Doctor Who: Master

Big Finish: Monthly Range #49

by Joseph Lidster, Sylvester McCoy (Narrator), Geoffrey Beevers (Narrator)

Many years ago, on a dark and stormy night, the disfigured and enigmatic Doctor John Smith invited his closest friends, Inspector Victor Schaeffer and his wife, Jacqueline, to a dinner to celebrate his birthday. A few hours later all the occupants in that house had been changed ­ some were dead, others mentally scarred forever by the events of that night.

So, what happened to the distinguished dinner guests on that evening? Perhaps, we'll never know. But two clues have led to much speculation ­ found outside the study window, a charred umbrella with a curved red handle and found inside the house, a blood-stained copy of Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

For one person, this night represented an ending: an ending to one thousand years of darkness and an ending to ten years of light.

But, for everyone else, is there no ending of this one night of Hell?

Chronological Placement: This story takes place between the television adventures, Survival and the 1996 TV Movie.

This is a full-cast audio play produced by Big Finish Productions.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Fiction, British Literature

3 pages, Audio CD

First published September 25, 2003

About the author

Joseph Lidster is an English television writer best known for his work on the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

His debut work was the audio play The Rapture for Big Finish Productions in 2002. Numerous further audio plays and prose short stories followed for Big Finish, for their Doctor Who line, spin-offs and other series (Sapphire & Steel and The Tomorrow People).

In 2005, he started working for the BBC, writing tie-in material for the new Doctor Who television series. He made his television writing debut in 2008 on the second series of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood and subsequently wrote three two-part stories for The Sarah Jane Adventures. He has written the two-part story "Rebel Magic" for the new CBBC series Wizards vs Aliens.

Lidster wrote the content for the tie-in websites relating to the fictional world of the television series, Sherlock. Alongside co-producer James Goss, he has produced Big Finish Productions' dramatic reading range of Dark Shadows audio dramas since 2011.

In 2012, he won the 'Audience Favourite Writer' award for his first play Nice Sally in the Off Cut Theatre Festival.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a seventh Doctor story, without a recurring companion, and is #49 in the Big Finish main range.

This is the last of the trilogy leading up to the controversial 50th audio and 40th anniversary special Doctor Who: Zagreus. This trilogy deals with dark reflections of the Doctor from the classic series, so far having looked at Omega and Davros and this time with his classic nemesis, the Master. This is the Geoffrey Beevers Master who appeared in the classic television episode The Keeper of Traken.

The Doctor is telling a story to a young assassin as the assassin waits for his target. The story is of a Doctor John Smith who has invited his closest friends to dinner for his birthday, only for a mysterious stranger to appear. The stranger may be able to explain why John, who is horribly disfigured, has no memory prior to 10 years ago.

I'm quite conflicted about this story. On one hand it's quite a brilliant little play as the drama unfolds between John and his friends with the Doctor's intrusion, but it takes some fairly major leaps with the Doctor Who universe. That the Doctor and the Master may have been childhood friends I'll kind of buy, but personification of abstract universal concepts is perhaps a step too far. Another part of it would radically change a foundation point of the Doctor's character which I don't think really fits.

I think one of the other reviews of this play hit the nail on the head in describing it as a very good fanfic.

I've quite enjoyed this trilogy, even if it's gone in sort of Elsewhen places in parts. Now onto Zagreus! I'm told I'll either love it or hate it ...

[Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I will not rest until I have found him and brought him back to life. [...] I will save you old friend... one day."

