Doctor Who review: Master is a dark and atmospheric exploration of the Doctor’s greatest enemy
By James Aggas
We look back to 2003’s audio story Master – a dark and rather unusual exploration of one of Doctor Who’s greatest villains…
Master is a rather unusual Doctor Who story. Yes, as you can probably guess from its title, it is a story about the Doctor’s oldest enemy. But in some ways, the Master doesn’t appear in the story that much. While Geoffrey Beevers features in most of it, this time, he’s playing “John Smith”. And no, it’s not the Master using a clever disguise, not this time. Instead, we’re getting a glimpse of a Master turned good. A Master who has no idea who he is.
New Series fans will surely find that plot familiar from Utopia. But not only does Master predate the New Series episode by several years. It’s also an extremely different take on it.
The biggest difference is that, unlike the New Series episode, the audience is meant to know that this man is the Master from the start. Or at least he was. John Smith has been living on the colony world of Perfugium for ten years. During that time, he has been saving many lives and has made many friends in the local community. And on the night before his “birthday” – the first day that he can remember – he’s joined by two of his oldest and closest friends. But things are about to change for all of them over the course of one horrific night…
Reflections
There is so much that I love about Master. It’s a radically different exploration of the character, giving us a story that doesn’t feature the Master as we know him, but focusing on him, all the same. It’s very intimate, and it’s easy to imagine the story working incredibly well on the stage. Especially when the performances are so fantastic.
Naturally, Geoffrey Beevers is particularly brilliant. It’s so strange to hear him in this story not playing the villainous role that fans recognize him for, but he’s fantastic as John Smith. He shares a lot in common with the John Smith of the classic story Human Nature – neither one knowing who or what they were, and both building separate lives for themselves that were a far cry from their original lives.
However, the John Smith of Master is far more tragic. While Human Nature‘s John Smith was a man who discovered he was secretly a bold and brilliant kind of hero, Master‘s John Smith is about a man who finds out the opposite. A genuinely good person who finds out that he is the destroyer of worlds.
Beevers plays this character so perfectly. There’s no question that Smith is a completely different person to the Master, one that has a lot of depth and a lot of good in him. With this story, we’re given a glimpse of the old friendship between him and the Doctor, and Sylvester McCoy and Beevers share many great scenes together.
Excellent cast
But it’s not just with McCoy that Beevers shares some fantastic scenes with. In fact, while Seven appears for most of the story, he’s almost entirely missing from Part One, as Joseph Lidster introduces us to the Master’s closest friends: Victor played by Philip Madoc, and his wife Jacqueline played by Anne Ridler.
The first episode introduces these key characters rather well, and you don’t miss the Doctor for too long, as you gradually discover more about these people, their friendships…and their flaws. The sides that they try to keep hidden away, sides that truly reflect the hypocrisy of their society.
Both Madoc and Ridler are fantastic to listen to in these roles. They play the characters exactly right, revealing their flaws in subtle ways, but also making them likable and sympathetic, too. Well, up until a certain point, anyway.
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Dark origins
Joseph Lidster’s story is a wonderful exploration of the nature of good and evil. Of what makes someone kill, and the secrets friends keep from each other. On top of that, he also gives us an absolutely brilliant explanation on the Master’s origins. Not only is it far darker than the explanation that we got on television (i.e. the Master going mad from looking into the vortex), but it’s far more satisfying, too.
It’s strange to think that this was the last full-on appearance of the Master on audio until Trail of the White Worm in 2012 – almost nine years later! What’s especially surprising about this is that this was only the second time Beevers had played the role on audio. He’s played the role many times since then, but there was quite a significant gap between Master and White Worm.
Of course, that doesn’t stop Master from being a deliciously dark and psychological listen. It’s a radically different exploration of the Doctor’s arch-enemy, but it works completely, and gives us so many great performances. It’s rather grim stuff at times, but well worth a listen – especially on a dark and stormy night…
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Have you listened to Master? Is it one of your favorites? Do you think it explored the Master as a character well? Let us know in the comments below.