Spoilers!

Nyssa is helping cure the plague affecting the Stagnant Protocol – but needs some assistance…

Lou Morgan continues her New Adventures-esque mental torturing of classic companions in this taut tale for Sir Derek Jacobi and Sarah Sutton, as Nyssa encounters a later version of the man who stole her father’s body many decades earlier. It’s another deep delve into the psyche of a very familiar character from classic Doctor Who – as Sutton notes in the extras, this sort of thing wasn’t what the 1980s show did, but which Big Finish do very well. All Nyssa’s self-doubts and issues are brought to the surface by the careful probing and manipulation by the Master, and the confrontation between them at the end is some of Sutton’s finest work for Big Finish ever.

The War Master sets focus on the Time Lord rather than those he encounters, so it’s not too surprising to see him win – leaving Nyssa inevitably in a precarious position (and that final message has the same haunting quality as Ripley’s from the Nostromo) – but we know from the first story that Calantha is his peer at certain practices. There’s a sense in both this story and its predecessor that the Master is also sharpening his wits ready for that final battle, which is going to test his mettle. And at the moment, I’m not sure who I’d be placing money on…

Verdict: Another terrific piece of character work. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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