this was the most painful experience of my life absolutely superb

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ad un passo da Doctor Who: Zagreus, dopo Doctor Who: Omega con il quinto Dottore e Doctor Who: Davros con il sesto, arriviamo al settimo Dottore e al nemico per eccellenza: il Maestro, nella versione crispy di Geoffrey Beevers, prima di indossare il padre di Nyssa in Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken.
Pur trovandoci in una colonia terreste, in un periodo imprecisato, l'atmosfera è pesantemente vittoriana e, per certi versi, mi ha ricordato Doctor Who: The Chimes of Midnight.
Siamo alle prese con un misterioso Dottor John Smith, terribilmente sfigurato e con una terribile amnesia... nonostante siano passati dieci anni da quando i suoi ospiti per la serata l'hanno trovato, ancora non ricorda nulla.
Una sorta di mistero della camera chiusa nel quale i quattro protagonisti della vicenda, oltre al Maestro/Dottor Smith (non è uno spoiler, interpretato da Geoffrey Beevers in un audio intolato Master non poteva essere nessun altro) troviamo i coniugi Schaeffer (ispettore lui e benefattrice lei) e la domestica Jade, sono testimoni e vittime di fatti che vanno oltre la loro comprensione.
In parallelo abbiamo il settimo Dottore intento a raccontare la storia del gruppo descritto sopra a un misterioso assassino.

Non è possibile raccontare la storia senza fare spoiler, se non affermando che anche questo audio contiene molti elementi che Moffat sembra aver ripreso nel rapporto tra il dodicesimo Dottore e Missy, creato per la decima stagione della nuova serie.
Come già avvenuto in Davros, anche con il Maestro riviviamo eventi legati all'infanzia dei due Time Lord, eventi che entrambi sembrano aver dimenticato ma che hanno segnato irreparabilmente il loro futuro.
Da qui, per parlare del patto fatto dal Dottore con Morte e dello splendido risveglio del Maestro dallo stato di amnesia regalatogli dal Dottore, nel tentativo di fargli vivere qualche anno come una brava persona, godendo del bene fatto e non come pedina della Morte stessa, risveglio che dimostra come la vera natura del Maestro non possa contemplare bontà e sacrificio, se non costretto da forza maggiore e contro la sua volontà.
Con Morte, come rappresentante degli Eterni, ho avuto qualche problema... ma non per la presenza di una personificazione di un essere trascendentale, ne abbiamo visti altri nel corso della storia del Dottore, quanto per la sovrapposizione con la Morte creata da Neil Gaiman, con un carattere e comportamenti nettamente diversi.
Ma, nell'ottica dell'universo del Dottore, Morte è perfettamente in linea con gli altri suoi colleghi già incontrati, dai Guardiani del Tempo agli Antichi fino ai recenti Zellin e Rakaya (gli esseri immortali di Can you hear me?.

Nel complesso una storia ricca di dialoghi ma con poca azione (sembra una costante in questi primi tre capitoli della quadrilogia).
Geoffrey Beevers si conferma un ottimo interprete e Sylvester McCoy non delude come al solito.

Non resta che Zagreus.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listening to Master by Joseph Lidster for the first time and this audio is simply brilliant. Haunted, creepy house setting with amnesia crispy!Master acting as Dr Jekyll and Mr hyde and most of all, the Seventh Doctor recollecting his and the Master’s chlldhood about Torvic the bully trying to drown one of them.

Oh boy. Time-Lord’s really do have messed up childhoods.

-
You killed Torvic to save me. You couldn’t have known what was to come.
— The Master to the Doctor in: The Master

I will not give into the darkness, whether motivated by guilt or not. I will not rest until I find him and bring him back to life.
— Seventh Doctor about saving the Master in: Master

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tricky play to review, because it's doing different things on different levels, some of which I quite like, and others that I'm not so sure about.

On a basic story level, I found this quite gripping and suspenseful. No one would describe this play as action-packed - it mostly consists of a series of conversations in drawing rooms. But the surprises keep coming.

On a deeper level, this story sets out to answer the question, "Why is the Master the way he is?" And the first answer that Lidster presents us with has a certain appeal: when the Doctor and the Master were children, the Master killed a bully that was tormenting them, and the two of them conspired to cover it up; the secret guilt of that deed consumed the Master until he became the sociopath we all know and love. It has a certain tragic poignancy, and it does explain the sense of obligation that the Doctor often seems to feel towards the Master. As explanations go, I think I prefer it to the new series' "the noises in his head made him do it" explanation.

However, as it turns out, there is more. First, there is an anthropomorphic personification of Death running around. We are told that the Master is Death's servant, and that the Doctor and Death made a bargain whereby the Master would get 10 years of life as a normal person in exchange for the Doctor agreeing to kill the Master at the end of that 10 years. Which all leads up to the final revelation, which is that it wasn't the Master who killed the bully all those years ago. It was the Doctor. At which point, Death came to the young Doctor and explained that this one act would make him Death's servant, unless he wanted to make a deal and let Death take his best friend instead...

