Learn About Anthony Ainley with The Man Behind The Master

Jonathan Appleton is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Coming soon from Fantom Films, The Man Behind The Master will be the first full-length biography of Anthony Ainley, who played the Doctor’s nemesis from 1981-89.

Karen Louise Hollis’s book , due to be released in May, will explore Ainley’s career both as the Master and prior to that in the many roles he played on film and television. Unsurprisingly he was often cast as the villain and his face regularly appeared throughout the 1970s in a number of popular dramas including Upstairs Downstairs, Nicholas Nickleby, and Elizabeth R. It was his role as Rev Emilius in The Pallisers that made John Nathan-Turner, a production manager at the time, think of him when it came to re-casting the Master. Anyone who has been stuck in front of the TV on a wet bank holiday has surely caught his performance as a villainous Nazi in The Land That Time Forgot.

The book certainly promises to be an intriguing read, as trailed by the publisher:

“But the dramas in Anthony’s real life were far more fascinating than any of the many parts he played on screen. Born the illegitimate son of actor Henry Ainley, and taken into care at the Actors’ Orphanage at the age of four, Fantom presents the hidden story behind one of Doctor Who’s most enigmatic characters.

‘This is the first time all aspects of his life have been drawn together’ says Karen Louise Hollis, ‘I have had the pleasure of interviewing a number of friends and colleagues from every aspect of Anthony’s life, and examined the archives to bring together the most complete and fascinating story.'”

A key figure in Doctor Who for the last decade of its original run, Ainley was a private person who, by some accounts, didn’t exactly go out of his way to make himself popular with colleagues. But he certainly enjoyed the notoriety that went with playing one of television’s most familiar villains and was happy to meet the show’s fans at several convention appearances. Anthony Ainley died in 2004 – check out our appreciation.

The last few years have seen some great Doctor Who biographies published and it looks like this one will need adding to the list of must-reads.

Visit Fantom Films for full details.

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