Opinion: Why Missy needs her own spin-off, radio or television

We recently learned about the upcoming Missy Chronicles, out next year. The book is said to talk about what happens when the Doctor isn’t around to chastise Missy or to have her turn good. I’ve talked before about the idea of a Missy centered television show, and what that would entail.

We already know that there’s enough material to be able to write a book, if not several. Why stop there? A television series would reach a much wider audience than this book, which is currently only available on Britain’s Amazon.

It seems like a waste to only give Missy these books to continue to tell her story. Despite the fact that Michelle Gomez seemed pretty confident that she would be leaving with Peter and Steven Moffat, is it possible to get her back? As the season got closer to the end, she did say she’d be willing to come back one day – but who wants to wait that long?

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We have two options then:

Give Missy her own television show

This, of course, would be the ideal option. And for many people too. Give Missy her own TV show, and let her roam around the universe being evil in particularly Dexter or Breaking Bad way. Let her become even more likeable as we see more of her every week for a set number of weeks a year.

People would watch this, because they’ve already accepted the Master’s change, and Michelle Gomez has already proven herself. We basically make an evil version of Doctor Who. What would it be like to see the Master run amuck without anyone forcing her to be good? We’ve only ever seen the Master, in any regeneration, with the Doctor.

A Master/Mistress show would be able to perhaps give even more dimensions to the character, since the Doctor Who universe is about no one being only good or only evil. We could see more of the character, separate from Doctor Who. If anyone’s earned it, it’s Michelle Gomez.

Give Missy her own audio series

This is more likely what we’ll see happen. But, who knows how long it’ll take. We, very quickly, saw Derek Jacobi’s Master in 2007, and he’s just getting a Master audio set this year. And, try as I might, I can’t find anyone who will take my call about giving John Simm his own audio set. So if we stay at the current level, it’s gonna be another ten years before we see Missy in an audio setting.

But when we do, because we will, I don’t want it to be one set. I want a complete series, like Gallifrey starring Lalla Ward, or Romana II. I want to follow her for multiple audio sets, not just four. I want a whole storyline set out that we can see Missy take on.

Because again, if anyone’s earned it, it’s Michelle Gomez.

Next: Torchwood Review: Episode 1

Now, don’t get me wrong, The Missy Chronicles heads in the right direction. BBC has acknowledged that Missy is a character that needs more exploration. That’s a fantastic start! But the unanswered questions — the regeneration into a female, things the BBC might be scared to address other than with “it happens” might be able to be explored with a Big Finish audio series. Who knows what we could learn?

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