Tuesday 3 May 2022

On This Day... 3rd May


Today in 1969 The War Games reached its third episode - as did Revenge of the Cybermen in 1975.
The Poison Sky saw the defeat of the Sontarans at the conclusion of their first story of the revived programme. It made its debut today in 2008. The episode ended with Martha Jones once again travelling in the TARDIS, albeit unwillingly this time.


Today we remember the second incarnation of the Master, Anthony Ainley. He who followed a couple of stop-gap appearances by a cadaverous version. Ainley passed way on this day in 2004, aged 71.
He took over the role in the closing moments of The Keeper of Traken, after portraying the character of Tremas over the course of its four episodes. He then featured in the following two stories, helping to bridge the transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison.
He made two appearances in Season 19, one in Season 20, followed by The Five Doctors anniversary special. He had one further appearance opposite Davison, in Planet of Fire, which was supposed to be his swan-song. Ainley and the Producer were not seeing eye to eye at this time. However, he was back for a pair of appearances opposite Colin Baker, and a final one with Sylvester McCoy, which proved to be the final story of the classic series anyway. He greatly disliked Mark of the Rani, as he felt the Master was playing second fiddle to the Rani.
His first love was cricket, and he was of independent means - so only acted when he felt like it. This was only his Doctor Who work in the end, and he also loved to attend the convention circuit. He acted as his own agent. For a while Doctor Who Magazine stopped using images of him, as one day he would let them use pictures almost for nothing, and the next he would want an exorbitant fee.
His final work as the Master were the links for a Doctor Who computer game (available on the Survival DVD / Blu-ray). 

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