Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious – Master Thief/Lesser Evils – Review

Alongside the release of He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not, Big Finish as part of their Time Lord Victorious output released a special two-story release in their Short Trips range. But these stories featured none of the Doctors or any companions, instead, it focused on two incarnations of the Master, played originally by Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainely.

This time around though both those incarnations are played by one man, Jon Culshaw, a man who has the voices of many! Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat, Culshaw does a brilliant job of capturing both actors, while he’s impersonation might not be perfect in both cases, he captures their inflections and speech patterns, effortlessly allowing us to deduce in our imaginations which Master features in each story.

The first story is Master Thief, from Sophie Iles and as the title suggests sees him trying to break into something. In case its a vault on an ocean world to steal a fabled map. Iles plays the first half of the story exactly as you’d expect for a Delgado Master story with him killing people left-right-and-centre. But before things threaten to get quite repetitive and boring Iles flips the story and the character of the Master on their heads and gives us something completely new, as due to him not understanding his enemies, he finds himself feeling sorry for killing them. Of course, this doesn’t stop him from doing it, but it’s not something we’ve seen from the Delgado Master before.

Iles handle on the Delgado Master is so brilliant that even this marked change in his character doesn’t feel out of place. And Culshaw effortlessly captures the soft purrs and charming qualities of his voice perfectly, though it’s not perfect enough to have him feature in a full cast audio adventure. If this is what Big Finish is going to do with next years Masterful, I’ll be interested to hear what he sounds like there but it’s not hard to see why so many people fell foul of this charismatic incarnation.

As brilliant as this story was, and Iles really does deserve to contribute more stories in the future, where I think it should have been a stand-alone short-trip because I fail to see how it fits into the Time Lord Victorious event. But I don’t mind too much as this works as an excellent final story for the Delgado Master.

Simon Guerrier rounds the set out with Lesser Evils, which features Ainley’s 80s Master. Personally, I really like this incarnation of the Master and a brand new story with him in isn’t a bad thing!

Right out of the gate, Lesser Evils ties into the Time Lord Victorious thanks to the inclusion of the Kotturuh and it seems to be more focused on them than it does the Master. But as it turns out this isn’t a bad thing as it really allows us to see and hear how evil they can be perceived to be.

Guerrier’s take on this Master is another interesting one, both of these stories gives the Master a little more of a compassionate heart, and there is a sense here that this is a Master who is down on his luck, or as I took it, a Master who is coming to the end of his regeneration and old and tired. Even the Kotturuh look at him with contempt. Many viewers look at the Ainley as the Pantomime-Master but that illusion would be shattered here as he fights for the survival of a single species which has fascinated him. Of course, the Kotturuh will get their way but Guerrier’s script is an interesting conversation between two immensely powerful species.

I think that Culshaw has a much better grasp on Ainley’s Master than he did on the Delgado incarnation. Once again he gets the inflections and personality traits completely correct, as does Guerrier, who to my knowledge, this is his first time writing for this incarnation. This being the Master, his ultimate goal is revealed in the end, but it’s an interesting take on another of the more ruthless versions of the character!

Master Thief and Lesser Evils form a brilliant set of stories that are connected to the current event. I really liked Master Thief because it gave Delgado the departure he deserved, not the ending her got at the end of Frontier in Space. Of course, this was unavoidable as Delgado was tragically killed in a car accident, so thank you, Sophie Iles, for giving who I consider the best Master a departure he deserved. Lesser Evils is an excellent 80s story for Anthony Ainley’s Master, that also sheds some light on the new villains for the Victorious crossover. But both stories once again be listened too on their own and with a narrator as strong as Jon Culshaw, you’re going to be in for a really fun ride!