On this month…
THE RETURN OF THE MASTER!
■ Back in June 2007, fans were relishing the final episodes of David Tennant’s second series as the Doctor, which saw the unexpected return of the Master – played by two different actors! In an interview conducted by Benjamin Cook, John Simm told DWM how he got the part of the Doctor’s nemesis: “Julie Gardner [executive producer] was trying to find something for me to do [in Doctor Who]. She kept sort of saying, ‘What about this?’ And I kept saying, ‘Look, I’m not being painted blue!’ And then Julie and Russell [T Davies, showrunner] came down to Manchester when I was filming Life on Mars, met me in a bar after a night shoot, and said, ‘What about the Master?’ As soon as they said that, I was like, ‘You’re kidding? Oh yeah!’ I got really excited about it, but I just had to sit on the news. I wanted to tell people, ‘I’M GOING TO BE THE MASTER!!!’ But it’s a secret, isn’t it? Hmft.” Indeed, it was a well-kept secret until 2007’s Utopia.