Master of disguise, disarray and disorder. The Master has always enjoyed creating chaos, but this incarnation revels in it more than most.
A new Master is unleashed upon the universe, and he is taking his time - and pleasure - in finding out exactly who he is...
1.1 Self-Help by Robert Valentine
The Master is having a crisis of the existential variety.
While he may have a classic diabolical scheme on the go, the dastardly Time Lord's latest incarnation isn't quite feeling himself. In fact, he's not even sure who he is anymore. He needs help. But can he help himself?
1.2 The Clockwork Swan by Georgia Cook
Opening night is approaching for the latest presentation at cultural theme park Historica Dramatica: Earth-set whodunnit The Clockwork Swan. But cast and crew are being murdered...
Enter a mysterious stranger. Who better to solve the crime than galaxy-renowned detective LeMaitre? Only, LeMaitre isn't all he seems...
1.3 The Good Life by Una McCormack
On a distant Island, a group of holy men and women work together to keep the Balance. Elta, one of the Shore-folk, has come to learn. But there's a new man on the Island - the first in living memory - and it's not clear whether he's saint or sinner.
Is it only coincidence that the weather seems more changeable these days? That people are angrier and turning to violence? Where, wonders Elta, is this all heading - and does the stranger even know himself?
**Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,000 copies.**
Recorded on: 23 and 28-29 May and 15 August 2024
Recorded at: The Soundhouse
Writer Robert Valentine said: "Where Sacha's Master fits into the timeline is a deliberate mystery, so I thought it would be fun, in the context of starting a fresh series with him as our antihero, to embrace his identity crisis in a big way and make that the point of the story – he doesn't know where he fits in, and that's a huge source of anxiety for him."
Writer Georgia Cook said: "The Master has such a wonderful history of putting on personas and adopting monikers and different costumes. People tend not to notice that he’s not always doing them particularly well! It's so great to add to that mythos, with him hamming it up trying to portray a Poirot or Sherlock Holmes-style detective."
Writer Una McCormack said: "My initial pitch was that we do something similar to Mervyn Peake's novel Mr Pye. The hero of that novel arrives on the island of Sark, where he carries out so many good deeds that he begins to sprout angel wings. I really liked the idea of the Master trying to be good but not being very good at it."
Sacha Dhawan said: "I love playing the Master and there are so many levels to him – he embodies many different types of people, so there’s so much room to carry on investigating the character. And the episodes I’m doing with Big Finish are so good, so varied, so different. It gives me a lot to play with and show my range.
"When I was filming Doctor Who, I always had the Doctor to battle against, and the Doctor gives the Master purpose. But in these episodes, he’s really left with himself, and it creates insecurity for the Master, throws him off kilter. He’s forced to sit with himself a bit more, and what comes out of that is really interesting."
Sacha Dhawan © Liam Daysh-Holmes
Sylvester McCoy and Sacha Dhawan
Becky Wright, Angust Dunican, Georgia Cook, Maddison, Bulleyment, Sacha Dhawan, David Hearn
Richard Fleeshman, Julie Teal, Sacha Dhawan, Dominique Moore, Tim Bentinck, Rob Valentine
Femi Houghton, Timothy Speyer, Sacha Dhawan, Bethany Antonia, Helen Goldwyn, Anjella Mackintosh,
