box set edition contains:
Discs 1-3: Masterful by James Goss
Disc 4: Masterful – Behind the Scenes
Disc 5: Doctor Who – Short Trips: I Am The Master by Geoffrey Beevers and i The Switching by Simon Guerrier (both previously available on download only)
Discs 6-8: Doctor Who: Terror of the Master by Trevor Baxendale, a brand new, narrated audiobook featuring the Third Doctor, the Master and UNIT.
A standard edition of Masterful (featuring only the content of discs 1-3 above) is also available, priced at £24.99 (on CD) or £19.99 (as a download).
MASTERFUL
Director: Ken Bentley
Producer: David Richardson
Written by: James Goss
Script Editor: Matt Fitton
Music: Joe Kraemer
Executive Producers: Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery
Duration: 480 minutes approx. (limited edition) 180 minutes approx. (standard edition).
❉ ‘Masterful’ is released 2 January 2021 as a limited edition 8-CD box set (priced at £44.99), or on download (at £39.99), exclusively at the Big Finish website. A standard edition of Masterful) is also available, priced at £24.99 (on CD) or £19.99 (as a download). Please note the box set edition is limited to 3,000 copies only.
Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.
❉ News source: Big Finish Productions.
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