Following the BBC’s premature announcement yesterday that John Simm will be returning to the role of the Master in Series 10, speculation has naturally been mounting that Doctor Who fans can expect a multi-Master story during the upcoming season. Although this would be a first for the programme onscreen, Big Finish have produced one audio adventure featuring multiple incarnations of the Master. The Two Masters was released in 2016 and perhaps it points to how a new multi-Master episode, featuring John Simm and Michelle Gomez, might be structured. 

The Two Masters

★★★★☆

RD: 13/6/2016

Written by John Dorney      Directed by Jamie Anderson

Serving as the finale to a trilogy of stories featuring the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, The Two Masters (2016) is a first for Big Finish Doctor Who audios. It brings together Alex McQueen’s creepy, mercurial incarnation, developed in earlier Big Finish plays, and Geoffrey Beevers’ later, emaciated ‘crispy’ Master from The Keeper of Traken (1981). McQueen is on top form throughout this chilling adventure, building on his Master’s character development that made Doom Coalition (2012-2015) the popular audio hit that it was.

The Old Master (Geoffrey Beevers) enlists the help of his nemesis, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and a human called Jemima (Lauren Crace), in order to defeat his own future incarnation. The New Master (Alex McQueen) has become responsible for the impending collapse of the universe, due to colossal gaps in the fabric of time and space. He must be stopped at all costs, even if it means transgressing the First Law of Time.

The line of “you’re the one who did all the models” eerily conveys the horrifying effects of the Old Master’s Tissue-Compression Eliminator on the thirty-strong crew of the ship. Beevers slithers through these scenes with a Machiavellian performance worthy of Iago. The Doctor’s hatred but respect for his old friend the Master also shines through in McCoy’s snarling portrayal. This tale is a worthy addition to the complex chronology of the Master, as it provides a firm narrative link between Frontier in Space (1973) and The Deadly Assassin (1976) for Beevers’ Master and a lead-in to the Time War for McQueen’s New Master.

<INSERT PHOTO WITH ALEX MCQUEEN HERE>

Series 10 (2017)

Steven Moffat hinted back in 2015 that a multi-Master story would be an exciting prospect for the series. Now it appears that he wishes to realise this ambition for his final season as showrunner. With two very similar portrayals of the Master in both John Simm and Michelle Gomez, Moffat may wish to go down The Day of the Doctor route and try to differentiate between these two particularly alike incarnations. It would also make sense to show the regeneration scene between Simm and Gomez’s masterful personas and I am sure that this is Moffat’s intention, vis-à-vis The Night of the Doctor (2013).

Simm’s Master (2007-2010, 2017) terrified children of my generation through his utter insanity, a trait that Gomez continued for her performance as Missy (2014-present). The Masters of my childhood era of the show, John Simm and Derek Jacobi, were both equally sinister and Machiavellian figures. With John Simm having previously said that he had no desire to return to Doctor Who owing to the programme’s impact on his private life, Simm’s return does seem a little surprising. However, it is a welcome return for one of the most popular (and certainly my favourite) portrayals of the Doctor’s Moriarty.

The Master’s Chronological Tenures: