Coming in January 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the Master’s first appearance in Doctor Who, Masterful will unite 8 incarnations of the Doctor’s greatest frenemy – and sees the return of John Simm! The audio adventure is a deluxe limited edition 8-disc set from Big Finish Productions in association with BBC Studios.
In his Big Finish debut, actor John Simm will reprise the role of the Master, as originally played on television from 2007 (and, most recently, in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls, opposite Peter Capaldi).
Masterful, written by James Goss, will also feature actors Geoffrey Beevers, Mark Gatiss, Derek Jacobi, Alex MacQueen, Milo Parker, and Eric Roberts as previous incarnations of the evil Time Lord. Plus, of course, no reunion of Masters would be complete without Missy, the most recent incarnation, as played by Michelle Gomez.
John Simm said:
“It’s a real honour to play this character: the nemesis of the Doctor. He’s everything the Doctor is but he’s evil. And it’s been great recording with Big Finish. You don’t get bored, it’s fantastic. It’s fun. It went really quickly. And I got to work with Derek Jacobi.”
Producer, David Richardson added:
“It was all Jason Haigh-Ellery’s idea. ‘We should do a special for the 50th anniversary of the Master in 2021,’ he said, and I leapt at the chance to produce it. James Goss was the perfect choice as writer – we knew he’d offer something as entertaining as it was dark, as imaginative as it was thrilling – and he hasn’t let us down!
“But my first port of call was securing the talents of our Masters (and Missy) – many of them had worked for us before, but for John Simm this was his Big Finish debut. They say never meet your heroes, but they’re wrong. I had one of the best days of my life in studio with Sir Derek Jacobi and John Simm, towering actors and simply two of the warmest, loveliest human beings you could ever hope to spend time with. This may be a line-up of pure, unadulterated evil – but behind every sinister smile there’s a lovely actor we’re blessed to work with!”
Masterful is now available to pre-order as a limited edition 8-CD box set (priced at £44.99), or on download (at £39.99) over at Big Finish.