At which point, the story stops being one about guilt and friendship and the possibility of redemption, and becomes one about two people who were ensnared by cosmic forces who are just way more powerful than they are. It's tragic, and still moving in its own way, but I think the first story was more interesting. Especially in the context of Doctor Who, which is so often about the ability of individuals to escape the fates that more powerful entities have planned for them.

So, it's one heck of a play, and I'm glad it was written, but I'll probably always think of it more as a really provocative piece of fanfic rather than the canon backstory of the Doctor and the Master.

[marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

my roman empire

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were aspects of this story I enjoyed. However, Lidster takes liberties and giant leaps within the Doctor Who university, both in the origin story of the Doctor and the Master and by personifying Death. Ultimately, I am not sure the back story works for me--and it ends up being inconsistent with later stories developed for the television series. Maybe think of this as occurring in a different universe and it will work for you.

[Steven Poore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too drawn out for my liking.

[▫️Ron S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of, if not the singular, best Big Finish stories I’ve experienced. How we can get the ultimate Doctor origin story tucked into the ultimate Master story, without all of DW fandom losing their marbles, is testament to how confusing and divergent that fandom is. To boot - it’s the ultimate expression of the 7th Doctor’s cosmic chess spooky monster persona. You can’t have this story with any other incarnation ~ does that make 7 the objectively best period of the character? Thankfully there’s no need to decide.
Thank you to everyone involved.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time, Seven goes head to head with death herself. He's made a deal with the reaper and it all has to do with his old childhood friend and lives-long nemesis, the Master. A living-room drama in an Edwardian setting turns into a disorienting confrontation with the roots of good and evil. Thrilling stuff, if at times a shade melodramatic (absolutely no one in any Big Finish audio drama should ever be allowed to say the words 'I love you' ever again, worse yet, 'But I love you').

[Linnea Gelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling, sad and thought-provoking story that takes advantage of every aspect of the audio-based medium. Voices filled my head until I could feel how it must be to be truly crazy. Listening to it long into the early hours of the morning probably helped too. The acting was superb, and the cast certainly gave its all so that I could almost feel the spit in my ears. I was kept on edge, wondering how it would all tie together, and I was not disappointed. Absolutely brilliant.

[Reggie A · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every time the Master was a genuinely good and selfless human being when they didn’t remember who they were, I’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s heartbreaking that it’s happened twice.

Seriously though. What an incredible take on the dynamics of the Master and the Doctor, and the tragedy of their friendship across time.

This piece is creepy, the music and clock are eerie, and when Seven recounts the memory of their childhood 3/4ths of the way through this story that was some genuinely showstopping, glorious scripting and voice acting.

The Master is easily my favorite villain in Doctor Who, and is also one of my very favorites of all time. The fact that they have the capacity for genuine kindness and selflessness is soooo sad and fascinating. The way they orbit around the Doctor, and how the Doctor’s faith in their redemption never wavers is crazy and insane.

This story right here perfectly understands their dynamic.

The reveals in the latter half of the story and how the mystery unravels for each guest in the house work really well. The only one I was kind of disappointed in was Death as a physical presence; personally I think it would have been more interesting if the fates of the Doctor and the Master were still up to them.

… but they kind of were, weren’t they? Ultimately they chose to make deals with death, and the implications of when/why/how they made those deals is deeply heartbreaking to think about. But even still, I think at their cores what makes the Master and the Doctor fascinating are how it is their own choices that push and pull them away from each other.

This idea that their divide began because one of them saved the life of the other is fantastic. The mental barrier constructed by the Doctor to deny his role in the act is already really interesting, I don’t think a supernatural force was necessary to explore that and his decision to damn his friend in his head.

There are a lot of incredible moments here as the Master and the Doctor speak to each other, but the one that really got to me was the Master forgiving the Doctor for giving him up to Death’s thrall. He was a child, he couldn’t have known.

