Last time Kate Stewart and an incarnation of the Master appeared in the same story, Kate almost didn’t make it out alive. “Terrifying,” says Jemma Redgrave, when we ask for her memories of meeting Missy in the 2014 episode Death in Heaven. “I have rarely encountered anything quite so psychotic in my life as Michelle Gomez’ Master!”
Cyber-Reality features Derek Jacobi’s take on the character. For Kate, it’s a similarly scary interaction, but behind the scenes Jemma loved every second. “Working with Derek Jacobi was such a lovely thing for me,” she says, “and a bit of an honour, because he’s just one of the greatest actors of his or any generation. And it was wonderful to work with him on audio, because I’ve listened to him on the radio and he’s so brilliant at that.
“I kept forgetting myself,” she admits, “because I was listening to him, and then [I’d realise], ‘Oh yes, it’s me!’ I wanted to be so good, because I wanted to impress. One always puts a pressure on oneself, and you can never be as good as you want to be.