M is for... Master (2)

The Master's dangerous lifestyle - allying himself with a variety of belligerent alien forces in a series of high risk schemes, usually ending in failure - led to him rapidly using up his twelve regenerations. He prolonged his final body as long as he could, even after it had begun to break down and degenerate. Dying, he found himself trapped on the planet Tersurus. Fortunately for him, he was discovered there by a fellow Time Lord - none other than Chancellor Goth, political leader of the Prydonian chapter of which he had once been a member himself. Goth fell under his sway, and he agreed to smuggle him back to Gallifrey - hiding him in the ancient catacombs beneath the Citadel. Goth had learned that he was not going to be selected to replace the outgoing President of the High Council - despite everyone assuming this to be the case. The Master devised a plot to help him - although it was purely designed to help himself. The President had access to the ancient artefacts of Rassilon, founder of Time Lord society, and the Master reasoned that he could obtain these through Goth. The old President would never be allowed to name his successor as he was going to be assassinated by Goth, though a scapegoat would take the blame for this outrage - and who better to fulfil this role than his old enemy, the Doctor? 

The Master had by this time entirely erased all information about himself from the Time Lord files, such that even the High Council had no knowledge of him. He intercepted the prediction of the assassination from the APC net - part of the Matrix - and had it beamed into the mind of the Doctor. This would lure him back to Gallifrey. The Doctor foiled his immediate plans by standing as a candidate for election to the Presidency himself, and the Master had to resort to employing Goth to fight him psychically in an artificial environment he had created within the Matrix.

The Doctor won and Goth was killed by the experience, whilst the Master appeared to commit suicide with poison. The Doctor was convinced that his old foe would never give up this way - and he was right. The Master had simply used a chemical which mimicked death. He stole the various relics of Rassilon and went to the Panopticon - the great council chamber of the Time Lords. Beneath it lay the Eye of Harmony - the captured nucleus of a Black Hole from which the Time Lords derived all their power. The Master aimed to tap this power to gain a new regeneration cycle, even if it meant the destruction of his homeworld to achieve it. The Doctor fought him , and he appeared to fall to his death down a crevasse which opened in the floor of the Panopticon. However, soon after the Doctor went on his way, the Master was seen to follow in his own TARDIS, which was disguised as a grandfather clock. He hadn't gained a new life-cycle, but had managed to absorb enough energy to maintain his present existence.

When he next encountered the Doctor, it was on the planet Traken. His TARDIS had materialised on the planet in the form of a creature known as the Melkur. Any being harbouring evil intent was frozen and gradually calcified on arrival on the planet, due to a bioelectric force known as the Source. Such beings were called Melkur - meaning "a fly trapped in honey". Each Melkur was tended by a Trakenite until it crumbled to dust, and the one chosen to look after that containing the Master was Kassia, who was destined to become a member of the planet's ruling council. The Master bided his time until this was achieved, and her step-daughter Nyssa had taken over tending her Melkur. 

The elderly Keeper of Traken was close to the end of his life. He was sustained by becoming a living link with the Source - and the Master aimed to usurp his successor's place. This was to be Kassia's husband Tremas. 

The Keeper had called upon the Doctor to come and assist with the period of transition. The Master had his TARDIS hidden by a temporal forcefield. The Doctor's young companion Adric had detected energy signatures similar to a TARDIS emanating from the Melkur. The Master ensured that Tremas was discredited, so that Kassia would become Keeper-designate. However, when she assumed the Keepership she was consumed by the Source and the Melkur TARDIS materialised in her place. With access to the Source, the Master would gain his longed for life extension, and rule over the Traken Union would provide him with a power base to conquer the galaxy. Adric and Nyssa sabotaged the Source after the Doctor had been captured and brought into the Master's TARDIS, where he intended to take over his old enemy's body. The sabotage allowed the Doctor to escape, and the Melkur was destroyed. However, the Master had a second TARDIS at hand, disguised again like a grandfather clock, and he was able to escape destruction. After the Doctor and Adric had left the planet, Tremas noticed the clock. When he went to investigate it he found himself frozen by a forcefield. The Master emerged. Even the limited access to the Source had allowed him to take on some of its powers. His decayed body merged with that of the Trakenite - providing him with a healthier new body.

Played by: Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley (Tremas). Appearances: The Deadly Assassin (1976), The Keeper of Traken (1981).

• When it came to writing a political thriller set on the Doctor's home planet, it was decided that the obvious villain should be the Master. Philip Hinchcliffe decided to create a decayed version of the character who would be in a transitional state - allowing a future production team to recast the part.
• Peter Pratt was chosen for his strong vocal work. He was a leading member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, who performed the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. Director David Maloney was a huge fan.
• It was originally intended that the deformed villain in The Talons of Weng-Chiang would be the decayed Master.
• To help bridge the regeneration from Tom Baker into Peter Davison, JNT sought a short story arc that would get the audience back after what promised to be a nine month break and help ease in the new Doctor. He decided to resurrect the Master in a new non-decayed form. To get there, the old Master would appear in The Keeper of Traken before gaining his new body, which would be based loosely on the Delgado version. Anthony Ainley had worked with the producer on The Pallisers, and he was cast as Consul Tremas (an anagram of Master, of course).
• The second decayed Master was played by another actor used to voice work - in this case radio drama. Geoffrey Beevers was the husband of Caroline John, who had played companion Liz Shaw, and he had featured briefly in one of her stories as a UNIT soldier (The Ambassadors of Death).
• The grandfather clock in The Keeper of Traken was not the same prop as seen in The Deadly Assassin. The older one wasn't big enough to allow Beevers to get inside it.
• The Master's cloak had been on display at the BBC Exhibitions at Blackpool and Longleat and was in a poor state of disrepair. When found for Traken, it was about to be thrown away. The mask was not reused as JNT wanted to see the actor's eyes. Beevers had teeth painted onto his lips to aid the skull-like appearance.