That’s bonkers writing with bonkers implications and I will be thinking about it for a hot minute.

Uhhh on a technical level this audio works quite well. The sounds of the clock and xylophone in the background add a really creepy layer to the listening experience. It constantly feels like something is being built to, but that thing is off kilter and wrong. I really like that element.

As a stand-alone story this is one I would recommend to new listeners of Big Finish. It contains itself well, it’s enthralling, and the voice acting on all levels— but especially Geoffrey Beevers as the Master— is superb.

[Kelly McCubbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming up on Big Finish's 50th story, Zagreus, the ramp up was a series of three stories featuring classic (arguably in the first case) arch villans. I decided to listen to all three before reviewing them.
These three, either by design or because that's just sorta the way you do this kind of thing now, had some common factors. They all revealed something about the past of the baddie that fleshed out the character (and occasionally The Doctor as well) in a way that we'd never seen before. They all had some discussion about the nature of evil (usually one on one with The Doctor). And finally, they all mentioned Zagreus in passing.

Master - NOW we're talkin'! One of the best performances that Sylvester McCoy has given on audio and the return Geoffrey Beevers to the role of The Master gives nuance to the character the likes of which we've never seen.
This is a moody, frightening, piece of gothic horror with a small cast of actors dizzily pirouetting around each other as the tension builds.
Again with the new history about characters we've known for decades. This time, however, the history intertwines so intricately with The Doctor's that you might not be able to look at either of them the same way again.
And again with the discussion fo the nature of evil, but far more deeply here. What if evil was just one person wanting another to see the color blue in the same way that the "evil" person does? It's a dance to try and get to the bottom of it and I could listen to these two debate for hours.

The only downside here is the fourth episode. It just doesn't seem to be able to land, bumping along several plot points and indicating that they're resolved without exactly explaining how. The whole thing becomes a little broad at the end and that's a shame.

Well worth a listen.

Note: While this isn't officially a "side-step" into the Virgin New Adventures canon, it's pretty clearly acknowledging it. The Seventh is "Time's Champion" yet again and it warms my cockles.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of the Master is quite good, but it was entirely predictable and it was not the story I was hoping for. I guess we're a little spoiled for content and this story of a wayward Timelord sandwiched between two other lore expanding entries (Omega' - about the OG Timelord, and 'Zagreus' - about a mythical Timelord legend), had me expecting a deeper story about the Master's past.

It does do a little of that, connecting the complex relationship between the Doctor and the Master back to when they were young friends, but it also gives a poorly explanation for the Master's decline in my opinion. Besides that, it barely feels like expanding the lore is the purpose of this story since most of it is taken up with a story set on Perfugium about a Doctor Smith who has lost his memory, (even that attempted veiling was completely transparent.)

As has now become the definite trend with these audiodramas, 'Master' has a framing story. In this case it does seem to have a purpose, namely to provide Seven with his saving grace moment and the framing story is revisited at several points along the way instead of being reserved to just the beginning and the ending.

I was underwhelmed, but I did actually enjoy the tale.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not what I expected. With Geoffrey Beevers being in this, I thought that perhaps this would be the story that explains how The Master gets in his burnt state. Turns out that this is somewhere between his Tremas incarnation and the TV movie with the Eighth Doctor.

The Seventh Doctor makes a deal with Death to have The Master’s memories wiped so that he can live for ten years as John Smith, and then The Doctor would have to execute him. I feel like this audio has to have influenced NuWho. It does a better job of showing an innocent man who used to be The Master than “Utopia” did. And the idea of The Doctor needing time execute The Master is something that would come back in series 10. The Doctor saying that he wants his friend back also sounds eerily similar to how Missy would later say it in “Death in Heaven.”

I found this audio to be a great character study that delves into the Doctor-Master relationship. It’s definitely better than Omega and about on par with Davros. I hope that Zagreus is a good end to this loose tetralogy, but I haven’t heard good things, so we’ll see. But first, there’s a Master trilogy I wanna get to.

