Doctor Who: “Hello you!” – How one of the Master’s boldest disguises shocked fans

We’ve had many great Master reveals over the years, including those with Michelle Gomez and John Simm. But there’s one reveal that’s been rather overlooked…

(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Simon Ridgway

The Master has surprised Doctor Who fans many times over the years. But this reveal from 2012 might be one of the very best…

We’ve been given many truly brilliant surprises in Doctor Who over the years. Especially when it comes to the Master, which is unsurprising. With not just the ability to regenerate, but even a fondness for disguises, the Master has always been a great villain to surprise the audience with.

And there have been several truly brilliant surprises. The Keeper of Traken featured the double-whammy of both the decayed Master’s return – appearing for the first time in over four years – before seeing that Master possessing the rather likable Tremas, giving us Anthony Ainley’s memorable interpretation.

The New Series has naturally given us several surprises. Whether it was the Doctor meeting a brand new incarnation (as seen in Dark Water and Spyfall: Part 1), or the Master wearing a disguise (as brilliantly done in World Enough and Time), we’ve been treated to several great surprises over the years.

Utopia stands out as one of the greatest examples, as it’s arguably a combination of both of these: we have the Master in disguise as a human thanks to the Chameleon Arch, before the Doctor meets a brand new incarnation in the form of John Simm’s extremely manic Master.

But that’s not the reveal that I’m going to talk about today. Instead, I’m going to discuss one that gets overlooked: a rather brilliant reveal thanks to the Master’s most audacious disguise yet, in the epic Doctor Who box set UNIT: Dominion. (Naturally, spoilers follow.)

When UNIT: Dominion began, we were initially introduced to a brand new incarnation of the Doctor – or were we…?

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Future Doctor(?)

Doctor Who: UNIT: Dominion was a major release from Big Finish back in 2012. With a four hour running time and featuring a ton of brand new monsters for both Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor and UNIT to face, the best word to describe this story was “epic”.

Thankfully, the Seventh Doctor wasn’t alone in dealing with these multiple threats. Along with getting plenty of help from UNIT, he also met an unlikely ally: a future version of himself! Played by Alex Macqueen, this new incarnation was eccentric and playful. But he was also arrogant, even dangerously pragmatic at times. This latter trait could certainly describe McCoy’s Doctor, but at the same time, even he found his future self difficult to get along with.

However, the Seventh Doctor was eventually given a rather nasty shock. This “other Doctor” wasn’t a future version of him at all. Instead, he was a brand new incarnation of his greatest enemy.

Why it worked

It may seem obvious now, but when it was released back in 2012, UNIT: Dominion‘s twist had a lot of impact. Certainly, it was one of the biggest shocks that Big Finish had ever pulled off, and in some ways, it still is. There are a couple of reasons for this.

The first is how good Alex Macqueen is as “the Doctor”. When he arrives in London and meets UNIT, he has such an incredible sense of swagger and authority that it’s easy to believe he’s a new incarnation of the hero we all know and love. In fact, Macqueen plays the kind of Doctor that you’d want to see on-screen. Even during the moments when he comes across as callous or rude, you’re willing to forgive his little “quirks” due to his sense of charm.

So the reveal that Macqueen is playing the other major Time Lord of the series comes as a complete shock. Especially since Alex plays the Master being openly evil equally well. From the very beginning of Part 4, he demonstrates that, while he’s still eccentric, even insane, he’s also evil and terrifying.

Alex Macqueen was not just believable as the Master. For a time, he was also believable as a “new Doctor”, too.

Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions. Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.

The right time

The other key reason why this worked so well is when it was originally released. Back in 2012, Big Finish had only just started using the Master again for the first time in almost a decade – specifically, with Geoffrey Beevers’s Master in The Fourth Doctor Adventures. And with Big Finish only having the license for the Classic Series at the time, it looked like Beevers was the only Master that they could use.

So the creation of a brand new incarnation was a major direction for them. Yes, they had technically done it before – specifically, back in 2003 when they introduced Mark Gatiss’s incarnation. But considering that Master was from another universe, Gatiss’s casting honestly felt like less of a risk, certainly compared to creating a brand new incarnation that was meant to fit the history of the character. It was a huge move for Big Finish to make – so huge that few of us saw it coming.

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An exciting discovery

On top of that, it’s important to remember that, in 2012, it had been quite some time since we had last seen the Master on television. Over two series into Matt Smith’s era as the Eleventh Doctor, it had been close to three years since we had last seen John Simm’s Master in The End of Time, and we were still two years away from the reveal of Missy, too.

So the discovery of a new incarnation – even on audio – was incredibly exciting. It meant an entire new lifetime that could be explored. The fact that he was so manic and fun-loving ensured that he would be a rather different Master from Geoffrey Beevers’s incarnation too – something that paid off brilliantly several years later in The Two Masters.

Many years later, and the cliffhanger to UNIT: Dominion: Part 3 still has impact. We’ve had a few great surprise twists and reveals from Big Finish since then, (one of my favorites is in The Two Masters,) but very few have felt quite as big as this one. It was a major turning point for Big Finish, and as a big fan of the Master, one that I’m very glad about.

Were you aware of this huge Master reveal? Have you listened to UNIT: Dominion or other stories featuring Alex Macqueen’s Master? What’s your favorite Master reveal? Let us know in the comments below.