The Master takes a trip to Earth…

One of the key aspects of the Master across all his incarnations has been his ability to come up with the most convoluted and devious plans, yet not think them through entirely. Sometimes it’s overconfidence that’s his undoing, sometimes it’s the interference (as he’d see it) of lesser beings, including the Doctor. And sometimes it’s because he simply doesn’t understand quite what it is he’s getting into.

This final story from Guy Adams is pretty much a four-hander between Sir Derek Jacobi, Jonny Green, Nerys Hughes and Jonathan Bailey and demonstrates just how easily people can be taken in by what they want to believe – whether it’s the Master, it’s Cole believing that the Master is his friend, or the Time Lords’ confidence in their ability to deal with renegades. Hughes and Jacobi spar brilliantly – his line about a cup of tea seems totally innocuous in print, but imbued with the malevolence that Jacobi brings, it’s shiver-inducing.

There are lots of clever parallels to events involving the Doctor – notably the whole Charley Pollard paradox arc and the War Doctor’s decisions towards the end of the Time War – and, slightly to my surprise, it takes things up to a point that’s mentioned in Utopia… although given the silky-voiced incarnation has turned up in two subsequent box sets, I suspect all is not as it seems.

This has been a very different set of adventures within the Time War, and I’m looking forward to reacquainting myself with this new Master soon!

Verdict: A skilfully plotted and well produced end to the Master’s machinations. 9/10

Paul Simpson