[David Layton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This another in the trilogy attempting psychoanalysis on the three singular baddies of the series - Davros, Omega, and the Master. All suffer from a superficial understanding of psyhcology. The concept is interesting enough. The Doctor has given the Master ten years to live a normal life. Now, he has come to end his bargain. If it stuck with that, we could have had an excellent story. Instead, Joseph Lidster has uselessly piled on top of it that the whole thing is some deal the "Death" and that the relationship between the Doctor and the Master began as the reverse (oh, please surprise me, go ahead) of what it is in their adulthood. This supernatural stuff thrown on top stifles whatever psychological insights there could have been. Instead, we get sidetracked into meandering discussions of evil and motivation. I am, however, quite impressed by Geoffrey Beevers, whose performance is subtle and varied and very convincing.

[Horror Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little bit of a locked room murder mystery, mixed in with a little bit of an analysis of good vs evil, this is an amazing story from Big Finish. The cast of characters is tiny, and they all play against each other well. The mystery at the heart of the story is slow to unravel (the first part of the story is mostly character setup), but when it finally does, the story gets REALLY good. Geoffrey Beevers once again gives an excellent performance as the Master, giving the character more depth than he's had in some of the classic televised stories. The story is suspenseful and tragic, but ends on a hopeful note from the Seventh Doctor, who still wishes to save his friend one day.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

With most Big Finish work, it's either pretty decent or can't wait for it to end. This falls into pretty decent.

There's a lot of back and forth. Forced drama and suspense that is resolved so quickly I'm not sure whether it really works.

But, if you are looking for a nicely done morality play featuring Classic Who interpretation of The Doctor and The Master, it works fairly well.

I enjoyed it. No cringing cheesiness that I feel sometimes with Big Finish. And fewer instances of narrative action like "Oh look a doorknob, let's all of us go over and open it."

[morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best audio plays i've heard so far. Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf dinner party with an amnesiac Master. Confined setting works really well for audio drama, and much easier to follow than space battles all over the place. Geoffrey Beevers' performance is off the charts. Not sure where this fits in the Master's chronology, since Traken is referred to in a past-tense at one point.

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really creepy and atmospheric. Storytelling at its finest. It's a good exploration of the Doctor and the Master's relationship, but I do feel it stepped a little too far with the past sequences and changed the Doctor's character slightly too much for no real reason since it never gets addressed again or has any lasting effect.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very odd DW story. The literal personification of Death? Since when is she part of this universe?
The main premise is pretty cool, the Master given a chance at a good life free from his past. But Death Herself???

[Marius · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story. I didn't like the specifics of the detail from the Doctor's and Master's past. I don't know that it fits the character or if it contradicts canon. I'd really like to know. Not so keen on a non-War Doctor doing that thing he (almost) does in this story at all.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

なんかめっちゃいい人であり愛する人の命を救うためにダークなマスターの人格に戻るっていう。マスターに戻ってほしくなくてジョン・スミスに止まらせようとするドクター...なんかもう.

2人が幼なじみで親友だった遠い昔。先に裏切って"死"にマスターを引き渡したのがドクターの方だったっていうのも...辛い

ドクターをマスターが演じたのか、それとそれが元々の彼のパーソナリティだったのか。だとすれば憧れていた親友のように振る舞おうとした結果ドクターとなったというのも....7theraだけみればアリかなぁ

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful possible origin story for exploring why the Master is the way he is. I honestly love how they took some stuff from the novels by making the Master “Death’s Champion.”

And the big reveal just sold it home for me. It’s a very Jekyl and Hyde like story and fitting for the Master.

[John Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great exploration of the doctor and the master, great long creepy conversations about morality itself, just a great listen, doesn't require any knowledge of any specific episodes either, just who the doctor and master are

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was perfection. I don't really care for the Master as a character but I do like when Doctor Who writers put the effort in to explore the deep and complex relationship between the Master and the Doctor.

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Hearing more about the Doctor and the Master's past is always interesting.

[Gaz Galey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master is my favorite Doctor who character and this story is one of my favorites with him. It brings a new light on his and the Doctors relationship and I couldn't be happier.

[Luke Bannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geoffrey Beevers gives a wonderful performance and it raises interesting questions about the nature of evil.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone interested in the childhood and history of the master and the doctor.