Doctor Who: The Two Masters

In the year of his 45^th anniversary, two incarnations of the Master are about to meet…

Earlier this month, Big Finish announced details of an upcoming trilogy, and oh boy, is it an exciting one: a trilogy focusing on not just one but two incarnations of the Master!

"“A ‘Two Masters’ storyline was something I’d been thinking about for a while,’ says script editor Alan Barnes, ‘ever since Alex Macqueen‘s ‘New’ Master arrived in UNIT: Dominion – putting him opposite Geoffrey Beevers‘ ‘Old’ Master seemed an irresistible idea. But if Two Masters are better than one, then three Master stories are definitely better than two, heh heh heh. So I came up with a dastardly plan to put together a whole trilogy of adventures.”"

Geoffrey Beevers first played the Master in 1981’s ‘The Keeper of Traken’ in his one and only on-screen appearance. He has gone on to play the character for Big Finish in a number of audios set across the classic series and encountering many Doctors, particularly the Fourth and Seventh incarnations.

Alex Macqueen plays an incarnation not seen (yet) on-screen. First introduced in 2012’s ‘UNIT: Dominion,’ his incarnation was resurrected by the Time Lords in a brand new body not long before the Time War, and has last been seen fighting the Eighth Doctor in the series ‘Dark Eyes.’

Both men have done a number of stories for Big Finish, so it’s great to finally have the two incarnations meet, especially since a multiple Master story has arguably been long overdue. But before they do meet in June’s monthly release ‘The Two Masters,’ they each have their own individual encounters with the Doctor first, in a trilogy that features the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors.

"The trilogy begins with Alan’s own Doctor Who: …And You Will Obey Me, in which the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) arrives at a quiet churchyard in the English countryside – the supposed last resting-place of the ‘old’ Master (Geoffrey Beevers) But alien forces are gathered around, determined to ensure that the Master will not rest in peace…Then, in Justin Richards‘ Doctor Who: Vampire of the Mind, the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) suspects the hand of his oldest enemy behind a spate of mysterious disappearances… but will he even recognise the ‘new’ Master (Alex MacQueen), when he arrives at the scene of one of their earlier encounters?The saga comes to an epic conclusion with Doctor Who: The Two Masters by John Dorney. The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) is drawn into a desperate battle with his arch-enemy – squared!"

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This announcement is pretty much a good example of what Big Finish does so well with its stories: if it’s not something that’s arguably too expensive to do on the small screen (such as the Time War), in this case, it’s doing something that really should have been done in the television series by now. I don’t know about you, but I would have loved to have seen John Simm and Michelle Gomez meet on screen! (I can’t lie, I’ve still got my hopes up, and not just for a regeneration story.)

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