Doctor Who: Is Series 12 preparing for the Master’s 50th anniversary in 2021?
By James Aggas
In Spyfall, we said hello to a brand new incarnation of the Master, as played by Sacha Dhawan. But why now?
Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America
Series 12 opener Spyfall gave us the Master’s surprise return to Doctor Who. But could it also be setting up for his major anniversary next year? (Spoilers for parts 1 and 2 of Spyfall follow.)
The Master’s return in Spyfall: Part One was definitely a huge surprise. Sacha Dhawan gave us a very endearing performance as the geeky and seemingly innocent O, so to have him revealed as the Doctor’s archenemy allowed for an effective twist.
But why now? It’s only been just over a series since the character last appeared – in two different incarnations, no less. In fact, Missy’s arc was pretty central to Series 10. So why has Chris Chibnall brought him back now? Not just in his second series as showrunner, but at the very start of it?
Usually, the Master is saved for something as big as a finale, at least as far as new incarnations are concerned. Both John Simm and Derek Jacobi didn’t appear until Utopia, Series 3’s eleventh episode. And while Michelle Gomez appeared in Peter Capaldi’s first episode Deep Breath, we didn’t find out who Missy was until the penultimate episode of Series 8, Dark Water.
Now, it’s very possible that the Master could return at the end of the series, just as Tim Shaw returned at the end of Series 11. But why introduce a new incarnation now? Does it have anything to do with the fact that the villain will be celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in 2021?
Featuring as many as four Masters, Day of the Master is one of the biggest multi-Master stories ever. Could a fiftieth anniversary story on television match up to it?
(Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions)
Multi-Master stories
Major anniversaries for the Master have hardly been celebrated before, at least not in the same way as the show’s own anniversaries. The only multi-Master story we had on television was World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls back in 2017, which wasn’t a particularly special year for the character.
Interestingly, Big Finish did decide to celebrate the villain’s forty-fifth anniversary one year earlier with their Two Masters trilogy. Featuring Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen as two very different incarnations of the Doctor’s oldest foe, the trilogy ended with the first ever official multi-Master story in any media.
Even more interesting is that, in 2019, they gave us not one but two multi-Master stories. Last month, we had The War Master: Anti-Genesis, which featured Derek Jacobi in the titular role as well as Mark Gatiss’s Master from another universe. So in that instance, it was a multi-Master story with a twist, but a very effective one.
But that wasn’t as big as what Eighth Doctor box set Ravenous 4 gave us. Featuring four incarnations and exploring some major mythology, Day of the Master stands out as the biggest multi-Master story we’ve had in any format. At least, until Masterful comes out next year, which features no less than eight incarnations of the villain – including John Simm in his Big Finish debut.
So we know that Big Finish at least are celebrating the Master’s fiftieth anniversary in a big way. Is Chris Chibnall planning to do the same?
Naturally, in a multi-Master story for the New Series, you’d want to bring back both Michelle Gomez and John Simm. But you’d also need another, newer incarnation, too.
(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Simon Ridgway
How to celebrate the Master’s fiftieth
If Chris Chibnall did want to celebrate half a century of Doctor Who‘s greatest villain, how would he do it? As noted on the previous page, the easiest thing to do would be to have a multi-Master story. More than that, you’d ideally want to make it the biggest multi-Master story possible, at least on television.
While Big Finish can get away with giving us eight different incarnations of the character in one single story, the television series would likely feature a much smaller count. However, you’d only need to feature as many as three Masters to make it bigger than the Series 10 finale, and indeed, the biggest multi-Master story on television.
This is where Sacha Dhawan’s brand new incarnation comes in, and why he’s being introduced now. Bringing back both Michelle Gomez and John Simm would be hugely exciting, but if it was just them on their own, it would also run the risk of feeling like a repeat of their previous meeting. You could (and arguably should) bring Derek Jacobi back as well, but you would also need another Master. A newer incarnation. One that had been established, but hadn’t met any other incarnations so far.
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Day and Night
This could be why Dhawan’s Master is being introduced sooner rather than later. While a multi-Master story that featured an incarnation we had never seen before could work (it worked for the Doctor, after all), it would arguably be even more satisfying if we had seen him at least once (maybe twice?) before.
But what kind of story would you explore for the Master’s fiftieth? Chibnall may have even set that up. As revealed in Spyfall: Part 2, the Master destroyed Gallifrey. But how? Perhaps that can be something that’s revealed in a story that parallels The Day of the Doctor perfectly. We’ve had Day of the Master already, but why not The Night of the Master? (Or Chibnall can just use The Day of the Master, with the word “The” distinguishing it from the Big Finish story. It’s not ideal, but it could happen.)
This is all pure speculation from a huge Master fan. But it would definitely be exciting, and could bring a lot of attention to Doctor Who for the right reasons. We may not have had a special anniversary story for the Master before, but we can at least hope – especially for something as big as the fiftieth.
Next. Why Sacha Dhawan is the most dangerous Master we’ve had in years. dark
What do you think? Do you think Chibnall is setting up the villain’s fiftieth anniversary story by introducing a new incarnation? Do you think it likely that we’ll get such a story, and if so, would it be a good idea? Let us know in the comments below.